Blog... Team Blog

From the mind, mouth and ears of David Goldstein, Founder, of Teambonding

The Winter Olympics are coming to your Company!

Posted by David Goldstein on 19 Jan 2010

I love the winter Olympics – the sports, the stories, the competition of amateur athletes, all the pomp and circumstance and of course, the Jamaican Bobsled team. My love for this type of activity and the request from clients prompted us to purchase the rights one of the most popular outings on the East Coast, the Outrageous Olympics. The 9’ torch, the DJ syncing all the events to music and the Outrageous Officials has made this a favorite program of our clients.

As they prepare in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, we too are preparing for the Outrageous Olympics in the Northeast which we do indoors and the outdoor version in Florida and anywhere in the Southeast. Is your team up for this type of competition and team building?

Chocolate Making: Trend setting or Trend following?

Posted by David Goldstein on 04 Jan 2010

In 2009 I created a new company and with it, new programs. Taste of Chocolate offers chocolate making and city chocolate tours and these programs will be making their way into TeamBonding, Recipe for Success and even a chocolate scavenger hunt for Scaventures. We have been offering Chocolate Team Building successfully for a number of years now and will be expanding the chocolate repertoire.

Our friends over in the UK at Progressive Resources announced this week that Chocolate Making was the most popular team building event for their client in 2009 Company Director Stuart Hedges saying that “Chocolate making is a clear task which must be carried out with limited resources in a set time frame. Adding the marketing plan makes it even more business relevant.” We certainly agree. More chocolate for 2010 – a TeamBonding New Year’s resolution!

700 Bicycles

Posted by David Goldstein on 14 Dec 2009

One of my favorite Broadway shows, In the Heights, there is this scene where one of the neighbors wins $96,000. The song goes on to talk about how much that is and what that will mean to them. In that neighborhood, $96,000 was everything.

Last night on Facebook, one of our facilitators Michael Riley, profiled in our recent newsletter posted that he was in Seattle putting the final touches on a charity bike building team building program and will be facilitating the building of his 700th bike of the year. That number, 700 bikes built and overseen but just one facilitator had the same impact on me, it blew me away. I own a company where children who have never received bicycles, get them for the first time, and around the holidays as well. I knew that and I knew the number was more as we have done many others with other facilitators but for a moment in time, I got to reflect and see the impact that my company is having on children. Between Thanksgiving and the holidays, I feel very proud and look forward to increasing that number in 2010 and am very thankful for you, our clients who really drive our philanthropic team building and without your teams, none of this would be possible. Happy Holidays!

How We Create a New Program

Posted by David Goldstein on 01 Oct 2009

I have to admit, my favorite job here at TeamBonding is discovering, developing and introducing new programs to our clients. We have over 70 programs on this site but with the customization and variations that we do, our offerings no doubt are over 100. The nice thing about working with us is that we have done these programs for teams like yours and have had great success doing so. Our most recent addition is a program we did in DC for over 700 people, for a repeat client who had done three similar events. They asked us to take one of our regular programs (Build Your Own Mini-Golf) and turn it into something that gives back to the community. Truly, our pleasure.

Tin Can Build Your Own Mini-Golf

We built and turned a miniature golf “course” into someone’s “main course”. The Tin Can Build your own mini golf course brought this team together for both service and team building. The idea was, first comes service. The group was divided into teams whose first assignment was to design their golf hole with the canned goods and other food items they were provided.

Once the can plan has was completed, the teams used them (temporarily) to build their own golf holes. They marveled as creative collaboration turned macaroni into a Master’s Course. Competition heated up as the teams competed in this Bogey, Birdies and Beans tournament.

And as competition play came to a close, every team felt like a winner as the canned goods and the indoor/outdoor carpet were presented to a local charities and the paper products were recycled, This is an event that keeps on giving and lends itself to a “19th Hole” celebration.

This is truly service with a swing!

Other new programs recently added include: Elves on a Mission (making toys for the holiday season) and Let them Eat Cake (a hybrid culinary and philanthropic program).

Ice Sculpting –World’s Coolest Team Building Event

Posted by David Goldstein on 01 Oct 2009

When I first proposed this to our staff, ice sculpting as a team building event, everyone laughed. When the laughing died down, they asked if we were providing chainsaws to our corporate participants? How is our liability insurance and finally – would people really choose to do it?

