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 […]
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 […]