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James coakes

Murder mysteries have grown in popularity as a corporate event. One of the major advantages of this format is that people do not need to physically participate so it suits more or less any guest.

Typically a murder mystery is delivered by a group of actors from an external corporate event company. Sometimes parts can be written for employees of the company organising the event and this can make it more personal and memorable.

The event comprises a series of scenes which are delivered around a meal. There will be the opening scene over pre-dinner drinks and then acts between the courses, culminating in the final denouement where the mystery is solved. The audience typically work in teams, each comprising one table. They are given clues and have the opportunity to interview characters who will visit each table in turn over dinner.

This sort of event can become quite competitive as the storyline builds. Those who want to really get involved tend to do so while those who are less interested can break away and chat. This social team bonding event format works well because it is not forced and people can approach it however it best suits them.

Murder mysteries can be arranged at any location with suitable space. The best events are held at venues with the right atmosphere; so gothic mansion style hotels or castles are ideal. There are also specialist locations such as crypts and prisons which make ideal settings. As with any event the quality of the meal is crucial, but compromises do not need to be made as plenty of suitable venues have excellent catering.

The key is to choose a professional company who have experience of delivering events to an intelligent and sophisticated corporate clientele. A badly written script with corny lines can be excruciating.

There will be a high level of audience interaction and this is crucial in making the event enjoyable. Often the funniest moments happen ‘off script’ as exchanges between the actors and the characters that exist in every group.

Experienced actors know how to choose those people by observing the group from the outset. Some people prefer to watch quietly whilst others enjoy getting involved and having the chance to show off a little. Differentiating between the two is a key skill of experienced actors.

To summarise murder mysteries are a fun corporate event option which will suit a group of people who may want different things out of an event. In an industry which aims to provide something for everyone a well written and produced murder mystery will offend no-one and please most.

James Coakes

One of the greatest challenges for the event organiser is to arrange a variety of activities that will appeal to everyone in the group. Obviously it is impossible to choose activities that will appeal to everyone, but it is important to have variety so that everyone will have something to enjoy.

The most common format for outdoor participation events is to have a range of activities. A group of thirty might be divided into five teams to attempt five different activities.

There is a general feeling that shooting and motorised activities are enjoyed more by men than by women. This is by no means a rule and there are always exceptions, but if an event is dominated by this sort of activity some people will enjoy it more than others.

Choosing the activities wisely will help; for example archery tends to be enjoyed by more people than clay pigeon shooting because some people find the noise and kick back of the shotgun too violent.

The best event companies will offer a wide range of activities and you can include ferret racing, duck herding and a whole assortment of activities which have a broad appeal. As well as the more physical participation activities you might consider including some puzzle based cerebral challenges; many prefer to think than to be active.

If you are very concerned about getting the choice right you can put all of the options down on a form and have the participants vote on which they would like to try.

The most important thing is to ensure that the organisers stresses that the event is run on a ‘challenge by choice’ basis. If someone decides that they do not want to do something they will not be forced to participate or humiliated. This is the last thing that should happen on a team building day.

One of the most popular types of event is the Treasure Hunt. These are popular because they are not particularly physically demanding and do not obviously appeal to either sex more than the other. Challenges can be built into the format and events can be tailored to a client’s particular needs.

Treasure Hunts can be run in more or less any location in town and country. London Treasure Hunts are extremely popular and professional organisers will know the best routes to ensure an interesting experience without teams spending hours in queues with the tourists.

There is a wide range of options available in the participation event industry. Organisers should consider the make up of their group and any special needs that people may have. Organisers should avoid simply choosing activities which appeal to their own preferences; working with a professional event company and taking their advice will ensure that an event with broad appeal is chosen.

James Coakes

There is more than one version of The Four Cs of Teamwork. Jon R. Katzenbach proposed that they were communication, cooperation, collaboration and compromise whereas Lou Carloni suggested communication, cooperation, contribution and commitment. In either case analysing a team’s position on the four Cs is a useful exercise and these two examples have communication and cooperation in common. Perhaps we should settle on six Cs of Teamwork.