When developing programs for a company like ours with your needs in mind, these are challenges that each program must go through before being presented on the site for you to choose. Truth be told, I didn’t decide one day that teams would enjoy ice sculpting as I had seen it on a site in the UK. What I did however if find a great ice sculptor/facilitator on the East Coast (and now another one in San Francisco and Las Vegas) to facilitate these program so that not only would teams create something special as a team but would work together and the finished result would be something to be very proud of and a debrief would be lead.

Not a week after we put it on the site, we had our first client in the “coolest” of locations, the Castle on the Hudson and although it isn’t even cold yet, we have quite a few more on the schedule. TeamBonding is an innovator in bringing you great team building events, first in the US to do this program and your team can be next.

The Power of Play

Posted by David Goldstein on 10 Sep 2009

To celebrate the relaunch of our website, I wanted to share with you the method behind our madness. We were founded and we design our events based on a strong belief that people need to play more. There is a growing mountain of evidence characterizing people who have fun at work as:

• more productive
• more creative
• healthier
• more motivated
• more flexible and resilient
• better able to meet job demands

A major benefit of team building play is learning to tap into the brain’s right hemisphere, which is often underutilized in the workplace. This is the cerebral real estate that hosts imagination, creativity and intuition. Long thought to be useful only to artists, writers and musicians, we now understand that right-brain thinking also plays a vital role in the business world.

So why is “play” such a wonderful learning tool?

1. Play is Involving. The best way to learn new skills is through action — actually doing things. Research shows that subjects who just sit and listen to a teacher retain only 20% of what they hear. But participants involved in active learning (doing a real job, a simulation, a training game, etc.) retain 90% of the information.

2. Play is Low Risk. Play offers participants a safe environment in which to explore, risk, try new ideas and make mistakes. Edison discovered over 1,800 ways not to build a light bulb. One of Madame Curie’s “failures” gave us radium. Columbus was looking for India when he found America. Mistakes are simply an integral part of innovation.

3. Play explores Team Dynamics. Team play allows a group’s dynamics to be examined and evaluated under controlled conditions. Every group develops a distinct personality of its own. How does your team function, breathe, eat, produce, communicate and plan? How does it make decisions? What are its unique weaknesses and strengths? How does the group adapt to change? Play gives us these answers.

4. Play promotes Self-Awareness . Just as a team can be evaluated in a controlled play environment, so can the team’s individual members. New experiences and new ideas set the stage for moments of self-examination and awareness. This also gives team members the chance to view teammates in a new light. We hear it again and again: “I had no idea Harry was so creative!” or “Who knew Mary was that clever?” Greater awareness of ourselves, and of those around us, can dramatically improve team effectiveness.

5. Play Builds Trust. Everyone within a group becomes more comfortable as members become familiar with teammates, sharpen their awareness of group dynamics, and begin to clearly understand where they fit in. Allowing people to work together in a play environment effectively builds trust within the team.

6. Play shows the Value of the Team. Play is an excellent tool for convincing the skeptics of teamwork’s value. Many workers are so competitive, or so inexperienced at working as part of a team, that they question the benefits of teamwork. Fun team exercises afford skeptics the opportunity to see that sharing information and responsibilities can bring amazing results. Group play also affords participants an opportunity to discover the strong value of diversity.

7. Play Promotes Pleasure. The pleasure of learning through play can work wonders to revitalize a group and rebuild morale. Studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between pleasure and productivity. Pleasure also affects participants’ commitment to the exercises, helping them learn more and retain knowledge longer. It makes perfect sense that pleasure would be a powerful motivator.

8. Play Provides Specific Lessons. Each TeamBonding event delivers its own lessons, skills and experiences for participants. Many involve problem solving, while others tend to be more physical. Some are designed to enhance communication skills, with others focusing on organization. While some of these are group lessons, others are more individually targeted. TeamBonding has the expertise to fine-tune a program that meshes perfectly with your group and goals.

Play with us and you and your team will experience the Power of Play.

Team Building in Second Life

Posted by David Goldstein on 20 Aug 2009

Yesterday I attended a presentation on Second Life on team building. As someone who prides himself in being a part of and offering programs on the cutting edge, I was curious. Being on the forefront of trends has been integral to the success of TeamBonding in scavenger hunts, culinary team building and currently, philanthropic team building so it only made sense that I explored something that I considered, new.

