“A $100,000 bowling game?” you ask. Who spends that much on bowling?
The answer: too many people who don’t realize it.
True story. A team of 20 sale reps were taken for the day to a bowling alley. Free lunch, free bowling, video games. The sales manager happened to have a friend who owned the place so the event was completely free. Or so he thought.
Had we been called sooner, we would have saved them from making the number one biggest team building mistake.
You see, while there was no cash outlay for the day, there was a huge cost that no one realized until after the fact.
Fast forward a month. We were hired to do sales training and strategic planning. The first thing we found was that some key numbers painted a startling picture.
Twenty sales reps who average $5,000 a day in sales were somehow $102,000 short on sales that month.
So of course we wanted to know why.
Was there a flu in the office keeping sales reps from doing their work? Was there a power outage? Were people on vacation? Did people take personal days during that month? Was there anything to account for the shortfall.
Finally the answer came.
“Oh…. we did take the team bowling for one day last month. We forgot to tell you that.”
Aha.
What came next was some quick calculations.
20 reps. $5000/day. 20x$5000=$100,000.
The missing $100,000 plus or minus a few percent. They didn’t do work that day and there was actually a cost even though the bowling activity was “free”.
Economist have a fancy word for it which they call “Opportunity Cost.”
Now we need to take it with a grain of salt, because in most cases the math is not this direct. And, let’s face it, people need some time to bond, connect and have fun together. These things do have some benefits for your team.
But the lesson is crystal clear.
When you take teams out of the office for a team building event or activity, it must be more than just fun and excitement.
The more senior your people, the more important to invest in an event or activity facilitated by trainers who can deliver value beyond just entertainment.
A properly selected corporate team building activity must drive skills, tools, insights and behaviors that will make the investment of time and money worth it.
While having fun, your team should learn things that will make you more effective, efficient and productive when you return to work.
Fun, excitement, thrills, and positive memories are great and help bring a team together.
You also must include skills and tools that will drive new revenue or create cost savings going forward after the experience.
That way your investment in a team building event will pay for itself again and again.
Call, email or chat and one of our expert event designers. Together, we will customize a team building event that your team will never forget. More importantly, it will provide a substantial return on your investment of time and money.