Methods That are Almost Guaranteed to Improve Creative Thinking in Your Team

An effective team needs little supervision to get on with the job. Problems are solved creatively. They offer constructive comments in meetings. They are able to debate workplace issues openly. But how can YOU get your team to this stage? The answer is simple - use corporate entertainment as team building! Good team building encourages creative thinking in a motivational environment. The original team building activities acknowledged this by presenting staff with a series of challenging problems and limited resources. Team building also encourages the stronger team members to support the weaker ones, thus improving their performance. Team building encourages time for review and reflection. That all sounds very positive so why do many employees groan when team building is mentioned in the workplace? Probably because traditional team building activities now seem contrived and outdated. Predictable. There is always someone who has done it before, probably in school, removing the need for the team to think creatively. The tasks are also generally individual challenges, do one, lets move on to the next. This creates a sense of sameness. This is exactly why corporate entertainment works as team building. Nowadays mean that your staff will be expecting something a little more sophisticated, with an element of competition, in order to be truly motivated. The competition element of team building is crucial as your business needs to compete to survive. In response to this, team building organisations are devising more interesting contexts, often themed events, for their challenges. For example, companies like Spy Games Ltd offer full or half day spy themed team building days - their 'Enigma Project' being one of these. Delegates here complete a series of challenges that require excellent teamwork, communications and creative thinking in order to succeed. The element of motivation comes from the espionage context, a short time to complete tasks and the need to acquire as many Spy Dollars as possible. Debate and reflection on success occurs naturally, not in a forced and contrived manner. Another innovative team building idea is the corporate entertainment event 'Be a Knight for a Day' from Knightactive. The grand finale is the joust, but to reach that, the teams must progress through a series of events including archery, building a trebuchet, jousting practice and the Battle of Agincourt. Members of the team are promoted from squire to knight as they acquire the appropriate skills and the whole team is involved throughout the day - there is nothing worse for team building than standing around watching. So when you are choosing a team building event, think carefully. The best events will link the activities, demand creative thinking and involve competition.