Team Building Pains in Tough Times

We all know that tough economic times can take their toll on a team and compounding this, in such times, we are finding that our clients are facing two key areas of ‘pain’ when considering a team building event.

The first area of pain is the obvious – budget – or lack thereof. When times get tough economically any ‘unnecessary’ spending is cut back or eliminated. Quite often this includes any budget set-aside for team development or entertainment.

There are some ways that you can still build your team on a shoe-string but, first, be clear and realistic about what outcomes you are expecting. Is it a ‘just for fun’ activity to life morale and boost energy that you are after or are you looking to really develop and ‘build’ your team? What outcomes will you be expecting from the length of time invested?

We are finding more and more that organisers of team building are expecting a lot from a team building event with a low budget – it is unrealistic to expect massive outcomes for $20 per person including food!

A just for fun’ event can be easily organised in-house – even the organising becomes a team builder. Of course, a professional team building company may also be able to run a cost effective event.

To run an event that has minimal cost yet can still boost morale, consider utilising your own team and the power of google to come-up with ideas for a round-robin series of timed activities in the office.

Keeping an event on-site or very locally to avoid travel costs and down-time will reduce cost and, if catering is needed, how about a BBQ or even try pot-luck.

The second area of pain is around public perception - more on that later...