Team Building Getaways: How to Avoid Wasting Time and Money

Team building getaways: you need only google the term to see how ubiquitous they are.  They’ve gotten more and more popular over recent years, getting wilder and crazier and often, less worthy of the time and money spent on them. That’s because instead of focusing on how the ‘team building’ getaway is going to actually build relationships and encourage people to work together, many companies focus on outdoing each other with exotic locales and highly competitive activities.

Here’s the thing: you really don’t have to travel to China, force your employees to walk over hot coals (no, we’re not making that up) or engage in demeaning contests that involve things like eating baby food and swatting contest losers on the buttocks with the competition’s signage (yes, that really happened). These things will not build camaraderie, increase sales or motivate employees.  They’ll alternately cost you an arm and a leg that you’ll never see again, anger and alienate your staff or possibly get you sued.

Poorly planned team building getaways can be a disaster.  If the activities aren’t well thought out, they can turn into competitive madness that pits employees against each other instead of helping them figure out how to work together.  And competitiveness isn’t the point here.  Get your team all fired up to work against each other and you’ll likely end up bringing out their worst.  There’s also the ROI: you’ve got to factor in the cost of the getaway including the activities, transportation, food, accommodation and man-hours spent away from the office.  It may be more expensive than you think, so determine a budget ahead of time and go from there.

A few quick tips for planning a successful team-building getaway:

Go to a professional. Research corporate getaways and talk to someone who can help you find something that works for your budget and needs.  It doesn’t have to be expensive, nor does it have to take up an entire weekend or take place far from home.  Just getting out of the office into a neutral environment can help forge connections between co-workers, which is a good thing for daily operations at your company.

Lose the competitive edge. The idea is to plan activities that have a common goal for all participants, so they’re forced to work together to achieve success. This helps people learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and see how they can depend upon each other.

Keep it structured.  If you don’t have events planned throughout the getaway, odds are you’ll end up with an unfocused group of employees spending too much time at the bar.  At the same time, you’ll want to mix in some fun with the team-building activities, like a sports game.

Image via Sports Corp Elite

Keeping it Fresh: 7 Ways to Stay in Love with What You Do

Entrepreneurs have one of the most exhausting career paths, no matter what industry you’re in.  It’s sort of like extreme sports - exhilarating, frightening and strenuous all at once.  When you’re putting your all into your business, it’s easy to get burned out after a while, no matter how motivated you were when you first began.  It happens to even the most dedicated and goal-oriented of businesspeople, and it can be a steep hole to crawl out of.

Keeping that starry-eyed, butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling doesn’t just apply to personal relationships, it applies to your business, too.  Here are 7 ways that will help you stay in love with what you do, or get back that exciting feeling if you’ve already lost it.

1. Take a break. Seriously. We’re not talking about a lunch break or a 3-day weekend. You may feel like your business can’t operate without you, but you’ve got to get away every now and then to help you appreciate why you’re doing this in the first place. You’ll come back feeling refreshed and inspired, ready to take on new challenges with a positive attitude.

2. Learn something new. You need room to grow to feel challenged and inspired. There are always new things to learn in any field, so reading books, taking classes or attending seminars can help you expand your horizons and better your business. It’ll keep you from getting stuck in a rut.

3. Talk to other business owners in your field. Staying connected – whether it’s over drinks during cocktail hour, a business lunch to discuss your industry or networking at a convention – is key to keeping up your motivation.  Discuss the latest trends, newest gadgets and the challenges that you all face.  Avoiding your competitors can make you feel isolated and out of the loop. By keeping in contact, you’ll come away with inspiration to go above and beyond what the others are doing and you might get some new ideas in the process.

4. Read about the success of others.  Success stories are one of the best ways to gain and keep motivation to keep going forward, especially if you’ve been feeling bored or down about your future. Books like The Path to Success: Inspiration Stories from Entrepreneurs Around the World are great reading material for that weeklong vacation you’re planning (because you are planning one, right?).

5. Keep a regularly updated list of goals.  Actually write them down, and check them off as you reach them.  Keep the goals relatively small, so you don’t have this impossible-looking, intimidating list full of things that are hard to achieve.  It’ll give you something attainable to work toward at all times.

6. Drop the ‘all or nothing’ attitude.  Nothing will make you feel discouraged faster than holding yourself and your company up to impossible standards. So, you weren’t able to double your profits in the first year – most companies don’t. Don’t allow it to make you feel like you’re going nowhere. If you’re dejected about what you perceive as ‘failures’, it will affect the morale of your employees as well, and then you’ll be on a real downward spiral, not an imagined one.  Be realistic and accept that things don’t work out the way you’d like them to all the time – that doesn’t mean you won’t see plenty of success in the future.

7. Celebrate the little successes.  Allow yourself a pat on the back for that big contract you secured, the write-up in a local paper or an increase in your quarterly earnings. It’ll help you feel like you’re on your way up, and there’s nothing like little accomplishments to help you feel good about the path you’re on.

OPERATIONS | Busy vs. Productive: Why do American Workers Waste So Much Time on Non-Value-Added Activities?

In nearly every workplace, no matter the industry, there’s at least one person who somehow manages to get paid to do nothing. Maybe it’s a pair of office schleps who play games all day to avoid filing paperwork, the lady in the cubicle down the hall who spends an inordinate amount of time working on scrapbooks full of cat photos, or the delivery guy who somehow manages to spend a few hours of every shift at the pub watching football. Goofing off on the company’s dime doesn’t just waste money – it unevenly shifts the workload to others, which can lower morale and start a vicious cycle.

Loss of productivity can break even a successful business. Workers waste time for a lot of reasons – sometimes it’s lack of a defined schedule or concrete deadlines, other times it’s a lack of motivation or a need to clear the mind for a little while. Either way, you can nip time-wasting in the bud by giving your employees regular breaks, putting accountability in place to make sure tasks get done, praising good work, and setting goals that allow employees to see their importance in the daily functioning of the business.

The first and most important factor in employee productivity is morale. If your employees aren’t happy, they’re not going to put as much effort into their work. Make sure you’re providing a work environment that makes employees feel valued – that means providing fair benefits, for one. It also means setting goals and making sure each employee understands their value in the overall scheme of the company. If they feel like their work isn’t important or appreciated, they’ll be more likely to waste time on the internet or talking on the phone, so praise is very important.

On that note, having deadlines – and being firm about everyone sticking to them – can be a big motivator. If employees know that work is due on a certain date and time, and that someone will be holding them accountable for their work, they’ll be far more likely to get it done. You may also want to set progress markers at certain intervals before the deadline to go over outlines or see how the project is coming along. Communication really is key – keep up with your workers and make sure their questions are answered along the way.

Take a close look at the company supervisors. Having bad bosses can be a huge obstacle to success in business. If the employees can’t get along with their boss, they’re not going to be very motivated to do a good job. Supervisors must offer praise, keep negative comments to a minimum, take ownership of their own mistakes and keep their promises.

Finally, you must accept that your employees aren’t robots. If you work them too hard, they’re going to burn out and do even less work in the long run. Have reasonable expectations and they’ll be far more likely to go about their work with a positive attitude.

Give employees regular breaks throughout the day – say, ten minutes at midmorning and/or midafternoon in addition to the lunch break – to get personal things done like phone calls and internet browsing, or to get up from their desks and stretch a bit. This also gives them a chance to re-focus if they’ve hit a difficult point in their work. All of these measures show your employees that you understand the need for a work/life balance, and that in turn will help increase productivity.