“Ideas are cheap. Execution is everything.” It’s a saying which regularly gets trotted out when ideas are mentioned – including those for team building days. And yet… is it really true? No one seems to know for sure who first coined it. Too ashamed, perhaps…
As anyone who has ever sat through some meetings will know, ideas aren‘t cheap. Especially good ones. Sometimes blood from a stone is more plentiful. People waiting for others to chip in. People starting to say something then stopping. People being people.
Of course, if your ideas meetings are this bad, you need help. And who are we going to recommend to help you? You guessed it. Us. Among our indoor team building activities are training options designed to develop and improve business skills. Including how to speak up at meetings. Our Beat The Dragon game is perfect for this.
So, back to those team building ideas. Which are the good ones? How can you tell? Many team building companies offer similar-sounding activities:
• Icebreakers
• Treasure hunts
• Murder mysteries
• Spy games
• “Start Your Own Business” games
• Quizes and game shows
• Mental challenges
• Physical challenges
Why are so many doing similar things? Either they are all idiots with imagination deficits. Or, when delivered well, these activity ideas all achieve the kind of results which make them worth spending company money on. As our own team building events include all the “imagination deficit” ones just listed, I expect you can again guess where we stand on this.
Some ideas are faddy and may soon be past their sell-by. Anyone still up for wilderness survival? Inflatable sumo wrestling? Drumming? Chocolate making? Cooking? (Just give them time…)? Other ideas go on for ever. Why? Because they still work. Because they keep working.
Here, in a few nutshells, is our advice on how to tell good team building ideas from bad.
• Old, tried-and-trusted ideas can still be the best ideas. There is a reason they’ve been around so long.
• Old needn’t mean stale… but a “standard” way of running an event may be just that – a bit standard, a bit boring. Look for companies which put their own individual stamp on things, which keep refreshing and updating what they do, which seem to care about you and what they’re doing for you.
• New ideas and new events can be great, too. You want everyone to be enthusiastic about the team building day you’ve arranged for them. New, unusual team building ideas may provide a short-cut to achieving this. But still ask the right questions. New events can take time to get right, to “bed in”. Find out what will actually be happening, get a detailed running order. What will the day achieve? What makes this new idea as good as or better than other, more established event ideas?
• Money isn’t everything. More expensive doesn’t always mean better. Cheapest isn’t necessarily worst. With any idea for a team building day out, there are always plenty of cost variables. How much the venue charges. How many facilitators are needed for a particular type of event. How experienced they are, how much they are being paid. How much “kit” is needed. How much a film making day costs, for instance, will vary enormously according to what kind of cameras, sound recording, lighting and editing equipment are used, how the finished films are projected and whether the “experts” guiding you really know what they are talking about. And whether it takes place in Hollywood or a car park in Slough.
• Choose the right company. Who else have they worked for? What do other clients say about them? Do they create and run their own events or farm everything out to third parties? Are they flexible, adaptable? Do they listen? Do you trust them? For more on this, have a look at our Team Building Companies post.
“Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases:
(1) It’s completely impossible.
(2) It’s possible, but it’s not worth doing.
(3) I said it was a good idea all along.”
Arthur C. Clarke
Initiative Unlimited has many different ideas for team building days. Call us now on 0208 842 1284 or contact us.