Is Your Leadership Hurting the Bottom Line?

4 ‘Bad Leader Behaviors’ That Affect Productivity, Profits

What can business leaders and managers learn from watching the earnings of publicly traded companies?

“Plenty,” says Kathleen Brush, a 25-year veteran of international business and author of “The Power of One: You’re the Boss,” (www.kathleenbrush.com), a guide to developing the skills necessary to become an effective, respected leader.

“When looking at the corporations reporting lower-than-expected earnings, you need to read between the lines. They are not going to admit that the reason is a failure of leadership, but 99 times out of 100 that’s what it is.”

She cites Oracle, the business hardware and software giant, which recently reported a quarterly revenue shortfall based on a decline in new software licenses and cloud subscriptions.

The company is “not at all pleased with our revenue growth this quarter,” Oracle co-president Safra Catz told analysts. “What we really saw was a lack of urgency that we sometimes see in the sales force …”

They are pointing the finger at the employees, but they are really admitting a failure of  leadership, Brush says.

“Do you know how simple it is for managers to motivate sales people? If indeed the lack of sales urgency is the problem. There are dozens of bad leader behaviors that can cause sales to decline,” she explains.

In her work for companies around the country, from restructuring operations to improving profitability, Brush says she sees an epidemic of bad leader behaviors.

“When I point them out, most leaders downplay, or refuse to acknowledge, the impact their behaviors are having on their bottom line. But, in companies where leaders change these behaviors, employees become engaged and motivated. It is really that simple to increase productivity, innovation, and the bottom line,” she says.

“If you’re a boss examining your own lower-than-expected performance, instead of wasting time searching for scapegoats, look in the mirror. Most bosses unwittingly exhibit bad leader behaviors daily that cause their businesses to suffer.”

Here are four increasingly prevalent and damaging behaviors:

• The unethical boss: This is a category that doesn’t just annoy employees, it appalls them. As such, it’s a powerful demotivater. When a boss breaks or fudges the rules, cheats, lies or indulges in behaviors that reveal a lack of moral principles, he or she loses employees’ respect. Without their respect, a boss cannot lead. In addition, when a leader indulges in unethical practices, he gives his employees permission to do the same. Padding mileage reports, splurging on business travel expenses, failing to take responsibility for mistakes – they all become endorsed activities by the boss – the role model.

• The unfair boss: Our current societal efforts to treat people equally – think gay marriage, health care reform, the children of undocumented immigrants – have led to confusion among some leaders about “equality” versus “fairness” in the workplace. “I talked to a manager who gave all his employees the same pay raise because ‘he wanted to be fair,’ ” Brush recalls. He then seemed mystified that the productivity of his best employees declined to that of an average worker. “Rewards can be powerful tools of motivation, but they must be administered fairly.”

• The buddy boss: Bosses can never be buddies with their employees. Ever. Friendships neutralize the boss’s authority and power. They can also cloud a leader’s objectivity and hinder her ability to correct behaviors, to delegate, and to hold employees accountable. When friendships compromise output, it’s the boss who will be accountable. “Be friendly to employees, but do not cross the line that muddies the relationship between boss and friend. It could cost you your job.” Brush says.

• The disorganized boss:  Workplaces are filled with employees who lack direction because disorganized leaders don’t deliver and manage plans and strategies to guide their teams. What’s the chance of an unguided team maximizing its productivity to create competitively superior innovative widgets? “What’s the chance of employees being inspired by a leader who leads like a doormat or by random thoughts?” says Brush.

“As a manager, you wield a tremendous amount of power,” she says. “You can be an incredibly negative power or a positive one who’s looked up to by both peers and employees.”

“For the latter, bosses have to purge the bad behaviors.”

About Kathleen Brush

Kathleen Brush has more than two decades of experience as a senior executive with global business responsibilities. She has a Ph.D. in management and international studies. Brush has been teaching, writing and consulting on international business and leadership for companies of all sizes, public and private, foreign and domestic.

