How to plan a successful company team building day

17 April 2018

 

Team building events can be an incredibly powerful way of improving employee morale across the business – if done properly. With so much organisation required, staff expectations are often high. But pulling off a successful company team building day can come at the cost of losing sight of the goals you hoped to achieve – which is why you should leave the detailed planning to event experts.

The link between team building and employee engagement

Team building events are designed to improve the ways individuals work together and raise morale. If done correctly, team building events can:

  • Help to identify which employees work well together and which don’t.
  • Improve social links between individuals who may not interact with each other often.
  • Demonstrate to employees that their employers are committed to improving their working experience.

Engagement experts ‘Why Team Building’ say 87 per cent of engaged employees were less likely to leave their company than their disengaged counterparts. A team building event is clearly a good step towards better engaging workers with your business strategies.

Team building helps to engage employees with your business' overall goals and strategies.Team building helps to engage employees with your business’ overall goals and strategies.

Nearly 90 per cent of engaged employees were less likely to quit their roles than disengaged staff.

4 tips for planning a successful team building day

With these positives in mind, how do you go about planning a company outing? Here are four tips for planning a successful team building day:

  1. Pick an appropriate budget. If your business is able to afford a little extra, spend it. Your employees will notice the difference if you don’t and will become disgruntled. On the flip side, if you don’t have a lot to put into the event, get creative with your ideas. There is plenty you can organise that doesn’t break the bank.
  2. Find the right location and choose the right events to suit your day. The first means finding a site that will accommodate everyone attending the event and has the facilities appropriate for your planned activities. The latter means you should pick your activities based on whether they help you fulfil your goals for the day.
  3. Make sure you keep the goals you want to achieve in your mind throughout the event. If you don’t, you may lose sight of what problems you hope to address and your event will become redundant.
  4. Get feedback after. How do you know if the event has been a success unless you find out? Reach out to your employees afterwards, when the events are still fresh in their mind, and find out what they enjoyed, what they didn’t and whether you clearly communicated your goals for the team building day.

Balancing a professionally executed event with success

If your event is technically sound and professionally managed, you can still fail to engage employees with your desired outcomes. On the other hand, if your event is poorly managed from the start, your staff will find the whole experience a waste of time.

A poorly managed and executed event will make your employees think the team building event was a waste of time.A poorly managed and executed event will make your employees think the team building event was a waste of time.

Managing and executing a company team building day can be complex. Usually, it’s best to get the help of event production specialists to manage the nitty gritty, so you can focus on ensuring your team building event delivers on the goals you had in mind.

Why CMS Australasia?

We are Australian owned and operated industry experts, with our team designing and managing a range of events across Asia-Pacific since 1992.

Our CMSPlan© takes your event ambitions from initial design through production to the on-site experience. We work with you every step of the way to ensure your team building day is a complete success. We know that what you want is unique and that no two team building days are the same, so our management experts design a unique approach with our clients every time. We can even film the event and create a highlights video for you to remember the day’s success by!

For more information about our event design and management services or to talk to the experts about your ideas for your next successful team building day, contact CMS Australasia today to request a proposal.