Communication

Katzenbach and Carloni both agreed that good communication was an essential ingredient of teamwork. Arguably communication is at the core of all processes within business. The basics of communication require that roles and responsibilities are discussed and assigned within the team and that information is effectively shared. Beyond this you must ask whether disagreements and conflicts are constructively handled and finally whether team members are open and honest. Trust is the key to effective teamwork.

Cooperation

Good teamwork requires that team members cooperate fully with each other. Cooperation is a result of good communication and it requires clarity and, crucially, trust. Effective cooperation should be a harmonious process and again the quality of communication will determine this. A measure of cooperation is that when a member of a team is under pressure others offer to help out and the key word is offer. Begrudgingly lending a hand having been told to do so is not the same.

Collaboration

It is quite difficult to differentiate between cooperation and collaboration. The definition of both words have much in common. Cooperation is more commonly used to describe an association of people for economic gain. Collaboration is typically an intellectual effort and it can also describe a treasonable association, for example with an enemy. It may suggest a form of very close and committed teamwork, but in this particular case I feel it is the weakest, or the least useful of the Cs.

Compromise

Compromise is very important in any relationship. It is rare for any outcome to be perfect; it is important that team members accept this and do not put colleagues under pressure particularly when a best effort is acceptable. There are conditions when perfectionism is necessary for example in engineering or when a less than perfect outcome presents danger. However, one of the most debilitating behaviours within a group effort is unnecessary nit picking or arguing over detail when it causes the team to lose focus on the objective.

Contribution

In most teams each individual will contribute a different set of skills to the group effort. The team must understand the role of each team member and they must understand how it contributes to the team’s objectives. Ideally everyone will understand and recognise the importance of each colleague’s skills. If one team member is perceived as being less important or not working as hard as others this will be a problem. If this is an issue between two colleagues the problem will need to be addressed by the team leader. If the feeling is a general consensus then serious questions need to be asked of the team member whose contribution is being questioned.

Commitment

Is the team committed to a common objective? Is the team, and particularly the leadership, committed to developing the individuals within the team? Are team members committed to one and other and do they share common values regarding the work they are doing? The first step towards encouraging commitment within a team is to make sure that they understand their objectives and how those objectives fit into the goals of the whole company. Teams need to know that the work that they are doing is important and valued elsewhere in the company.

How can you use this information to the benefit of your team?

Like many such theories this is essentially a discussion piece. You can take each word in turn and throw it out to your team members in an open session for discussion. Your objective is to see what issues come out of the discussion. You may find that other words and ideas come out of the discussion and you may find that there are other words which are more relevant to your team. There are also some useful online surveys based around this; again they are designed to stimulate discussion rather than reach a set conclusion.

James Coakes

One of the problems with the traditional teambuilding event format is that it is essentially divisive. A selection of activities is laid on and the group is divided into teams to have a go at each activity. An example might be a group of 20 divided into four teams of five to try archery, laser clay shooting, quad bikes and dune buggies.

Not only does this isolate people into teams which may be separated over the course of the event but often teams are encouraged to compete against each other so that a winning team can be announced at the end of the event. Some argue that this as the opposite of teambuilding.

Extreme activities such as abseiling and bungee jumping are even more divisive. Rather than building a team they separate a team into those who are afraid and those who are not.

One solution is to change the members of the teams at each rotation, but this can be time consuming and upset the equilibrium. Another solution often employed is to play down the competition in the events and not to have winners announced at the end. However, humans are naturally competitive creatures and even if the organiser is not comparing scores you can be assured that the participants will.

There has been a growth in non-competitive teambuilding programmes. These use one task which the whole team involves itself in together. Thus individuals are not separated from each other and the competition is between the team and the task and not between sub teams.

One of the most popular of these is an event in which teams work on smaller paintings which are put together in the end to make one big picture. Communication between all participants is essential so that the end result achieves some sort of congruence with the individual pictures. The end result can be kept by the participants to remind them of their event.

There are various other options available including Community Teambuilding in which teams take on a community project for example renovating a building or transforming wasteland into a garden. One team built an enclosure at a wildlife park for young tigers. The possibilities for projects of this nature are limitless.