I admit, it took me a while to create my avatar, learn how to make it move and fly and I was stuck for 2 days in Brazil but clicking on my invitation link took me to a virtual island and conference center. There I met my facilitator and 10 other people from all over the country who were also interested in online learning. After brief introductions, we all went up a ramp and did a typical team building exercise called “Whale Watch”. All of us, one at a time got on a flat board and had to balance the board as more people got on. There was some interesting communication, some weight issues (or lack thereof) but overall, it was a good experience where 10 people were actually in one place, at one time, interacting and working together. That was cool.

After the program I was taken on a tour of the island where I was shown the conference center, the exhibit space, and breakout rooms and when all was said and done, I had spent three hours in Second Life, talking and learning with colleagues.

I definitely see the potential of this for our client with virtual teams. Now I need to determine how and if TeamBonding will get involved as I tend to be and we as a company tend to be a company that leads in that saying, Lead, follow or get out of the way. I would love any comments and experiences you have had in Second Life and if you think team building would be valuable in that space.

The Winner of our FREE Team Building Event

Posted by David Goldstein on 11 Aug 2009

We sent out a newsletter back in March offering a free team building event to one deserving team and below on April 26th I announced the winner and why we had chosen them. Recently with the help of Kite Team Building facilitator Dave Shenkman, we delivered this program to this deserving company. It feels good to give back.

“What a great day it was! All 61 people in attendance had a wonderful time. The day was nearly perfect for creating and flying kites. Many employees have asked me when we can do it again! This is certainly a testimonial to your program, Dave. Everything about working with you was wonderful. Thank you for being patient and flexible with us. I know doing all the construction outdoors was a challenge, but it did not deter any of our teams from really “getting into it” and constructing some great kites. You said the event would be deemed successful if all the kites flew, and although all the kites did fly, the day was a success on so many other levels. Thank you for bringing this exciting and fun event to TeamBonding and to WIS.
A special thanks to Scott and Jayne for making this great day possible for the employees of WIS International.

Thanks again to all of you for a very successful TeamBonding event!”

What is your team doing to give back to the community? This was our first effort like this but it won’t be our last!

TeamBonding R & D

Posted by David Goldstein on 05 Aug 2009

Yesterday we had a meeting with Paul Giroux, one of our most requested facilitators and host of our very popular team building game shows, Game Show Mania and Survey Says. The meeting was to talk about a new game show in development, Ballroom Blitz combining the physical challenges that some of the team building programs offer with the Cranium style questions that participants love. In addition, Paul shared with us a customization questionnaire for Survey Says (similar to Family Feud) which allows companies to customize the questions for each game played, making this even a better choice for team building and corporate entertainment.

We also met about a new philanthropic program that we will be debuting soon for the Holiday season. Santa’s Workshop will be available for team building and holiday parties where teams will build toys to donate to children through Toys for Tots and the Boys and Girls Clubs.

We are very excited about this program and if the responses from our Charity Bike Build are any indication, companies will respond well to this new program. We are trying to decide the name for this program. Do you think we can call it Santa’s Workshop in this day and age? Let us know.

Great Scott - Our Director of Client Solutions, West

Posted by David Goldstein on 28 Jul 2009

Always interesting to dig down to see what the readers of my blog will enjoy while trying to give a little insight into the company and the people in it. This blog is dedicated to my friend Scott Flynn who has been with us for 2 years now, first as CEO and now as the Director of Client Solutions for our West Coast operations (sounds impressive). Seriously, I dedicate this to Scott as he had dedicated all his time and effort into Teambonding.

Today is a great day to talk about Scott. He is in Atlanta today assisting on our newest program, The Winery Team Challenge, a program he designed, along with TeamWork Poker and the Art of Team Building. His experience has made me comfortable in our expansions, our recession planning and investing in our back office database that is so client focused.

To think, when I met Scott, fresh out of Emerson College as my second employer that now, 25 years later we’d work together again. I have a lot to thank Scott for, first for teaching me marketing and then and now showing me the work ethic that made him successful in the two companies that he founded. Now as we navigate the current economy, I know that I can depend upon Scott to give it his all for the company and his clients. Teambonding is a company that specializes in team building and one of the things we are most proud of is our team. If you need help with a program and you are in Denver or the West Coast, contact Scott, you’ll see what I mean.