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NZ Marketing Magazine April 2009

Adding Value Or Variety?
What, if any, are the organisational benefits of team building? This was the subject of a recent Masters thesis undertaken by Deb Cresswell. The research involved two, large, well-known New Zealand organisations. A total of 72 participants took part in team-building activities facilitated by Glenn Browne from Pureoutdoors NZ. Overall, the results were overwhelmingly positive:
• 95 percent of the participants stated they had enjoyed the activities.
• 76 percent felt the participation in the team-building activities had positively impacted on their workplace, in terms of increased/enhanced interpersonal relationships.
• 75 percent felt better able to communicate with their colleagues as a result of the team building and 82 percent felt better able to understand their colleagues.
• 100 percent from the first organisation and 72 percent from the second organisation felt “more like part of the family” as a result of participating in the team-building activities.
• Overall, 80 percent of the participants from both organisations felt the team building had been beneficial to their respective organisations, with 72 percent of respondents more likely to talk positively about their organisations outside of the workplace.
• Almost 50 percent of the respondents also reported they felt more committed to their respective organisations as a result of engaging in the team-building activities.

Team building hit the headlines earlier this year when it was revealed Auckland City Council marketing staff had taken part in an exercise that involved painting how they felt about their jobs. What the exercise leader described as expression through art in a safe environment, the mayor regarded as inappropriate use of public funding.
What the Council’s van Goghs and Renoirs revealed about themselves and their work remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, across the Tasman, the Australian Government was spending A$1 million on a series of ‘happiness workshops’ for senior staff in the public sector. Not surprisingly, the use (or misuse) of public funding made headlines there. Fortune cookies would have been a less contentious option.
Team building and corporate training are more important than ever to both management and staff, but those in the business say there’s a lot of confusion over what they’re actually all about – and not just when they involve taxpayer dollars.
Corporate training involves acquiring new skills or concepts and needs to be based on the particular needs of the individuals and the business. Companies like Warehouse Stationery put significant effort into this, says its learning and development manager, Garth Cook. “Retail is complex due to the sheer range of activities involved, so the breadth of learning required is similarly broad. We have active learning systems in place for the newest retail team member right through to the CEO.”
“Not only does it add value to the people, it adds value to the bottom line,” says Vinnie MacBride-Stewart, organisational and development consultant with People & Performance, at Coca-Cola Amatil, New Zealand. “People are of huge value to us but we can’t lose sight of the business performance.”
MacBride-Stewart goes on to say that People & Performance is the result of a recent internal rebranding exercise. “HR seems quite an old term; the new name highlights our two-pronged approach to business.”
Corporate training effectively starts the day a new recruit joins the company – at whatever level. A well-planned induction period is essential for newcomers and needs to cover areas like company policies, practices and procedures, the products and services the company offers, communicating with clients and the use of technical equipment – including handling the telephone system.
This should then flow into structured development programmes built around the competencies required for personal growth and leadership within the organisation.
And team building? Those annual ‘bonding’ exercises when marketers get to understand they really do have something in common with the bean counters and sales team?
“Team building is a phrase that’s become overused,” says Mark Smith, managing director at Christchurch-based Horizons Unlimited. “It used to refer to efforts focused on building team effectiveness, but these days it seems to include any recreational activity that a team decides to undertake, including go-karting and driving tanks.” Generally, says Smith, the main focus is having a fun, shared experience. “By calling it ‘team building’ it becomes a legitimate expense.”
Fun is important, but generally organisations want to see improvements that positively affect their bottom lines, says Smith. “We prefer to call our interventions team development and leadership development – with the emphasis on development.”
“Team building is about facilitating a recreational experience whereby the participants gain a better understanding of issues and each other through learning by doing,” says Stu Robertson of Corporate Challenge NZ. “What you hear you forget, what you see you remember, but what you do you learn.”
It may not be new but it works, says Mark Smith. “Educationalists have long recognised that experience and experimentation are essential elements of effective learning.” Smith says that, increasingly, development programmes are involving an on-the-job component, where concepts introduced out-of-work, are transferred into a work context. “This can mean following up on an outdoor-based programme with an indoor ‘application-focused’ session, or requiring participants to undertake at-work assignments where they apply their new knowledge in on-the-job projects.”
There’s a lot of corporate focus on leadership today but that can throw a spanner in the works. Outward Bound’s Greg Thomas says leaders need to be authentic and have set standards concerning people, integrity, a focus on the long term and a desire to serve. “For many employees it’s not about leadership but team building and how to work most effectively together to achieve their objectives. Let’s be clear. Team building is not a fun activity and a few wines afterwards. Any positive team atmosphere from such an event usually lasts about one day until they’re back at work and assuming their usual habits.”
Outward Bound’s Navigator Leadership Development programme is an eight-day course designed to develop leadership and teamwork capabilities for an organisation’s emerging or existing leaders, says Thomas. “It’s designed to help people manage their own performance and bring about change in others by providing managers with the theory behind leadership, including their working style profile and 360-degree feedback from peers.”
The programme puts the feedback and theory into action in real and engaging situations that require teamwork and leadership, he says. “The result is real learning that lasts.”
Contact, with over 1000 employees spread over the country, works on a tailored programme at Outward Bound. It’s not hugely different to the Navigator programme says HR consultant Jennifer Lyster, but has been designed to use Contact’s language and reflect the company’s values and culture. “The goal is to get people to experience something that increases their own self-awareness, and their willingness to know themselves and learn and grow.”