Is Your Leadership Hurting the Bottom Line?
4 ‘Bad Leader Behaviors’ That Affect Productivity, Profits

What can business leaders and managers learn from watching the earnings of publicly traded companies?

“Plenty,” says Kathleen Brush, a 25-year veteran of international business and author of “The Power of One: You’re the Boss,” (www.kathleenbrush.com), a guide to developing the skills necessary to become an effective, respected leader.

“When looking at the corporations reporting lower-than-expected earnings, you need to read between the lines. They are not going to admit that the reason is a failure of leadership, but 99 times out of 100 that’s what it is.”

She cites Oracle, the business hardware and software giant, which recently reported a quarterly revenue shortfall based on a decline in new software licenses and cloud subscriptions.

The company is “not at all pleased with our revenue growth this quarter,” Oracle co-president Safra Catz told analysts. “What we really saw was a lack of urgency that we sometimes see in the sales force …”

They are pointing the finger at the employees, but they are really admitting a failure of  leadership, Brush says.

“Do you know how simple it is for managers to motivate sales people? If indeed the lack of sales urgency is the problem. There are dozens of bad leader behaviors that can cause sales to decline,” she explains.

In her work for companies around the country, from restructuring operations to improving profitability, Brush says she sees an epidemic of bad leader behaviors.

“When I point them out, most leaders downplay, or refuse to acknowledge, the impact their behaviors are having on their bottom line. But, in companies where leaders change these behaviors, employees become engaged and motivated. It is really that simple to increase productivity, innovation, and the bottom line,” she says.

“If you’re a boss examining your own lower-than-expected performance, instead of wasting time searching for scapegoats, look in the mirror. Most bosses unwittingly exhibit bad leader behaviors daily that cause their businesses to suffer.”

Here are four increasingly prevalent and damaging behaviors:

• The unethical boss: This is a category that doesn’t just annoy employees, it appalls them. As such, it’s a powerful demotivater. When a boss breaks or fudges the rules, cheats, lies or indulges in behaviors that reveal a lack of moral principles, he or she loses employees’ respect. Without their respect, a boss cannot lead. In addition, when a leader indulges in unethical practices, he gives his employees permission to do the same. Padding mileage reports, splurging on business travel expenses, failing to take responsibility for mistakes – they all become endorsed activities by the boss – the role model.

• The unfair boss: Our current societal efforts to treat people equally – think gay marriage, health care reform, the children of undocumented immigrants – have led to confusion among some leaders about “equality” versus “fairness” in the workplace. “I talked to a manager who gave all his employees the same pay raise because ‘he wanted to be fair,’ ” Brush recalls. He then seemed mystified that the productivity of his best employees declined to that of an average worker. “Rewards can be powerful tools of motivation, but they must be administered fairly.”

• The buddy boss: Bosses can never be buddies with their employees. Ever. Friendships neutralize the boss’s authority and power. They can also cloud a leader’s objectivity and hinder her ability to correct behaviors, to delegate, and to hold employees accountable. When friendships compromise output, it’s the boss who will be accountable. “Be friendly to employees, but do not cross the line that muddies the relationship between boss and friend. It could cost you your job.” Brush says.

• The disorganized boss:  Workplaces are filled with employees who lack direction because disorganized leaders don’t deliver and manage plans and strategies to guide their teams. What’s the chance of an unguided team maximizing its productivity to create competitively superior innovative widgets? “What’s the chance of employees being inspired by a leader who leads like a doormat or by random thoughts?” says Brush.

“As a manager, you wield a tremendous amount of power,” she says. “You can be an incredibly negative power or a positive one who’s looked up to by both peers and employees.”

“For the latter, bosses have to purge the bad behaviors.”

About Kathleen Brush

Kathleen Brush has more than two decades of experience as a senior executive with global business responsibilities. She has a Ph.D. in management and international studies. Brush has been teaching, writing and consulting on international business and leadership for companies of all sizes, public and private, foreign and domestic.

