Improve team building effectiveness with Science of Happiness @ work

Team Building Tips with Appreciative Inquiry and The Science of Happiness at Work

Transform your corporate team building session events results...faster than any old way of doing team buildings’ games and motivational talks that don’t last. REAL Appreciative team building and the Science of Happiness at work is the new rage for smart business with a powerful and positive focus on results.

Transform your results...faster than any old way of doing team building games and motivational talks with a powerful positive focus

REAL Appreciative team building and the Science of Happiness at work is the new rage for smart business. Gone are the company team building days filled with silly games, people used to call "team building activities". Smart companies are now looking for sustainable results, beyond the short-lived team motivational style talks,

Here are some tips incorporating the positive aspects of Appreciative Inquiry and The Science of Happiness at Work to transform your team building events from average to great.

Using Appreciative Inquiry’s positive foundation and the Science of Happiness @ work in Corporate Team Building events.

The Appreciative Inquiry based positive approach supports the trend towards a more positive focus on strengths and what-is-working, rather than the old style problem-solving (Name, Blame & Shame) approach as the most effective way to approach REAL team building ideas.

RESILIENCE or adversity intelligence  is also becoming a major need in organisations as competition increases globally. REAL leadership is required to guide, empower and inspire teams to greater performance in a sustainable way.

The Science of Happiness at work pays! And it… PAYS WELL…6 years of the Science Happiness at Work research carried out worldwide shows those employees who are happy or happier at work:

ü Are 180% more energized

ü Are 155% happier in their jobs

ü Are 108% more engaged at work

ü Are 150% happier with life

ü Love their jobs 79% more

ü Are 50% more motivated

ü Have 40% more confidence

ü Achieve their goals 35% more

ü Contribute 25% more

The real challenge… Most leaders and managers have had no simple way of getting…

· Appreciative Inquiry

· Resilience / AQ

· The Science of Happiness at Work (SOHAW)

…effectively into their organisations. From our past Appreciative team building experience with the Science of Happiness @ Work, we have distilled our wisdom gained into a few simple steps.

Make sure you incorporate these steps into your next team building events and provide a positive focus in your next company Team working Improvement day.


Free Tips for Appreciative & SOHAW Team Building Events.

· Make sure that the entire group is involved, from all levels, and make it clear that negativity will not be entertained. Let it be understood that this is a Positive focus ONLY. And that each person is to agree to be a “BUILDER” with whatever comments, suggestions, thoughts and ideas they generate.
· Make it clear to everyone upfront that the focus and discussions will aim to build on strengths, past positive experience, what is ALREADY working in the team, and what else can be done to enhance this for the greater benefit of ALL.
· Make it safe for participation by everyone. Set ground agreements of what attitudes, comments and inputs will be allowed in the team building process – avoid naming, blaming and shaming!
· Set up a trust-level scale on the wall and invite people to mark their present team trust scores on the wall and move them during the day. Talk about what impacts and influences trust levels, and what can be done to improve them on a sustainable basis.
· Set up a Personal Happiness @ Work scale on the wall and invite people to mark their present happiness scores on the wall and to adjust as necessary during the day. Talk about what impacts and influences individual happiness levels, and what can be done to support people to improve and maintain them on a sustainable basis
· Set up talking-circles and get people to talk about positive past experiences around leadership, team building, and what they want more of at work.

· Get groups to agree and document what they will agree to STOP, START and CONTINUE back in the team workplace in order to build better trust, teamwork, happiness and performance.

· Make the learning fun, experiential and encourage participation and input from every person.
· Remove titles, position labels, and seniority advantages, each person takes on a new Identity /name of their ideal role model. Remove all form of authority, fear, reprisal for honest input.

· Make the team learning fun, experiential and encourage participation and input from every person in a “safe” space to share.

· Teach teams about RESILIENCE or AQ (Adversity Intelligence) and how they can individually, and as a team, enhance their self-talk and resilience levels – You need to ensure a 3 Positive to 1 Negative comment Ratio as a minimum. Excellent teams have a 6:1 positive to negative ratio in communications and conversations.· Incorporate “archetypes” like Lover, Warrior, Magician, Sovereign. Intro the roles, qualities and characteristics and have fun using them to allow people to explore multi-perception position inputs. Eg my Lover says”... or my Warrior says...”· Document and display Stop Start Continues and regularly discuss how you are maintaining the agreements made.
· If a consensus arises about what needs to be done to improve some area....take visible action to rectify and improve it ASAP and keep on providing feedback. Regular and clear communication is important.
· Do regular company team building events to build and maintain trust, relationships, communication clarity, effective leadership, happiness levels, resilience etc…


Do you Walk Your Talk?

