Conference Facilitation & Team Building Blogs

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”

Ewe and I make a great team…

A run through the countryside demonstrated how a group can quickly become a team when faced with an unexpected challenge.

Two ewes and four lambs were out of their field and roaming the woods on a local running route, so we responsibly set about coaxing them back through the gate to the rest of their flock. Only a video could do justice to the comedy value of a group waving, bahhing, heading off sheep and trying to behave like sheepdogs. However, on reflection, we went through the following team development process…

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Team Building can Appeal to Everyone

Finding a team building event for a large department can be a challenge.  The Activists want to run about while the Reflectors would rather observe.  Pragmatists will ask ‘What’s the point of this?’ While Theorists might prefer to study and solve a complex puzzle.

We reckon we’ve developed a format that can please all of the people all of the time.  We combine a variety of competitive team challenges to meet each participant’s preferred style, demonstrating that our differences can be the source of our success in a team….

Is your Desk making you Fat?

How much of your day to you spend sitting?  For many of us we sit at the office, during our commute and later when we are resting at home, maybe as much as 14 hours every day!  Frighteningly, recent research suggests that a day spent sitting at a desk will undo the benefits from cycling to work or going to the gym!

A number of studies into inactivity have been conducted to try to understand what part sedentary behaviour is playing in the rise of obesity and diabetes.

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Team Meeting Energiser

People repeatedly tell us that their team meetings are dull and unproductive so here’s an amusing and inspiring little video clip that could kick off a useful discussion about ‘What we should say as a team more often…’

Why 80% of Managers are in the Wrong Job

For many ambitious employees the addition of the word manager to their job title is a proud moment.  It conveys success, status and power.  And rightly so. Line managers have more influence on employee productivity, engagement and retention than pay, work place conditions and even senior mangement.

It’s therefore very concerning to discover that according to Gallup, 82% of those bearing the title aren’t up to the job!

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Top 5 Team Building Activities

As team away days start to appear in 2014 diaries here’s a list of what’s likely to be adding some fun and bonding to this year’s off-site.

5.  The Toy Factory makes a difference to less fortunate children as teams create handmade wooden toys.
Outcomes – values, pride, see the softer side of colleagues, explore manufacturing processes and find time to talk to one another.…

8 Daily Habits of Successful Leaders

If your inbox and meeting schedule is dominating your working life, here are some habits adopted by successful leaders that enable them to retain a fresh perspective and intellectual edge.

1. Get out in the field – Management by walking about tends to illicit far more accurate information than reports and spreadsheets.  …