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How team building exercises can help relieve stress

Work related stress is a common complaint. The latest figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) show that the total number of cases of stress in 2011/12 was 428, 000 (40%) out of a total of 1, 073, 000 for all work-related illnesses. Team building exercises can help combat some of the reasons and symptoms of stress in the workplace.

Whilst a little stress can push people to achieve – too much stress can have damaging and far reaching effects not only on the individual suffering but for the company and other team members.

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5 leadership mistakes that need to be avoided

It’s not always easy being a leader and there are some big ‘no-no’s that should be realised when in a position of authority. Which of these five mistakes could be holding your team back?      

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5 easy methods to motivate your team

Motivating your team members can make a noticeable difference to their performance and the atmosphere at work. Here are five tips to give your team a boost, so they know you care.

1.       Say thank you more often and mean it.

If you thank every team member at least once a day and explain why they have done a good job rather than just saying a token ‘thanks’ this will make their day a whole lot better, empower them and you’ll see productivity increase….

5 Tips on Making the Christmas Party Memorable for the Right Reasons

The office Christmas party is often seen by staff as the place to let a year’s worth of tension out in one go and whether it’s Dave from accounts photocopying his ‘credentials’, the youngest member of staff throwing up on the carpet or the scuffles of the advertising team turning nasty – it might be wise to plan pro-actively for more thrills and less spills at the Christmas do.

 

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Why trusting your team drives results

For the ultimate exercise in developing trust, take your team out on the blindfolded 4×4 challenge for an experience that will never be forgotten.

Trust is something that is usually earned rather than gifted and without trust within the workings of a business, communication can become flawed, direction can be lost and ultimately the company can suffer as a result. Our blindfolded 4×4 challenge develops trust amongst colleagues. And it’s a real laugh too!…

The Team Machine in action!

The Team Machine is an fun team building event that requires participants to co-operate with other teams to achieve a common goal.

Each team is given a set of building materials to create a moving sculpture. The plans are muddled requiring sharing of data before building can commence. Components must be assembled in just the right way for the individual mechanisms to work. Later the teams must work together to find the correct sequence of mechanisms, so that, once launched each element will trigger the next in a chain reaction building to an explosive finale!

Have a look at The Team Machine in action at a recent Fresh Tracks team building event.

Leadership Lessons from LEGO Building success

Over 70% of homes have at least one stray brick buried deep in a sofa or hiding in the dusty corner of a cupboard.  With 33% operating profit on sales of £2710 million LEGO is a serious business.

Alongside bacon and beer, LEGO is one of Denmark’s greatest exports, some might even say ‘Probably the best toy in the world!’  The LEGO phenomena began in 1932 when Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, who believed in the value of play, decided that the best kind of toys are those that can be built, and then rebuilt. Stimulating creativity and imagination, whilst developing character.

There’s much we can learn from LEGO as adults.  The four letter name LEGO is derived from leg godt, meaning ‘play well’ in Danish, and ‘I study’ or ‘I construct’ in Latin.  Underpinning the name is the company slogan ‘Only the best is good enough’ An admiral intention but one that nearly led to the iconic toy’s collapse 10 years ago.

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Top 5 Leadership Epic Fails

We’ve all made some bad decisions as leaders but hopefully never on the scale of these:

Failed to adapt – George Fisher led Kodak, the once dominant photography consumables business.  Despite Kodak having built a digital camera way back in 1975 he failed to anticipate the demise of traditional photography and led the business into a spiral that resulted in his successors filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Interestingly, closest rival Fuji read the writing on the wall and used their expertise to diversify into alternative sectors.

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Harness the World Cup Buzz

Whether you love football or not our Giant Human Table Football pitch is a tremendous way to use football fever to motivate and reward your employees.

We still have a limited number of slots available for exclusive hire during July (starting from just £1500).

The pitch can be inflated on a car park or even inside your building, space permitting. 15 minute five-a-side matches mean that up to 100 players can take part in less than 3 hours during which spectators get to cheer, chant and chuckle as team mates shuffle left and right in unison as they attempt to block, pass and shoot the ball into their opponents goal.

Don’t just watch the World Cup – play! Contact us today.

So you want to work at Apple

While researching how to retain innovation, energy and culture for a fast growing client we stumbled across this recruitment film by Apple.  It’s a fascinating insight into a business which constantly strives to improve.

A few sound bites:

“Thinking outside the box, it’s funny we don’t really think about the box”

“One of the unique things about Apple is the level of cross collaboration between groups”

“The difference between a good product and a great product is attention to detail”