Often the biggest challenge with staff and team building in the workplace is there is a lot of “TALK” from leadership and management, but very little “WALK”. It is a grave mistake to ask for input and then not act on it.

It doesn’t take long for people to see that you don’t value their input, and thereafter just disengage Trust is Bust....again! And Happiness levels crash to low levels too.

Too many leaders think “happy” staff are more productive – this is not always true. Resilient, challenged, engaged, energised and happy staff… deliver exceptional results in a sustainable manner.

By bringing the positive, focus on more of what-is-working approach of Appreciative Inquiry Team Building ideas, and the Self Responsibility aspects of the Science of Happiness at work, leaders can transform their culture from a destructive, politically hostile environment to a great place to work with higher resilience levels, greater happiness states and a more productive environment.

But remember it takes time to rebuild trust. It takes time for the people to see that you are really walking your talk. It takes time to change old habits and entrenched cultures. It also takes time to shift people old mental programmes that reduce resilience and happiness levels.

Through regular Ai based teamwork building events and SOHAW team activities you can begin to create a CultureShift from negative to more positive environment. This brings more available energy into your teams, more time on task, fewer sick days off, and a happier, healthier the workplace.

So next time you are looking for a company team building idea choose appreciative team building and The Science of Happiness at Work process to transform your teams and create a power-filled, positive, resilient, workplace culture.

Remember Employee engagement is controlled by Leadership and management –

Happiness at Work is controlled by each individual – So it’s a joint partnership to transform your teamworking between staff and management…So get smart and get appreciative and happy… fast!

Free Staff Development resources Research Report - To secure your free SOHAW employee engagement & Team Building report email us rtr@coachfree.com

Resource box Team Building South Africa

Tony Dovale is the Chief Team Building Coach at Life Masters South Africa. Tony is an Author, Keynote Business Speaker, Facilitator, and Results Alchemist. Life Masters Team Building events and Leadership Coaching incorporates Appreciative Inquiry, High Voltage Leadership, Nibble Knowledge, Emotionetics, Science of Happiness.

Link#1: Appreciative Team Buildings workshops jhb    team building south africa
Link#1: team building | Trust Building Gauteng South Africa – Team building Transformation Activities

Namaste’

Tony Dovale – South Africa – Gauteng – Mobile : 083-447-6300


Keywords

Team Building activities gauteng, Appreciative inquiry south africa, trust Building, Science of Happiness at work, Tony Dovale, Teambuildings Johannesburg , team working, High Voltage Conscious Leadership, team transformation, Emotionetics, SOHAW, lifemasters

Real Team Building Gauteng- Why is it important to you?

TEAM-BUILDING – With so many companies now doing, some kind of team-building, what’s the best route to consider?

Team-building, as it’s commonly called, varies from blithe, frivolous group entertainment and motivation like; Quad-biking, soccer, cooking, shooting, mini-golf, foozeball, ballooning, etc… all the way through to what we term… TRANSFORMATIVE Appreciative Team-Building – Real Team-Building that impacts people on a Head, Heart & Soul level and has long-lasting efficacy.

It’s a well know fact that stuff like motivational talks don’t last or add any real value – so why then do people waste their money paying anything up to R15,000 for a 1 hour motivational talk? Motivation is like manipulation! And who wants to be manipulated?

If you were to invest in your team building, would you not want to get the best value you could for your investment of time, money and people resources? Any intelligent person would want the best return (ROI) on their corporate team-building expenditure.

So imagine for a moment a scale from 0 to 10. The zero side is “light group entertainment” or motivational stuff. On the other side - 10 is HERO a “transform-your-people-and-your-team” process that impacts Heads, Hearts and Souls, lasts a life-time - and enhances performance, productivity, resilience, relationships and your workplace.

Now make an intelligent decision…What level of results would you choose if you were to embark on a team-building? What’s the best way to blend your team cultures, build trust, build relationships and into unleash passion and energy into a cohesive whole? – A REAL TEAM.

Group Entertainment - NOT Real Team Building!

If we consider, what is thought to be, a typical team building event; people go on some planned outing for a day, somewhere offsite. They may get a little revved up, wear colored arm-bands or shirts, paint faces, play some games, shoot arrows, walk planks, laugh a little, or a lot, have a free meal or braai, a few drinks and then go home…klaar! Nothing really powerful!

