Tuesday, December 30, 2008 by Dave Blum

I just got off the phone with a previous Dr. Clue client, Cellmark, specialists in the marketing of pulp and paper.  My contact, Vic (who has done scavenger hunts with us in the past), was telling me how much his company’s recycling unit has taken a hit over the last year.  According to Vic, “In this economy, we have an extra urgency to find efficiencies, work together, and think as one group.  At the same time, we’re all Type A people, so we need to have fun.”

I couldn’t sum up better the situation all of us are in these days:  watching our revenues decrease during a spiraling recession and knowing the only way to get through it all is by keeping our people together.  Vic’s recommendation is:

1) Increased efficiency
2) Tighter allignment of goals and vision
3) Unity of efforts
4) Fun team building activities to bring everyone together while lightening up the group’s mood.

Vic and I tossed around a few treasure hunt ideas and discussed some possible team building exercises.   We decided on a Chinatown/North Beach treasure hunt in San Francisco, with an Efficiency Workshop as a rain back up and a possible treasure hunt bar crawl in the evening (with a drink-related scavenger hunt list.)  It should be a great day and, hopefully, go a long way toward achieving his four survival objectives during a down economy.