Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WORKING IN GROUPS: Team Spirit

Companies use activities to motivate employees, strengthen bond

10-year-old Kyle O'Neil, a young wrangler at Sandy Valley Ranch, watches coolsavings.com employees participate in team-building activities. PHOTO by SAMANTHA CLEMENS/REVIEW-JOURNAL Matt Moog, left, and Arend Henderson team up for a cattle-penning exercise. PHOTO by SAMANTHA CLEMENS/REVIEW-JOURNAL As part of the ranch's team-building program, experienced riders lend help and encouragement to greenhorns. PHOTO by SAMANTHA CLEMENS/REVIEW-JOURNAL

When executives of Chicago-based coolsavings.com were formulating this year's version of their annual planning meeting, they decided to do it in Las Vegas. The requisite shows and group dinners and time at the tables would be part of the picture, but so would some "City Slickers"-style activities at Sandy Valley Ranch south of the city.

It was all in the spirit of team building -- a growing trend among companies who want to motivate their employees, hone their skills and reward them, all at the same time.

Stephanie Tirrell, director of sales for Activity Planners, said the trend toward team-building activities has grown during the past five years and in general seems to mirror the ebb and flow of the economy.

"When the economy is a little high, you'll see people do a little more of the extravagant functions; that's when you see the dinners and shows and groups," she said. "When it's a little softer, you'll see team building more infused."

Scott Washburn, vice president of sales for Baskow & Associates, said that to be effective, team-building activities are tailored to the needs of the client company.

"A lot of times there's kind of a problem they're trying to overcome with their company," he said. That might include a lack of interaction between employees.

"We have done team building where companies have merged -- companies that used to be rivals and say bad things about each other," Washburn said. "That's kind of a tricky thing."

And the activities show employees they're appreciated.

"It's to keep the morale up," Washburn said. "It's a little crazy in the work environment now; there's a lot of instability. There's a lot of strange things going on in the world in general."

"The focus is really going back now to retaining your employees," Tirrell said. "With all the different layoffs, you have to keep the troops that are still involved in the company motivated and focused. In a fat economy, it's very easy to glaze over these things."

That was the reason coolsavings.com planned team-building activities at Sandy Valley Ranch.

"We're at such a critical stage in our growth and development that every single person matters," said Jolie Fleming, vice president of organizational development for the company, which offers coupons and promotions. "This is a win-win for the employee, because they get a really fun activity and they get to contribute to the vision and mission of the company."

Fleming said research indicates that one of the most pertinent questions companies can ask their employees to gauge the work environment is whether they have a friend at work. At coolsavings.com, she said, the response has been 100 percent "yes."

"So we're looking to drive that home even more," she said. "The emphasis is on retaining the best talent that we have."

On the first day of the company's recent two-day meeting in Las Vegas, employees participated in company-developed team-building activities on the Strip with an "Ocean's 11" theme. Each team was given $100 and a mission of working together to strategize how to make the most of the money.

On the second day, they went to the ranch. Ranch owner Marilyn Gubler said the activities included team cattle penning.

"It's a very graphic demonstration of what happens if people don't stick with their strategy," Gubler said. "Afterward, they can go into the soft-skills room and discuss what happened and why."

Another activity was goat roping, Fleming said.

"That one was just so unconventional that people had a really great time doing it," she said. "It forced everybody to strategize together; it also forced them to work as a team, because no one was going to catch this goat on their own."

Other activities were less structured, Gubler said. Throughout the day, teams were awarded hay cubes -- cubes of feed, also known as "pre-processed cow chips" -- as rewards for competitive activities.

"We don't tell them to do this, but we encourage outside-the-box thinking, and occasional theft takes place," Gubler said, as just another form of team strategizing. She remembered one team surreptitiously slitting the hay-cube bag of another, then trailing behind, picking up dropped cubes. Fleming said some coolsavings.com participants wielded squirt bottles as threats to extort hay cubes.

" `No rules' forced competition really well," Fleming said.

But it wasn't all about competition. She said some participants who were nervous about riding found comfort and encouragement from their co-workers.

Sports-related activities are popular, but some companies prefer more flavorful methods of team building. The purchasing department of Pulte Homes/Del Webb Communities recently spent an afternoon at Creative Cooking School in Las Vegas, creating a multi-course meal to be shared at the end of the day. Luanne Stoner, administrative assistant, said Pulte/Del Webb, like a growing number of companies, hosts such activities on a regular basis.

"It's not necessarily that we needed it," Stoner said. "We just do them periodically to get out of the office to do things together. I think it benefits us because we have that time together as just a department."

"We had a great time," she said, but maybe more importantly, "we depended on each other, on our teams, to make sure we were doing what we're supposed to be doing."

School owner Catherine Margles, who stressed the importance of evaluating a client's needs -- "What is the issue; what do you deal with every day?" -- said the company had just undergone a merger and wanted to improve employee communication.

One of the day's lessons: "If you don't work together, you'll fail," said participant Jennifer Bowen.

And sometimes, they came close.

"This is what your group messed up on -- you didn't read the recipe," said chef/instructor Mitchell Becker as he rescued one group's creation.

Team-building activities can make a point in an even more graphic way. For example, Washburn said, teams might be given pieces of canvas and assigned to paint them with squares in certain colors. While they're away at dinner, planners assemble the pieces on a wall to reveal the company's new logo, name or motto.

Tirrell said the best activities encourage each member of a group to employ his or her strengths to the group's advantage.

"The basis of team building is not to have everyone on a team doing the same activity -- that's what team building is all about, having everyone bring the best of themselves to the table," she said.

Activity ideas seem to come from everywhere.

"We have a salesperson who used to be a cruise director on a ship," Washburn said. "We've borrowed a lot from cruise lines."

Costs depend, he said, on the scope of the activities and can range from $20 to $200 per person.

But in any price range, the emphasis is on having fun. A team-building activity, Washburn said, is "a great way to end a meeting -- really recharges people."

And especially in the case of a merger, where people are worried about the new bosses and the concept of having to prove themselves all over again, he said, a team-building activity can show management's sense of humor.

"And the bosses," he said, "are standing back, watching people."