The focus of the day was about working more effectively together and increasing trust and communication throughout the team. Following a consultation with two members of the Executive team, an event was designed that would highlight the business challenges that were currently being faced and the positive impact that effective teamwork, communication and collaboration would have on both the results and the engagement and motivation of the whole team

I had heard a lot about team building days previously and I always wondered what they were about and what participants actually learn on a day like this. Even more importantly, I had questioned how what happened on a team building day would link back to the everyday working environment. I have to say though that the whole event really opened my eyes; it was delivered in a really unique style, incorporating high levels of creativity, interaction and challenge!

One of the things that I noticed was that initially the participants were a bit reluctant to put all their trust in each other believing that they were in competition, although that was never in the brief they received. Once they realised that by working together they could achieve more, they began to share information and resources with amazing results.

Through effective communication, collaboration, teamwork and trust, everyone worked more efficiently and tasks were finished far quicker. The difference in the levels of individual and collective motivation, commitment to the task and quality of the results was astounding.

As we started the review of the activity, one of things that I found most interesting was that it was the participants, rather than waiting for the facilitator to do it, that recognised and highlighted many of the things that I have mentioned. Talking openly about what had happened during the activity and the impact that it had on them, they also started to relate many of the examples to work specific situations. Finally, and without much prompting, they also began to plan how they needed to take the ‘learns’ from the activity and apply them back at work to achieve a truly collaborative result.

Having observed the event and spoken with the members of the Executive team, it is apparent that the Team Building day is simply the first step towards the embedding of a new set of team behaviours that will improve results even further. The Executive team were quick to recognise that to embed and sustain the change, will require their time and continued focus to make the new behaviours habitual.

Yapp Brothers have begun this process and are already beginning to establish their ground rules. It is these behavioural ground rules that will underpin the vision, values and performance of the company going forward.  Phoenix has and will continue to support this process. Three months later it is clear to everyone that the day was not simply fun but more importantly it has created a real difference in their work environment with the participants consistently still demonstrating the collaborative team behaviours and seeing a tangible difference in motivation and results .

One of the conclusions that I drew from attending the event is that a day out of the office rather than just being fun needs to give people a chance to stop for a moment, step back from their day to day tasks and spend a bit of time re-evaluating their strengths & development areas.  People need to be given the opportunity to ask themselves – what works for me currently or what am I good at? What is more challenging or more difficult?  How can I begin to work or build upon and address these areas? And finally what help, direction or support do I need for others around me?  From a team perspective, a day like this offers the chance for people to get to know each other again even often after working together for years. It can be a real eye opener for people to become more aware of and appreciate others’ strengths. They can then truly start to recognise and implement  their strengths to achieve the maximum individual, collective and business potential.

It was a brilliant day and I’m really looking forward to getting involved in another event soon!

1. Be authentic! People may listen to you talk, but they always watch the walk too!
2. Leading from the front is a myth; effective leaders lead from the front, middle & the back, dependent on the situation & what their people actually need.
3. Wherever possible give your people all the information; if you don’t they will fill the gaps with misinformation.
4. Leadership is about doing the right thing. When you do the right thing more often than not, you will do the thing right.
5. The organisation will often provide the ‘what‘ that the team needs to achieve, but it is leaders who provide the direction on ‘how‘ the team achieves it.

Designing your slides

Don’t give too much away! If your slides provide the full content of your presentation, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t just e-mail everyone the slides and stay home; you have made yourself redundant. A good set of slides will engage your audience’s interest but also require your spoken explanations to make sense.

Lose the agenda slide. Your audience will really pay attention if they can’t predict what you’ll say next. What’s more, you’ll appear more in command of your subject if you seem to be moving organically from point to point, even if you’re privately following a linear structure.

Remember that PowerPoint is a visual medium, so use it to display images. Charts and graphs work better than tables. Your own drawings or sketches are a better and more personal choice than Clip Art, even if you’re not a professional illustrator. Colour and good, simple design help too. However, too much animation can be distracting.

If you do use text, keep to a maximum of 5 words per slide. More than 5, and you will force your audience to focus on reading. If they’re reading, they won’t be listening to you. Think slogans, not paragraphs.

If your audience needs information to take away, provide them with this in hard copy afterwards instead of cluttering your slides with lots of detail. (If I were making a presentation on this subject, for instance, only the highlighted phrases here would appear on my slides, while you’d receive the article in full as a handout.)

Presenting your slides

Don’t spend your presentation reading your slides out loud with your back to the audience. Unfortunately, many people use PowerPoint slides as reminders of what to say. This is a ghastly mistake which may fatally undermine the impact of your presentation. The slides are for your audience’s benefit, not yours. If you need reminders, print out your own handheld notes, or use note cards.

Take time over the introduction to build rapport.

Make sure you make eye contact, pause after significant points to let the message sink in and, most importantly of all, remember to breathe!

Don’t forget that adrenaline will alter your perception of time, so while you may feel that you’re speaking at a reasonable pace, your audience hears you rushing through your words. You may need to slow down more than you think so your audience can keep up.

You’ll find your audience will enjoy your presentation, and that you’ll enjoy delivering it too!