 

 

Building Work Teams That are Successful

 

Most every job in every place of employment stresses the idea of team work. They discuss building teams and working in teams. But discussing and doing are two different things. There are actually not many people who really understand how to develop an effective work team. In order to do so there are a few good tips you should follow in order to be successful in team building. This is a very important aspect in many different businesses and fields so learn all that you can to stay on top of your game.

Tip 1: Make your expectations clearly understood. Ask yourself the following questions: does each member of my team know what is expected of them? Do they know exactly why the team was built in the first place? If the answer is no then you have not done a very good job of team building. Before anything else can happen the way it should, each team member must know exactly why they are there and what they are to do for the team and the company. If they do not, it is well past time to sit them down and have a serious discussion about these things. Until you do the team will be nothing but a figurehead that has no specific reason for being.

Tip 2: Assess the competence of your team. Do you feel that each team member is participating appropriately? Do they have the experience and knowledge to successfully contribute to the team as a whole? Do they have access to everything they could possibly need to get the work done that the team was created to do? All of these things are vital to the success of your team. It must be built upon competence.

Tip 3: Empowerment and freedom are both important aspects to team building and team work. What are the boundaries of each team member? What is the extent of their power to find solutions? If there are any sort of limitations they should be set forth at the very beginning of the team building process so that there is no confusion in the future. Giving too much freedom and empowerment will not go over well in the end, but giving too little will stifle the team members who will not be happy in their work or their place.

Tip 4: Collaboration is also important when it comes to working well as a team. Without it there will be no real team work happening. Each member must know and understand what their individual role is so there is no confusion. There must be a recorder so all information during meetings is lost of forgotten. This person is the minute taker. If money is involved there must be a treasurer installed. The process of problem solving should also be well thought out and executed by all team members equally.

By following these tips you will find it easier to hand pick the best ones for your team and have a team that is on board with the entire group with the success of the company at the heart of everything.

Simon Johnson is a team building (interesting to know is that the Danish term is teambuilding) expert, sharing his great tips online and currently working for a Danish coaching company – Attractor.

 

 

The Ten Steps to Achieving Enlightenment in Customer Service

It really does not matter what industry you are in, or whether you provide a service or a product, the essential tenements of customer service are the same.

The first and more natural form of customer service is reactive.  It consists of the following progression:

1. You receive a complaint or are somehow made aware of dissatisfaction.  It is imperative to respond quickly, without excuses, and honestly.
2. This phase is essentially about listening, showing empathy, and trying to ascertain what the customer expectations were and how the customer perceives they were not met.  It is imperative to detail and documents what the customer has been promised, by whom, and in what timeframe.
3. Then you need to get the customer to agree on what an acceptable outcome would be moving forward.
4. Now is the time for research, you need to go back to your service providers, compare the information given to you by the customer and ask them honestly for their version of what happened.
5. Comparing version A (customer) with version B (supplier) it is then up to you to determine how get from A to B in such a way it that the customer perceives the original expectations have been fulfilled or exceeded.
6. This is where it gets really fun.  A really great customer service Rep is nothing but a problem solver.  If you look at it as doing the minimum to get your complaining customer to shut up, you’re missing boat.  To me there was no greater satisfaction and being able to take a completely unhappy customer and making them so delighted with the process that they become the biggest advocate for your company or service.
7. Here the selling goes both ways, but at this stage it usually negotiating with the service provider to get them to agree the original expectations that were promised to the customer, what resources are required to reasonably get those expectations fulfilled, and agree on how soon that can happen.
8. Communication on both sides is critical.  The side that usually fall short, is keeping the customer abreast of the day-to-day efforts you are making, and progress that is happening on his behalf.
9. When you believe that you have resolved all the issues, restored performance to meet the customer’s expectations, it is crucially important to have the customer agree.  Most often they will be very appreciative, and happy to document the turnaround and all the efforts made on their behalf to make things right.  This is when they become not only good references, but advocates and the subject for testimonials.
10. The last step in the process is to return to your supplying team, share with them the success of your customer service effort, their part in it, how much you appreciate them, and if possible name them specifically and the customer testimonial.