In the majority of cases the essential requirement of teambuilding events is that the participants have fun and in such cases the traditional round robin activity format may be appropriate. However, if there is a real need to bond the team together the organiser should consider whether dividing the group into small groups is ultimately the right thing to do.

James Coakes

Joining an established team is very difficult. In most cases, team building happens with little intervention - the new team member is be welcomed and given time to bond, however in some cases the new team member will join a team with issues and where, regardless of the effort they make, they are unwelcome.

Consider the following when joining an established team.

Listen more than you talk - It is particularly important when you join a new team. Entering as a know-it-all, set in your ways will not endear you to existing team members. This holds true no matter where you are – from the US, Australia or the UK.

Team building will not be helped if you think you are better than everyone else.

Listen & learn from other team members - what they do, what sort of characters they are. Remember, people resist change, don’t tell them you know how to do things better than they do. Listen, you may even learn a better way.

Avoid sentimentality - keep references to the team you have just worked with to the factual. Your new team will not want to listen to your recollections of what a great group of people you worked with. Occasionally make positive observations about this team, don’t overdoing it.

Give respect to earn respect - even if you are joining the team at a senior level you cannot expect to automatically be given respect. The importance of earning respect rather than demanding it has been well documented already, but if you take time to listen, learn about other team members and understand why they fill the role they do in the team you will learn to respect them.

Don’t be patronising - under any circumstances. Take time to understand how your new team work. You may be surprised to find their way is better!.

Keep your promises, be reliable. - Don’t take responsibility for anything beyond you in the hope it will endear you to the team. Building rapport with other member is hard enough without overloading them with stress as a result.

Be a team player - if you feel insecure or unsure it can be tempting to work alone. Avoid this at all costs. Make sure you stay in the team by asking for help if necessary.

Keep lines of communication open - It is okay to admit you’re new and need support. Often people feel asking for help is a sign of weakness. Actually it can be one of the best ways of team building. You should avoid always approaching one person because they look friendly. Approach the person you consider most difficult first, the experience is often ground breaking.

Don’t argue - just don’t. Bite your lip; your time will come. Arguing when you are the new team member is a no win proposition. If you lose you undermine yourself and if you win you will have destroyed a relationship, hard to rebuild.

In the majority of cases your new team will welcome you and make every effort to help you. They will want it to work as much as you. Listen, understand what you don’t say will be as important as what you do say, be sincere and be yourself.

Team building takes time, team building takes patience, team building will not happen overnight.

James Coakes

Reed Employment made a survey of their clients and compiled a report called Motivating People at Work. This revealed that social events that were both organised and paid for by employers have risen by 31 percent. This included team building days for departments and fun days open to the whole company and their families. There is no doubt that this trend has continued over the course of this year with most event management companies reporting bumper years.

The increase in popularity of these events has risen as companies have become more concerned about the so called Work / Life Balance. Work is perceived more and more as a social activity. People spend the best part of the daytime element of their week at work and more people than ever before count their work colleagues within their main group of friends.

Dr Cliff Arnall of the University of Cardiff recently declared that Friday 24th June is the ‘happiest day of the year’. The seasonal disorders specialist devised a formula which measures good mood using increased outdoor activity, high energy levels and more sunlight. The formula he devised was:-

O + (N x S) +Cpm/T + He

In this formula O stands for being outdoors, N is for nature, s for social interaction, Cpm for memories of childhood summers and general positive memories, T stands for temperature and He is for holidays and time off work.

Could this same equation explain the success of outdoor events and why managers are increasingly turning towards events to motivate and reward their workforce?

Find out more about outdoor events for companies at www.teambuilding.co.uk

James Coakes

Many people associate alcohol with relaxation and fun, so it is an important ingredient for a successful event. However, it can be a problem and too much alcohol can cause a great deal of trouble.

Obviously alcohol and outdoor activities do not mix, particularly motorised and shooting events. All insurers insist on a policy of no alcohol at all before or during any events. It is impossible to police a situation where people are allowed ‘one or two’ so usually soft drinks and hot drinks are provided during events. When activities have finished then teams typically head off for a barbecue or meal and then drinks.