Based on annual OCRs, Coca-Cola Amatil runs what it has called its Excel programme, says MacBride-Stewart. “These are our high-performing, high-potential people. They’re our real talent, our future leaders.” They undertake a structured development programme, which includes Outward Bound’s Navigator programme. “It’s based around leadership and it takes them out of their corporate environment and challenges them on many different levels.”
MacBride-Stewart says it’s not being done purely for the company. “We do it because we feel it adds that extra dimension. It’s not just about climbing up the corporate ladder, it’s about challenging themselves, looking for opportunities and taking risks, developing them as a well-rounded person with even more ability to be a strong leader in the company.”
It makes their marketers look at things from a group dynamic viewpoint, says MacBride-Stewart. “A lot of the time they sit in a room and come up with amazing ideas but when they work in a team of people it helps them look at what they’re doing and how it will impact on others.”
The two-day business simulation programmes run as part of its training initiatives are also of huge benefit to its marketers, says MacBride-Stewart. “In a marketing or sales environment you’re often competing against your co-workers whereas in the business simulation you’re working together.”
The leadership element in corporate training is one where celebrity speakers frequently become involved, says managing director Ryburn. “It’s an important component because employees need to be constantly growing and learning.”
People management, change management, emotional intelligence, customer service, innovation and creativity are also key areas, says Ryburn. “They all come under the leadership umbrella. Attitude is also a very topical issue, used with the aim of improving performance and productivity.”
And Ryburn reports an increasing trend for clients to look at long-term training solutions. “One-year programmes are very popular and we’re seeing them achieve much better results than one-off sessions as company messages are reinforced and followed through consistently.”
But making a place for activities some would regard as simply fun is still important, says Lynne Whitaker of Tauranga-based Number One Resource. And ideally these activities are outdoor based and physical, she says. “This takes people away from the indoor environment where they spend enough time anyway.”
Such activities can be an inexpensive and speedy way to give something positive to staff and, at the same time, get them to see each other from a different perspective, says Whitaker. “Before Christmas we worked with groups using our programmes instead of, or as well as, a staff dinner. This built very strong and positive staff relations; dinner alone can be the same as the workplace. The same people sit together and moan together. Mix them up, get them to play and laugh together and lots of things improve. We really see it.”
She says the key is in the planning; having a thorough understanding of the outcomes required and customising a programme to suit.
Warehouse Stationery works with a number of training providers, says Garth Cook. “We look for the best in particular areas then establish a strong relationship. We know we can’t be the best at everything so we choose to be very good at training in our processes and systems and use external partners for generic skill development.”
And rather than team building, the company works on employee engagement, he says. “This has a proven return on investment. It’s much more business focused. Corporate induction has also been a strong focus for the company,” says Cook. “We realised some time ago we were losing people in the first six months – often a sign that your induction process isn’t as successful as it should be. So we went into total overkill mode with once-a-month training. Now our retention is so high it’s only once every two months!”
Cook says Warehouse Stationery’s marketing team is involved in learning at several levels and with different providers. “We’ve done a number of marketing-specific courses through the Marketing Association and had great feedback. They’re a really good example of why you don’t need a training department in a small business.”
Warehouse Stationery gives marketers the opportunity to receive training from the most basic through to post-graduate levels. “One of our promises is to add a line to your CV every year. We want to be known as a great place to work.”
A united workforce is a more productive workforce. “The ability to identify, utilise and develop individual skills and strengths is key to team performance,” says Horizons’ Smith. “Building individual skills will bolster team capability, as long as everyone plays to their strengths and to their position.”
But harmony and increased production are not the only pluses. Both MacBride-Stewart and Cook emphasise the improvement in staff retention. Being recognised as an employer that offers ongoing training and personal development has become hugely important when recruiting, says MacBride-Stewart. “People ask about the programmes we have in place. They see the value in being developed and we, as a company, see it too. There’s a complete connect between the two.”
But, with businesses looking at cost savings wherever possible, will corporate training become a casualty?
One of the first budgets to be cut is usually training, says Greg Thomas – a situation he describes as unfortunate and frustrating. “While acknowledging that restructuring and cost cutting has to take place to remain competitive, this is the time managers should be investing in their remaining staff and equipping them with the resources they require.”
A point not lost on Warehouse Stationery’s Garth Cook. “We’ve always tightly evaluated our learning but the recession means that marketing, advertising and learning have moved from ‘ongoing growth’ enablers, to being critical to adapting to the recession. We’re actively investing in even more marketing and sales skills for our team. We’re committed to building capability now, so that we can manage the downturn and be ready for the recovery.”
Smith also believes team development is more important during a recession than during good times. “There’s less margin for error and it’s more important than ever to generate new ideas and solutions, build commitment, enhance cross-functional teamwork and resolve conflicts.” It also helps keep the lines of communication open and ensures clear and accurate messages about company plans and performance, “lessening the effect of the rumour mill”, he says.
Now, more than ever, it’s important for companies to be investing in their staff, says Stu Robertson. “With the current economic times creating uncertainty, companies need to support and show faith in those they are still employing. A recreational team-building programme not only provides an environment where staff learn more about each other but is often seen as a reward and ‘thank you’ by the staff involved.”

Source: NZ Marketing Magazine Author: Patricia Moore