After repeating the steps many many times, the process becomes second nature.  A truly enlightened supplier will by nature intuit this procedure.  When this happens one can predict many of the steps of this process and create a similar set of positive customer experiences proactively.

Although in a perfect world predictive customer service would preempt much of the pain and duplication of efforts, and the steps outlined above.  In actual practice sometimes it is actually a benefit to walk a customer through the steps of pain, to endear them.  As they say “the selling begins when the customer says no,” so sometimes endearing yourself to a customer begins when you really blow it, then make it right.

In my former life as a Semiconductor Capital Equipment salesman, I walked into a situation where we were eight months behind on a one year  $2,000,000 retrofit program.  It took me almost a year to get everything cleaned up, and within a few months after that I ended up selling them an additional $14,000,000 worth of equipment.

 

Top Tips for Ensuring Your Customers Come Back Again and Again

Finding new customers can be an expensive and time consuming process.  You need to figure out where to advertise to reach them, build up brand awareness, and then persuade them to trust you enough that they’ll hand over their money to you.  You could invest in thousands of ad impressions, get a lot of visitors and a fair few calls and emails, but end up seeing only a handful of sales for all your work.  Depressing, isn’t it?

That’s why it’s so important to look after your existing customers.  You’ve already built up brand awareness and trust with them, so they’re much more likely to buy your product, or hire your services again.  What can you do to keep your existing customers happy?

Reward Loyalty

Rewarding loyalty doesn’t have to mean starting your own loyalty card or points scheme, although you could do something like that if you run an online store that attracts a lot of smaller, repeat purchases.  There are other things you can do.  Offer a special discount to people who have purchased from you recently, or give your regular customers some little “added extras” with your next order.  If you have a customer that has been buying from you regularly for a long time, send them a token gift to commemorate their 50th purchase. It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you show your customers that you appreciate them.

Prioritize Customer Service

Good customer service should be your top priority from the outset; not only because quality customer service is an important part of crisis prevention, but because the quality of your customer service will be noticed during good times too. People don’t always call customer service with a complaint – sometimes they call with a question, or even to leave a compliment.  You don’t want to sour the tone of a happy customer by having their first interaction with your customer service department be 25 minutes of hold music.

Communicate When Things Go Wrong

No matter how carefully crafted your crisis prevention plan is, it’s inevitable that one day, something will go horribly wrong, and the effectiveness of your business crisis management skills will be tested.  When that day comes, you want to make sure that you win your customers over.  Most people will be understanding when they find out that there’s a problem – as long as you communicate effectively and work with your customer to fix the problem in the best way for both of you.   Be open, honest, and flexible, and you could earn yourself a valuable ally thanks to your communication skills.

Be Human

Dealing with faceless corporations is not pleasant.  The simple act of being human, and treating your customers as humans (rather than entries in a CRM database) will inspire loyalty in a lot of people.  It’s easy to get caught up in paperwork, invoices, spreadsheets, and crisis prevention plans when you’re running a business.  Don’t lose sight of the fact that your customers are real people, and that sometimes a personal touch is appreciated.

This post was written by Crispin Jones on behalf of Insignia who can advise you on crisis prevention and business crisis management. Photo: Victor1558

 

Communication Skills for Business Across Cultures

If your company deals with international clients communication skills are invaluable to avoid translation or cultural differences. A gesture or phrase that is fairly common or positive for us could be seen as rude or impolite to other cultures; this is why it’s important to improve on communication skills.

Disagreement Requires Tact

For example, in western culture a respectful disagreement with a manager or boss is for the most part encouraged or welcome if you can back it up with a valid point however in other cultures an outright disagreement (respectful or otherwise) is considered inappropriate and rude. Which is why it’s doubly important to have good communication skills when expressing disagreement since it will take subtle tact and suggestion in order to effectively communicate; some western cultures will not even pick up on a disagreement expressed if they don’t understand it’s considered impolite to disagree outright in other cultures.

