Creating a positive environment

Do you remember Aesop's Fables? One of the best known involves an argument between the sun and the wind. The wind challenges the sun, claiming to be the most powerful element. Clever old sun sets a competition. Seeing a traveler coming up the road he says that whichever of them manages to take off the traveler's cloak will be the winner. The wind blows fiercely but the more fiercely he blows the more tightly the traveler wraps his cloak around him. The sun burns brightly, and in the end the traveler removes his own cloak.

Like all of Aesop's Fables The Wind and The Sun is a clever allegory. When organisations have a problem to solve they often gather people together and talk about 'the problem'. This can create a negative setting in which people will want to pull in their cloaks around themselves for protection. An alternative strategy is to turn the problem into an opportunity and create a more positive setting.

Often our clients will plan a day of events with a meeting in the morning and then an afternoon of activities. The thinking behind this seems to be; 'let's get the business out of the way and then we'll have some fun'. Sometimes it seems that this is the wrong way around, particularly when there are problems to solve. There are alternatives; you might have the creative, fun event first and then deal with business with a refreshed mindset, for example.

There is another way. You can make business challenges and opportunities a part of the fun events. Instead of choosing random activities that are fun but not linked to business you can have a bespoke activity format where each challenge is linked to your business. Critically this can be achieved without compromising on fun and making the activity too introspective.

We specialise in this sort of event and we have experience which we can demonstrate with case studies. So, if you want more than 'off the shelf' team building do give us a call.