Saturday, November 12, 2016

With A Team Building Exercise Baltimore MD Employers Aim To Help Their Employees Grow

By Betty Foster


Most progressive companies have long moved away from the management approach where managers make all the decisions and the rest of the employees simply obey instruction. The modern approach is to allow smaller groups of employees to make decisions themselves, to implement new procedures and to take responsibility for their performance. With a team building exercise Baltimore MD companies hope to improve the efficiency of their teams and to motivate their employees to improve their productivity.

Special outings for groups to become better acquainted, to learn more about each other and to learn skills that will help them to perform better as a group has become very popular. The idea is to send the group to a location away from the office, where they cannot be disturbed and to lead them through a variety of activities and lectures all aiming at creating or building upon group cohesion.

This field has shown tremendous growth. There are numerous contractors advertising their services as human development professionals that specialize in developing groups. Then there are motivational speakers and a host of others that offer special activities such as white water rafting, drumming, fire walking, nature outings and many others. They all promise that they can help the group to work together more productively and grow individually.

Hiring a specialist to conduct a group development session should be undertaken with great circumspect. There are many charlatans in this market. Contractors under consideration should be able to submit valid references and these should be followed up in great detail. Feedback from a reference to the effect that they had a great time is not valid. It is easy to arrange a great time when somebody else pays.

It is also vital to arrange an information session with prospective contractors prior to inviting quotations. During this session the client needs to make the objectives that it wishes to achieve very clear. Other matters such as the budget available and time constraints must also be discussed as well as the number of participants and special needs such as facilities for disabled people. Only with this information in hand can any reputable contractor prepare a quotation.

Ideally, prospective contractors must present a written quotation that stays within the budget limits previously declared. The proposed activities should be listed and the objectives that will be achieved with each one should be specified. The client should be able to either approve or reject certain activities. If other professionals will be hired for lectures or activities, they should be listed and their roles should be justified.

To gain full value from a development excursion detailed feedback should be asked from the participants. The group as a whole should compile a report focusing on the quality of service rendered, problems that were encountered and the value of the program in achieving the goals of the excursion. Individual group members should also provide feedback, possibly by means of a questionnaire which will make the compilation of statistics easier.

If groups of employees are to take responsibility for their efforts, their productivity and their contribution to the vision of the employer, then they need to be empowered to grow as a group. Group development excursions can play a valuable role if it is properly planned. This requires an experienced and qualified facilitator.




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