When Business Links Aren’t Enough

When it comes to western culture business relationships are merely business; it’s important to them to keep them professional. However, in other cultures it is expected that business and personal relationships are intertwined. Communication skills and techniques go far beyond the bounds of simple business; it’s often considered impolite to immediately begin work without inquiring about health or family for many cultures. We may think we’re being professional, but for many cultures business etiquette is not enough.

Addressing Authority

Key communication skills level the playing field when it comes to the all important addressing of authority. In western culture we may be comfortable calling our boss by their first name if we have a good repertoire with them, but this is not true for all cultures. When in doubt always properly address a client or potential partner formally. Keep in mind that while most western cultures have someone’s first name first and surname second, other cultures prefer to do this in reverse. Also nicknames may be common in the immediate workplace but it’s expected that formal addressing continues much longer than in other cultures than in western cultures.

Nonverbal Communication

Finally, skills for effective communication are not limited to verbal speech alone; there are many nonverbal gestures that need to be mastered before we attempt them. For example, our “thumbs up” is a positive sign of agreement or confidence, but it would be considered incredibly offensive to certain cultures. While we all know it’s important to maintain eye contact, depending on the situation this could be incredibly offensive. Standing close to someone, sitting down first at a meeting, reading a business card in front of the person presenting it and even using your left hand to give something is all gestures that are could be construed as negative; so keep this in mind.

All is not lost however; researchers have found that a genuine smile is universally understood to be positive; one does not need communication skills to show a good old fashioned free smile.

Eugene Calvini is a writer and an office expert; he has given pointers from serviced offices Hong Kong to serviced offices Canary Wharf and is happy to share his insight online.

 

How to Improve your Business Negotiating Skills

In today’s highly competitive business environment, having good negotiation skills can make the difference between recording great sales and going through a slump. In order to take your business to new heights, great negotiating skills are vital.

Tips to Improve Business Negotiating Skills

Here are some tips that will help you to improve your business negotiating skills.

• Always be prepared: When it comes to successfully negotiating business deals, information is king. You need to be thoroughly prepared before you enter into any kind of negotiations. Research the business and products or services of the person who you are negotiating with. Know who your competitors are and also be aware of standard practices in your field, so that these cannot be used as leverage against you. It is also very essential to know what is important to the other person and what their expectations from the negotiations are. Lastly, you should be absolutely clear about what you want from the negotiation process. This means you have a clear idea of what your walk away figure will be, and you know exactly what is the very least that will be considered acceptable.
• Learn to listen: The only way to know the other person’s interests is by listening. This means you need to pay attention to everything that is being said, but also keep your eye on the other person’s body language. Visual clues can be a big giveaway of what the other person is thinking or what they want. Once you master the art of listening, you can come up with workable solutions to peoples’ problems and hence negotiate better deals.
• Be open to compromise: In rare cases you may be able to negotiate a deal on your terms only, but it is more realistic to know that compromises may have to be made. You need not compromise on things that are absolutely critical to you, but you should have areas in which you are ready to offer a compromise. This goes a long way towards making the other party feel that they are getting something from the deal too and is an extremely effective negotiating technique.
• Be prepared to walk away: Another essential negotiating skill is knowing when to walk away. Once you have outlined the best proposal that you can possibly offer, be prepared to walk away if the other party wants to negotiate further. This is a very effective way to close deals; however, you should be prepared to lose the sale should your bluff be called.

Esther is a financial blogger and writer, who writes about everything from contractor tax to how to set up an umbrella company.

 

 

Cross Culture Communication

Different cultures have different ways of expressing and communicating their thoughts and feelings, which means that many people who try to cross culture communicate get lost and confused. If you have tried before you have probably learned that to communicate to people who are not of the same culture can be very difficult. There are some strategies that you can use that will help you better cross communicate, unlike the futures trading secrets course you can learn the strategies for cross cultural communication right now.