On the day, what we don’t see, just under the surface, is that the office politics and people issues are still alive and well. People still fear; appearing useless, being uncomfortable or making a fool of themselves. Staff accumulate in their usual “clans”, and the office-clown is again, thoughtlessly, even more mordant with their jabs and jousts. Often, greater barriers to real team-building and a friendlier, more productive workplace, are created. Intolerance prevails - and never the cultures or people shall blend!

When Monday comes around, the old dynamics, office politics and factions remain, just as before. The people are as jaded as ever, if not more so now! And the “TEAM” is just a pretense. Life goes on just the same as it did before the group outing. People know nothing new about each other or their cultures. So what was it all really about? This is treating the symptom – not the foundation or real causes.

So why even do it? Why would you spend money on something that does not solve your problem or deliver real value? Lack of; relationships, inclusion, trust, truth, engagement and inspiration is a problem – A real problem for your team-building and your improved results delivery in a diverse multi-cultural reality we call our Rainbow Nation.

An Uncommon but REAL Team Build Process

Alternative - The HERO side…An Uncommon but REAL Team Build Process. Imagine a team-building process that would remove barriers and change your office energy, work environment, attitudes, trust levels and team-spirit forever. Consider…What’s the best way to really build your team. What aspects would need to be addressed to ensure long-term impact and profoundly positive results? In a Ai real team-building process the following core aspect must be addressed in order to build a sustainable and strong workplace foundation that fosters optimal team effectiveness.

TRUST! - #1 issue to be addressed is TRUST. True authentic trust and communication between the people, as well as the team and management is critical. If you have no trust your team could bust! Trust is the anchor-stone of success. It’s a proven fact that trust makes or breaks relationships. Trust’s the business lubricant, just like the super lubricant Teflon

I hear you think…is TRUST really more important than our great systems, policies and organisational structure? Absolutely Yes! A low trust workplace and mistrusting culture can, and will, sabotage and disrupt any system. Just look at the number of CRM (Customer Rel Mngmt) imitatives that fail – IT’s the people who make it happen from a Head, Heart and Soul level. No/low trust and engagement = no real team, not really sustainable in a human manner.

Is TRUST really more important than our great Vision & espoused Values? Absolutely Yes! I don’t care how impressive your vision is or what your Values are, the drag of a low trust workplace will hold you back you from truly attaining that vision and walking those values - authentically and fully. Values are for everyone, all of the time, not some of the time and some of the people. TRUST is a MUST to thrive.

Is TRUST really more important than a good strategy? Absolutely Yes! All strategies have to be executed. Efficient and optimal execution is built on high trust and high levels of certainty. High trust cannot transform poor strategy, but it can make it better. Give me a team of fools on fire vs a group of indifferent, mistrusting, disengaged rocket-scientists, any day!

Is TRUST really more important than COMPETENCIES and skills? Again absolutely Yes! Skills and competencies are a head-based issue. No matter how skilled a person or team/group, the “drag” or friction of a low-trust workplace will ensure that those skills are not optimally, if ever, fully applied. Trust is a heart AND head based issue. And let’s be real here…nothing will deter real talent like a dictatorial-high-control, low-trust, low-engagement workplace.

If you consider what is impacted in a team-building event, it behooves us to make optimal use of the time, efforts, expense and team-building opportunity by really growing your people. That’s why our Life Masters REAL team-building is designed as a powerful, unique, transformational process…and not just a light game event.

Our team building is designed to change lives and workplaces on a long-term basis. You can do the light fun group stuff, but we’d favor adding real value and results to your business and your teambuilding / blending efforts.

Appreciation and Trust is the “must” of the 21st century.


Aspects Vital to a True Team Building Process

In order to truly build a strong team and foundation, the following core areas offer valuable results when addressed…trust levels, truth, attitudes, anger, limiting beliefs, misunderstandings, disappointments, judgments, personal politics, unresolved issues, honesty, constructive feedback, interpersonal relationships, satisfaction levels, self-awareness, self-esteem, confidence and confidentiality, resilience / Adversity Intelligence (AQ), engagement levels, caring, Emotional Intelligence, hidden agendas, outdated management-styles, transgressions kept secret, blockages, cultural intolerance, conflict, consciousness & energy levels.

Our Team Building Is Predicated Upon These Perspectives

· …that all people are precious, valuable and can be your greatest assets if developed effectively;

· …that work is a platform for people to enjoy, grow, love; and to experience higher levels of self-worth, self-esteem, value and happiness;

· …that work is an opportunity for people to make a positive contribution whilst making a profit for the shareholders;

· …that you spend more time awake with co-workers than the ones you apparently love – why not also love your co-workers? Keep your mind clean here please! J

· …that people bring their Heads, Hearts and Souls to work – So for optimal engagement grow and build your people on a Head, Heart & Soul level. Discover and support their CAUSES to gain maximum commitment and participation.

