Team-Building With a Purpose
Human Relations
Page 7
sense that this is just a waste of time,” LiPuma
many companies primarily “want to enhance says. “But as the day approached, there was
genuine excitement and anticipation. The
employees’ engagement in the company,”
Announce that you’re planning a team-building says Nat Measley, master of fun at Newark, morning of the event was very satisfying for us
exercise for your staff, and watch the eyes roll. Del.-based The Fun Department, a consult- as owners because everyone was milling
around and getting excited about what was to
Team-building events have a reputation among ing firm that helps companies develop culcome.”
many employees as time-wasters that simply
tures of having fun with a purpose.
keep them away from the office as more work
“An engaged employee will stop and pick Starting with a get-to-know-you icebreaker, the
piles up, but savvy entrepreup a piece of trash in the hallway, a disen- 37 participants played several games that reneurs design programs that will help them
gaged employee will walk by the piece of quired balance, trust and teamwork. In one
reach specific goals for their team.
game, each group was given balloons and tape
trash and leave it, and an actively disenand instructed to build a tower of balloons,
For instance, when Ken Keller, owner of a Ren- gaged employee will throw the trash on
competing for the highest tower. “We had a
aissance Executive Forums franchise in Valen- the floor,” Measley says.
certain amount of time to blow up balloons and
cia, California., needed to develop rapport
Along with bolstering employees’ commithold them together with our tape,” says Mary
and trust among a group of top executives, he
ment to the company, “a lot of companies
Kremer, an employee at Lender Consulting. “It
took them to a vineyard and told them to create
are seeing the layoffs and the uncertainty,
was nice to experience working as a group,
their own wine. At Viansa Winery in Sonoma,
and they just want to get people out of the
sharing engineering ideas and putting them to
California, the group was divided into teams
office and reenergize them,” says Lloyd
use.”
and each team was given a few wine parietals. Davis, president of Viansa Winery. “They
They had to work together to create their own
Aside from playing games, the experience
want to get [employees] to stop thinking
signature wine, design a label and develop
“generated lots of ideas as to how to apply the
about the bad things happening and start
lessons learned during the fun routines to our
a marketing pitch, all to be presented to judges thinking about the good things that could
daily work,” LiPuma says. “There was a reat the e