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 […]
Valentine’s Day Treasure Hunts
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 by Dave Blum With February 14th still a couple of weeks out, it’s not too late to create a Valentine’s Day treasure hunt for your sweetheart. There are lots of possibilities: Concoct treasure hunt clues that lead to his/her favorite haunts…or better yet, to the favorite places you’ve discovered together, as a […]
Perfectionists
Friday, January 30, 2009 by Dave Blum Whether you’re a manager, a parent, or the leader of corporate team building exercises, if you’re successful, you’re likely to possess some element of “perfectionism”. Come on, perfectionists, you know what I’m talking about — that awful, recurring feeling that your work product hasn’t turned ideally and it’s killing you! I certainly have the perfectionist in […]
More Do-it-Yourself Scavenger Hunts
Friday, January 30, 2009 by Dave Blum In light of the budget limitations inherent in this tough economy, my staff and I have been working diligently these last few months creating an array of low-cost team building activities. Since the fall, we’ve come up with three non-facilitated, DIY (do-it-yourself) team building exercises that we’re extremely proud of: […]
JFK’s “Race” to the Moon
Thursday, January 29, 2009 by Dave Blum While at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Tuesday, in Washington, D.C., I re-watched President Kennedy’s famous 1961 speech to Congress about the space race with the Soviets. Although I’d seen before it on several occasions, this was the first time I’d watched JFK’s speech from a team […]
The Meaning of Winning
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 by Dave Blum Yesterday’s treasure hunt at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum was cancelled, alas: the first time one of our indoor scavenger hunts has been canceled due to bad weather. (The client, it seems, was worried about the safety of busing their group frm Virginia to D.C. on the snowy/icy […]
Treasure Hunt Scouting
Monday, January 26, 2009 by Dave Blum Scouting treasure hunt clues is a bit of an art. Some key factors to take into account when casting around for treasure hunt ideas include: 1) Is your prospective location a little-known or well-known site? 2) Will this clue be part a driving or walking hunt? 3) How are you going to […]
Whitehouse Scavenger Hunt
Friday, January 23, 2009 by Dave Blum Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to create scavenger hunts in some of the world’s most interesting places: the Louvre in Paris, the streets of Dubai, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the historic Districts of Madrid, Geneva and Bologna., etc. But never in the White […]