Here are some tips and strategies to help you out when you need to communicate with someone from a different culture:

• Assume. Always assume that the differences in cultures could cause communication problems. However, because this is the case, you should never assume that you know what is being thought and said by someone from another culture. When you jump to conclusions about what is being said things could get aggressive over a simple misunderstanding.

• Stop and think. If things do not seem to be going very well while you are trying to communicate with someone from another culture stop and think. Stop and slow down to think about what is going on. Usually if things start going wrong it is because of a misinterpretation.

• Actively listen. Listening actively means that you repeat what you think you heard. That way, as you are telling the other person what you thought they were saying, any misinterpretation can be straightened out. All misinterpretation can be eliminated when you actively listen to each other.

• Get help. If all else fails and you are really having a hard time understanding each other; find someone who knows both cultures and languages. These people are called intermediaries. Intermediaries are people who help with cross-cultural communication because they are familiar with both cultures. The intermediary can be very important because the differences in one culture can make a person from another culture feel uncomfortable and the intermediary can help explain or control this. However, when using an intermediary who is the same culture as one of the people trying to communicate it can make it look like there is a bias when there is none.

When you are trying to cross communicate with someone just remember to be careful with your words and try to explain what you mean as you are speaking. Cross culture communication can be difficult but it is not impossible.

Madison Hewerdine is an author who writes about the futures trading secrets course and has a passion for Latin dancing.

 

Do You Know How Valuable Corporate Training Is?

Corporate training is an expenditure that compares to others like recruitment and advertising; however, most companies just pay attention to the course’s cost and number of learners, and fail to measure its return on investment.

Basically, the majority of companies are not tracking how the cost of training transforms into results; but… why should they do this in the first place?

Because in this way, they can improve their training, concentrating on the courses that give results and getting rid of those that add zero value.

Effective corporate training, either through e-learning or on-site, has many benefits, such as:

Knowledge transfer: as knowledge is transferred from one area of the organization to another, more people benefit from it
Expertise gain: people acquire more and better skills
Higher retention: people tend to want to stay in a company that invests in their training
Higher morale: when people feel that the company is investing in their future, there is a boost in morale
More sales: all of the above translates into happier, more effective employees, which in turn increases sales

All of the above can be measured. When you evaluate corporate training results, you are able to see the value behind an effective training course and how it influences the bottom line.

Following are some ways in which companies can measure the effectiveness and value of corporate training:

A company can select a couple of points to assess the numbers for both, before and after the course.
A company can form two groups, a control group and a training group, and track them to measure their performance.
A company can supervise performance on strategic areas that concern a specific training.
A company can ask for comprehensive post-training information that documents the precise actions that were taken and the results of these.

For instance, let’s say a company held a sales course and afterwards it tracked the performance of those who took the course against others who didn’t.

There are two possible results:

1. The control group and the training group perform the same.
2. The training group outdoes the control group.

If the first option is true, then the training was not valuable.

If the second option is true, it means the training was very effective. In this case, the company can take the larger profits made by the training group, compare these to the cost of the training, determine the return on investment, and identify the value of corporate training.

Mark Doyle is a freelance writer who lives with his dog Smokey in the Pacific Northwest and learns best through e-learning.

 

I’m Sure That You Are Way to Busy to Read This

I just don’t have the time.  There isn’t the bandwidth.  There are not enough hours in the day. The hurrier I go the behinder I get.  Surely these are very common and familiar phrases in your work-a-day world.  To me, only the last one holds any modicum of truth.   Indeed, the more harried you allow yourself to get, the less efficient you become.  How many projects are put off simply because of poor time management?  How many concepts are thought to be staggering simply because of the perception that the project is just too big?

Consider the space shuttle.  Taken at its entirety the project was of such magnitude that nobody alive could possibly have attempted such a thing, yet broken down into its component tasks and properly scheduled it was one of the most successful and satisfying undertakings of modern man.  There is rarely a case to be made for not having “enough time.”