Whilst it’s true that profit is the “lifeblood” of your business, consider that it shouldn’t be the only purpose and aim of your business. You don’t get too much engagement from people when the only reason for them working is survival, and to make the shareholders and bosses wealthier - That’s GREEDERship, not LEADERship! No Soul in that goal!

Our Appreciative Team-Building Follows A Clear & Systematic Process.

· Research the environment, the people, the issues and the desired outcomes and intentions of the team build. We use: EQ, Resilience, Higher Ground Leadership, C.A.S.T.L.E. workplace scan, Human Energy Levels Project, team fitness, stress & JQ20 Engagement

· Build Trust and truth between the facilitators and the participants.

· Explore what people would really love to have in their workplace and what’s currently working well.

· Reveal what their current workplace really has in existence right now – The good, the bad and the ugly!

· Examine the GAP between desire/ ideal and current reality

· Design an encounter that is confidential, powerful, fun, engaging, transformational and life long last in results.

· Deliver the processes designed to build trust, address the issues, resolves the conflicts, opens communications remove barriers, builds and renews relationships based upon a “clean slate” with a joint vision and destiny.

· Follow-up with coaching, feedback, email tips and gatherings to celebrate and strengthen relationships, trust, truth, engagement and results.

Imagine the difference in your workplace on Monday after a real team-building encounter where people actually like, respect, understand, trust and care for each other. Work becomes enjoyable, and your workplace can become a WowPlace. It’s hard to not have a great team after that.
Some comments we’ve heard from people after our special custom created team-transformation encounters…

“Awesome!!… improved my self-confidence and my commitment to clear goals” - Helen

“life changing. …was mind and life changing”- Bosman

“My expectations were totally surpassed” – Jenny

“ABSOLUTELY AWESOME are the only 2 words I can use to describe the feelings, thoughts and energy experiences that I experienced today” – Darryl

“In every possible way it touched every point in my life. 0 out of 10. Workshop leader was awesome” – Zelda

“I never expected to get out what I did. EVERYBODY in business should do this. I call it Lifeline!!! Tony is amazing. I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for what he taught me - Thuli

“Thanks for your workshop, support and input which have changed my life at home and work. No problem or challenge is to big to overcome in my life. Nothing will get me down!!!!” Regards Chris

“There is only one word to describe the team building session at Bakabung – “POSITIVE”. My team and I are committed and honest. What I said at Bakabung I will do - I am doing, and so are my team members. My experience is that we (team) are far more relaxed and open as before. I see my team totally different (positive) than before. I see SUPPORT, TRUST, HONESTY, HUMOUR & SPIRIT in my team. I had a super experience at the team building and I seriously think we need to escalate it down to our subordinates” – Cassie

“The experience has been totally unlike any other team building in the sense that it has affected me (powerfully) at a personal level. It certainly forced me to look at what is really important” – Anita

“I must admit – my team IS genuine and the change is INCREDIBLE. The support, openness, love and “warm fuzzies” are definitely there. The experience of the team building session was worth every cent. You did wonders & thanks to my team” – C

“Tony, what a positive influence you have had on my life. I am not sure how you thank someone for something so significant, so I am sending you warm fuzzies for now. I am paying it forward!”
Namaste’ – K

“I released my past hurts and distrust of whites and commit to moving forward, together, as a real team” – TF

This team building exceeded my expectations by far! All people bonded as one! Workshop leaders were awesome! - Sune’ (Provincial Director Office of the Public Protector)


People in genuine encouraging teams are happier, healthier, more supportive, more resilient, honest, truthful, more energetic, more engaged, have more fun, earn more and are more satisfied with themselves and their lives.

If you are considering revamping your productivity, going on a team-building session or wanting to inspire your staff, ensure that the impact and effectiveness deliver real lasting value. Make your decision on VALUE not on PRICE!

Remember…"The bitterness of poor quality (poor value) lingers on long after the sweetness of the cheap price!”

Moving leadership from motivation to Inspiration and engagement, one team @ a time!

So what do you really want?……a bland unfriendly unproductive workplace controlled by fear and greed …or a powerfully engaged happy WowPlace fuelled by energetic passion ?

Call for a complimentary presentation or claim your free Staff & Team-building report -“Riding the Razor” by emailing rtr@coachfree.com. Type “RTRTeambuilder” as your subject please




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Tony Dovale - 083-447-6300
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