Every successful company across all industries, use best practices to guarantee quality, consistency and optimal outcomes. They are a set of techniques, methods or processes that have been proven over time by trial, error and research to produce the most efficient and effective way to achieve desired results.
When it comes to team building, we have discovered what works best and what differentiates our programs from others.
All Things Being Equal
When it comes to team building, many training and consulting companies use games and exercises they believe build camaraderie and teamwork. These games often include scavenger hunts, trivia, escape rooms or jeopardy-type games. Because these approaches rely heavily on competition, the results divide teams into winners and losers. Tossing frisbees and knocking around golf balls may go a long way to alleviate stress and have fun but they do not build solid teams. Everybody Up! levels the playing field and values individuals as equals and as contributing members of the team as a whole. We use methods and exercises to quickly break down barriers to communication and create trust, collaboration and empathy. Our non-competitive, interactive, experiential exercises are rooted in ways that celebrate everyone and gives way to building confidence, the ability to speak up, thus moving everyone further and faster toward goals.
Experiential Approach with a Good Dose of Humor
We use experiential exercises which encompass a broad base of sensory stimulation. We don’t rely on lectures, passive note taking or videos to carry our messages. When people are up on their feet, finding commonalities, and sharing about themselves, they are more apt to integrate what they are learning and use it in the future. Many of the exercises we use carry a heavy dose of humor that builds trust, reduces stress, prevents burnout and helps people relax and connect with one another. And did you know…A good laugh or a shared joke boosts overall brain power by releasing chemicals that improve focus, creativity and productivity. Research has also proven that having a sense of humor will help you live a longer, healthier life, will lower blood pressure and strengthen the immune system.
As humor breaks down barriers to communication and builds trust the result is an open sharing of ideas that lead to true team collaboration and creativity.
Personal Transparency
Being real, saying what you mean yet compassionately listening to others and practicing empathy goes a long way to creating trust, accountability and collaboration. When employees on all levels witness leaders being up front and real about not only the state of the business, but admitting their own concerns, feelings and sharing real-life stories, they put themselves on a level playing field with the team. Transparency is the single most important factor that creates trust, empathy and respect among employees. It’s also important that communication from the top are related to employees on the front lines, the ones doing the heavy lifting every day, the ones who typically don’t hear directly from the CEOs and VPs. Humans are complicated creatures and especially so when it comes to interpreting messages that come down the line. Remember the Operator game you played when you were younger where everyone sits in a circle and a message begins with the first person, is repeated to the next person and by the time that message gets to the last person in the circle the contents have completely changed and taken on a new meaning of its own. That game was good for a lot of laughs, but it’s an excellent example of how messages when passed down from person to person can completely change in meaning. Not only does hearing it from the top creates clarification, it too, establishes trust and respect among employees at all levels.
Celebrating Failure
We not only celebrate people as they continue to excel, but in our workshops, we celebrate failure too. Facing failure head on, admitting mistakes and being accountable sets the stage for a real learning experience. When employees hide misstates and avoid speaking up, shame and fear set in resulting in humiliation and loss of confidence. Minimizing the mistake or denying it altogether risk mistakes becoming giant monstrosities that may result in poor reviews, loss of team confidence and worse yet, lost clients and profits.
Celebrating failure brings the error out into the open and takes the winds out of the sails of defeat opening up the opportunity for lessons learned. We believe in failing fast. Just accept that failure is going to happen and is part of the process of learning and growing. The quicker we overcome failure, the quicker we’re going to find a success.
If you would like to hear more about what we do and how we do it or if you’d like a free 30 -minute consultation to discuss the challenges you have with your team give me a call at (512) 695-9144.