I have seen manager after manager bemoan the rigors of their daily schedule ad infinitum.  Seriously, to the point of spending hours at the coffee machine or behind their desks bitching and moaning about how little time there is in their day.  How many times during the day do we really schedule time to invest in the things that are actually going to SAVE us time in the long run?  In my former life the business development of a major corporate travel management fell to my responsibility.  There are absolutely no end of executive administrators and “C” level managers we ran into that realized there travel program was absolutely out of control (costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours annually) but simply didn’t “have the time” to sit down with us and get it fixed.  Ironically, these same managers and admins somehow “had the time” for their engineers and managers to sit down on their computers and book their own travel, often making mistakes or deliberate misuses of corporate budget that any professional agent would have caught in a heartbeat.  These same engineers and managers also seemed to have the “time” to spend on weekend “teambuilding” retreats, trade shows, and product user group meetings.  It seems to be that “time” is not the issue; rather it is one of priority.

Properly setting your priorities, and holding to the discipline of enforcing your schedule, is of key importance in time management. It reminds me of a friend I had growing up that had to buy all of their groceries at a boutique market because they took credit cards, and the local market did not.  They couldn’t just eat beans and graham crackers for one single month to save enough to pay off the credit card debt and start paying with cash at the market across the street that cost about 2/3 of what the boutique market charged.  Instead of exercising the discipline and “sucking it up” for a small period of time, they continued to pay exorbitant prices for their groceries, and monthly interest charges on their credit cards.

Time is money.  If you don’t take the time to invest in your future, you will not have any savings.  Our next installment will discuss how to invest time wisely on your internet presence:  your website and your social media profiles and sites should be your best “selling” assets.  Have you invested the time to make sure you are taking the maximum advantage of those golden resources?

 

Top Tips for a Great Team Building Away Day

Team building is a useful way for businesses to get their employees together and achieve a number of business goals, as well as having a bit of fun at the same time. There are numerous ways in which team building can work, from a simple brainstorming session in the pub to a full on day out in professionally run venue, this type of activity can be very beneficial for both morale and the business in general. In this article we outline some top tips that can make these days run as smoothly as possible.

Find the right venue

For some purposes a car park might suffice, however many of the most effective team building days happen when the right venue is chosen. To make it an “away day” feel like just that, it’s a good idea to pick a venue that is out of the office but not so far that attendees will feel like they’re going to spend all day travelling.  The best venues will have a reception area where bags can be left and people can relax in comfort, flexible meeting rooms, and other outdoor spaces for some of the more fun or abstract team building activities, as well as free flowing refreshments on offer throughout the venue. Very often venues with all the top notch facilities will be on the outskirts of big cities or housed in some of the most attractive buildings in the country – this means they really offer an ideal location for productive team building.

Get the right balance of activities

Team building days should be fun but they are also useful if a business is hoping to get a message across or after lots of new staff members have joined in order that everyone can get to know everyone else. Therefore it is important to get a good mix of activities for the away day. These can range from the gently competitive such as a school-style sports day or go-karting to more collaborative activities such as assembling a huge art installation that highlights your company‘s corporate values. Other worthwhile activities include simple ice breaking games for those who may take a little while to get into it and even days where it appears there’s very little to do with work but collaboration is very important such as cookery workshops.

Supercharge your brand

Several conference venues have in recent years taken the innovative step of creating branded space for a business that is using its facilities. This can be a real benefit for a team away day because it really gives the event a professional air and can make attendees feel like they are part of something significant. The best conference providers will be able to customise the required space with everything from brand logos adorning the walls to whether solid oak floors or carpets are required in the business “hub”. Many businesses have found that creating this type of bespoke space is ideal for embellishing an atmosphere of quality – especially in regards to training and team building as it shows employees that their workplace is prepared to go that extra yard.

Obviously there several other ways in which team building activities can be done, however it is certainly an aspect of business that should not be avoided – in the very least it can be a fun day out for everyone.

Jonathan has been away on many training days and in many meeting rooms with a variety of companies. He has found training away days very useful and a good morale booster.