Consumption of alcohol can be a problem on events and it is those drinking sessions which continue on into the early hours which are better avoided. If you have exclusive use of a bar area ask the hotel to close it at a sensible time, say 11 p.m. If you don’t have exclusive use then you can ask the hotel to set up a separate area which you can control and say that drinks purchased in other public bars must not be charged to the company account. This way you can also restrict drinks to wine and beer and steer away from spirits. This will encourage delegates to get to bed early and have a good night’s sleep. If having a drink is important in your company culture then have a longer night on a Friday after a conference so that people can make their way home on Saturday morning complete with hangover. To start a conference in a fresh state of mind choose a country house hotel with access to good walking territory and have a team building walk after breakfast. Often teams start a conference after a large breakfast having not left the centrally heated environment of the hotel building; not the best way to get yourself going. You might arrange a light hearted aerobic session before an event; nothing too strenuous, primarily fun but out in the open and designed to get the blood flowing to the brain. Light stretching exercises are an excellent way to start a conference and the fun is ice breaking.

This point made in the majority of organisations will be perceived as a professional approach to a potential problem that most people do recognise. The delegates will thank you for any controls you put in place the next morning.

For more information on team building events visit www.teambuilding.co.uk

James Coakes

The UK has some of the most stringent Health & Safety standards in the World. Most blue chip companies go even further than the prescribed standards to ensure the wellbeing of their employees. Yet the majority of companies employ team building providers without checking on their own policies and procedures. In effect they are handing over the wellbeing of their employees to companies who do not have the same standards as they do and in some cases companies who have no standards at all.

This is not to say that these companies are purposefully dangerous but some team building providers are small or one man bands and lack the resources to have set up and run an acceptable Health & Safety policy on an ongoing basis. In my experience less than 10% of companies so much as enquire about Health & Safety and the vast majority do not even check whether event providers carry adequate insurance. This is a shocking fact and I believe that it is caused by that dangerous adversary of risk management; assumption.

It is very difficult to assess the size and standard of operation of a company from their website. Companies may look like an International operator with hundreds of employees when in fact they are a one man band trading from a spare bedroom. It is essential that those booking events ask for reassurance in the form of copies of insurance cover documents, a written Health & Safety policy and Risk Assessments of each of the activities being undertaken. This is a simple process; documents need to be seen and dates need to be checked to ensure that they are current.

Every activity provided by an event company should have a unique Risk Assessment. In some cases there is clearly no risk at all, but still the procedure should be undertaken. In such cases the Risk Assessment will read ‘this activity has been assessed and classified as low risk’ with the name of whoever undertook the Risk Assessment. Companies should have a designated Health & Safety Officer who has undergone training and is sufficiently experienced to know how to recognize potential risks.

The key document to consider in this process is the Risk Assessment. This supports the investigation of the activity by the provider. A Risk Assessment ensures that potential dangers have been considered and steps taken to minimize the risk. Activities are then classified as low, medium and high risk. You may decide to avoid high risk activities on your event. Risk Assessments are living documents, in that an activity provider should update it along with lessons learned as they practice.

If you are choosing medium or high risk activities it would be prudent to ask how many times the activity company has provided these activities before. You may wish to avoid undertaking a high risk activity run by a company who was providing it for the first time.

The corporate event industry is divided into companies operating on static sites and companies with a mobile operation who travel to venues. In most cases the event will be held in a field, often close to the hotel at which a client is staying. It is essential that any company providing such events visits the site before hand to assess the land. It is not enough to use a map as there can be trees in dangerous locations, particularly for motorized vehicles such as quad bikes or dune buggies, or holes in the land which make it dangerous for activities. In some cases land can be contaminated with dangerous scrap metal or broken glass.

If an event is water based the water should have recently been tested. In water parks or regularly used locations this is likely to be a regular undertaking, but in some cases a pond or waterhole will be used for bridge building or raft racing. This should be tested for bacteria or other dangerous deposits. It’s a risk to simply use an area of water without considering this.

There are many other areas that a sound Health & Safety procedure will cover. It takes time and effort to set one up and it needs to be maintained and updated on an ongoing basis. All event management companies should have one in place and they will only improve if more clients demand to see them.