Should Team Building Be a Surprise?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 by Dave Blum One of the first things I always ask new clients when booking one of our corporate team building activities is: “Do the participants know that they’re going to be doing a treasure hunt?” Inevitably, the answer is, “No, we’ve been keeping it a secret. We want it to be […]
The Three C’s of Teambuilding Selection
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 by Dave Blum A client called me yesterday to inform me that she was putting the selection of this year’s team building activities up for a company-wide vote. Her entire staff had been offered a choice: a day of solving Dr. Clue’s treasure hunt clues OR a day of team cooking lessons […]
Generating the “Energy Gradient” of Teamwork
Sunday, February 15, 2009 by Dave Blum In my blog post dated December 8, 2008, I wrote about my friend the “genius” — Harald Katzmair, Ph.D, founder of Vienna/NY-based FAS Research. Well, Harald was in town again from Austria last week — always great news for me. Besides being a good friend, Harald (and that mind of […]
What’s your “real” name?
Friday, February 13, 2009 by Dave Blum I received this fun icebreaker the other day from Christine McHugh, facilitator extraordinaire. I think it would be great for corporate team building activities, parties, dinner table conversation, whatever. All you have to do is create a series of new names for yourself, using the parameters described for each one, […]
Cross-team collaboration
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 by Dave Blum It was just after the midbrief, this past Saturday, that the treasure hunt in North Beach/Chinatown took a very interesting turn. The client was a group of 23 sales people in the recycling business, gathering in San Francisco for three days of strategy and corporate team building activities, with […]
Five Steps for Team Conflict Resolution
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 by Dave Blum Before moving on to my other favorite topics (team building ideas, scavenger hunt lists, treasure hunt clues, etc.) I’d like to take a quick second to explore further the mediation process from yesterday’s blogpost. As you’ll recall, we had two guys on a volleyball court, both sure that the other fellow was […]
Interrupting the Storyline
Monday, February 9, 2009 by Dave Blum When I’m not leading scavenger hunts and other team building activities, I’m generally in Golden Gate Park, playing volleyball. So there I was in the park, yesterday, playing ball, thinking I was far away from the “swelter” of my busy work life when, despite the cold, rainy San Francisco weather, things on the […]
Voicing the Silent Narrative
Friday, February 6, 2009 by Dave Blum During the debrief of my Team Efficiency Workshop this past Monday with Wells Fargo, I overhead the following dialogue: Mary: “At the beginning of the game, I was really wishing that you’d have shared the instructions more with me.” Liz: “Well why didn’t you say so? I’m not […]
Paper Airplanes for Teambuilding
Thursday, February 5, 2009 by Dave Blum One of my favorite corporate team building activities is a quick icebreaker involving paper airplanes. It’s fun and high energy, as well as a great way to generate team building ideas and discussion. Here’s how it works: Take some masking tape and create a large “X” on one wall of your meeting […]
Team Efficiency
Thursday, February 5, 2009 by Dave Blum I’m delighted to say that Monday’s Dr. Clue “Team Efficiency” program in Sacramento was a knockout! The team, a group of 12 business analysts from Wells Fargo, was at a critical juncture in its development. Their old business model consisted primarily of taking phone orders; by contrast, their […]