A few months ago there was a lot of interest surrounding the BBC’s broadcasting of The Call Centre programme and particularly, the way in which specific motivational techniques were underlined. From football to less politically correct events such as a “p*** up in a brewery”, the Call Centre divided opinion on teambuilding and raised the issue of inclusivity.
Here at Wolfestone, we took a more PC approach, and volunteered at Penllergare Valley Woods, a local woodland centre on the northern fringe of the city of Swansea.
Our Team Building Day
The team-building day started with an introduction to the volunteer staff, along with a tour of the woods, a history lesson on the owners (the Llewellyns) and the site itself. This gave us a good background of the area that we were volunteering in. The site has great historical significance and is well used by local walkers and historical enthusiasts - so it was good to contribute to an area that the community could enjoy.
Our task for the morning was to build a new path, which could be enjoyed by the local community to access parts of the Woods safely. We worked like a well-oiled machine and we were really proud of the end result.
In the afternoon, we were split into teams and were set a number of different challenges, these were mostly mental to give the team a rest from the physical work. Each team contained staff from different departments and the overall winning team were presented with the Wolfestone Team Challenge Cup and will be enjoying an extended expenses paid lunch at the Grape and Olive in Swansea.
The whole day was a great success and the team bonded over helping out a valid cause. Colleagues who didn’t normally work together in work had a chance to bond, and it brought the team closer together.
Top 4 Teambuilding Tips
So what did we learn from the misdemeanours of the Call Centre, and our own day that went so successfully?
To make a team-building day as enjoyable as ours, we have a couple of general tips when it comes to organising team-building and motivational events:
1) Do not choose an activity that is going to either violate someone’s personal space or discriminate against them in any way.
2) Try and come up with an activity in which all members of staff can be involved.
3) Make sure that the activity is related in some way to the tasks carried out by the employee in the workplace.
4) Encourage staff to work with colleagues from different departments to improve inter departmental relations and communication
Provided that the abovementioned criteria are adhered to, team-building activities can make a significant contribution not only to the welfare of companies but also to the welfare of communities and citizens. Thank you to the team at Penllergare Valley Woods for providing us with such a great team-building day, we will be visiting our ‘Wolfestone Path’ again in the not too distant future!
Let us know what you think?
What experiences have you made on your team-building days?
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