By 3 min read

Idea #79 Team Building in the Corona time

Do it whenever your members are at the different locations and it is hard to be at the same place.

✔️ Since you are all members of the same team, it is good to have some team building activities occasionally so to refresh team vibes.

However, you live in the different states or even on the different continents, which requires some extra efforts to make it happen.

✔️ Here is one of various games you can play and enjoy your time spent together. The aim of this one is to make a whole person from different parts of your team members.

Someone with a good sense of humor may call it Frankenstein, but it is all up to you how you will name it.

When you say ready, you count to 5 and then print screen. All members will comment about all made Frankensteins. After all comments you can debrief the team members about associations, crossing their heads during the game.
This game can be a start kicker for anything you want to do further. tim bilding u doba corone
There are some questions for you:
1. During this time of the Corona virus do you recognize yourself as a victim or as someone … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #76 Life in a virtual reality! Yes or No?

Do it during an individual or team session. Imagine your world as a game with significant others who would act different roles. Let them become how you would like them to be in reality. You can change their personal traits by adding or taking away whatever you find important or irritating. Create your own rules and boundaries and see how the game is going to develop.
#76 vaš programThere are some questions for you:
1. Did you take part in this game actively as a protagonist or you only observed the game as a creator?
2. Whose personality in the game differs most from his/ her real personality?
3. How satisfied are you with your life on a scale from 1 to 10 where 10 stands for maximum satisfaction and 1 stands for minimum satisfaction.
4. How would you change the other people’ s behavior by changing your own behavior? Make a list of activities.
Thank you for sharing your ideas!
If you are willing to try a coaching session with me, Call me at Skype vlada.srma

     
 
 
 
    
… Read more
By 2 min read

Idea #74 Old cell phones for Team Building

Do it When you want to share awareness about recycling during your Team Building.
Ask everyone from the team to bring their old cell phones with their chargers. Put all phones in one box, and all chargers in another. Now ask all participants to take a phone in the right hand and a charger in their left hand. The task is to form a circle by finding a pair on the left that has the appropriate phone for the charger in its hand. To the right, you need to find a person with a phone charger in the right hand. When all this is done, it’s likely that they will make one tangled knot. Without breaking this connection, they should form a circle in which they will be arranged according to the described invention: The phone and the corresponding charger on the right side and the charger and the corresponding phone on the left. I wish you a pleasant party.
#74 connection TB
Now coaching questions for you:
1. Think about your past life. What part of your life do you think you can use differently?
2. What would you do differently?
3. What kind of person would you become if you applied
… Read more
By 2 min read

Idea #72 The World We Live In

Do it When your want to open up participants. You need only 2 chairs. If the participants are from the different continents, then one chair will represent the North Pole and the other the South Pole. If they are from the same country, then one chair will represent the northernmost town and the other will represent the southernmost town in the country.
Ask them to find their place and to stand between those two chairs according to the distance from their hometowns and the northest or the southest part of the country.
When they finish that, they have to prepare a two- minute presentation of their hometown. What is important for that town? Who else was born there? What is a song that mentions the town? We all like to talk about ourselves and to explain how special we are!
world we live in

Now coaching questions for you:
1. Which famous person was born in your hometown?
2. What are his-her 3 personal values that you admire?
3. Concerning your life which advice will be appropriate to receive from him-her?
4. In which way would that advice change your life?
5. What kind of person would you be with accepting that advice?… Read more

By 4 min read

Idea #71 Fables for the 21 century

Do it When your want to talk about desirable characteristics in your company.  Aesop’s Fables or the Aesopica is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. Every fable has a story in which characters of the people are personified in animals. In addition, every fable has its morale and because of that fables are told to the children while they were building their value systems. I think that nowadays fables should be used in companies to build value system of the organizations.  Divide your participants in small groups and in each group tell them to find 3 characteristics that are totally unacceptable in your organization. After that, tell them to reverse those characteristics and find 3 positive. Now, for each characteristic they have to find one animal that will represent it. After that each group just has to make its unique fable. To make it more interesting each group will make a drawing about its fable. In the end, read them all and show the morale of each fable. While preparing the workshop for my group, 3 fables came to my mind. … Read more

By 3 min read

Idea #70 Motivation book

Do it When your want to motivate yourself whenever you feel like that. In addition, a motivation book could be used as a present for someone you want to make tick. Motivation is like hygiene. The same as we have to wash our face every day, we also have to motivate ourselves day to day. In the picture is the reference book I made for my friend. I asked our colleagues, each of them to write or draw on paper their thoughts about him. Then, I collected all paper sheets with their drawn thoughts and put them in a binder. I decided to use a special occasion, his birthday, and prior to his lecture to give him the motivation book as a present. He was so touched, and we were all so happy. Like Charles R. Swindoll said: “I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy.” I know that we gave him “a heart full of joy“, but more than that we gave him The Reference book for Motivation. Whenever he wants to boost his motivation, he just … Read more

By 3 min read

Idea #69 Life is a carousel

Today is my birthday and I want to thank all my friends on social networks who have made this day even more special to me. So, I want to give them something in return. This idea is dedicated to all of you. You can do it When your employees have to think about your company’s values.  A carousel or merry-go-round is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The “seats” are traditionally in the form of rows of wooden horses or other animals mounted on posts, many of which are moved up and down by gear work to simulate galloping, to the accompaniment of looped circus music. The earliest known depiction of a carousel is in a Byzantine bas-relief dating to around 500 A.D., which depicts riders in baskets suspended from a central pole. Your employees will have to make a carousel from a candle, a wire and paper. The instruction is shown on the picture below, but the main task is to choose seats for the riders. Just imagine that your company is represented by carousel. What would be the presentations for seats? Horses are not allowed! What seats will you choose? … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #65 Envelop under the chair

Do it at the beginning of the training When you want to start with something new and introduce them at the same time. In the envelops you will give them instructions what to do. For instance you could give them puzzles which are mixed in different envelops. So each person will have to check his parts of puzzle with other participants. During that conversation they will meet and introduce each other.  On every training you meet people. Some you never think about again. Some, you wonder what happened to them. There are some that you wonder if they ever think about you. And then there are some you wish you never had to think about again. But you do.
!#65Now, questions for you:
1. What else could you find in the envelops?
2. How could you meet other people in different way?
3. Who are the people that you remember?
Thank you for your work!

     
 
 
 
    
… Read more
By 2 min read

Idea #64 Learn to smile with eyes

Do it during training of non verbal communication When you want to give them something special. We all know that today from an employee is expected to smile. But it is not easy! We all know to smile but our eyes are telling the truth. If you are not happy, you can’t smile from the heart. As the Chinese proverb says: “If you don’t know how to smile, don’t play the game of selling”. So, obviously we have to learn how to smile.

Ask all participants to put hands firmly on their mouths. Now, they have to face each other and each of them to show to his/her partner that he/she is happy. Obviously the only way is to show it by his/her eyes. Now, when they get the idea, just continue with a practice. Next time they will have a new learned behavior.  Now, when you see a customer without a smile, give him one of yours.
!#64 smile with your eyes

Now, questions you have to think about:
1. What makes you smile?
2. How do you feel when you smile?
3. What is the connection between your smile and your feelings?
4. Have you ever tried to change your … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #63 The message in a bottle (balloon)

Do it at the beginning of the training when you want from participants to set their goals for the training session.  As you know it is mandatory for participants to define the training goals at the very beginning of the training. They can write those goals on the paper as usual. Then you will surprise them with the following instruction. Ask them to put that message in a balloon and then to blow the balloon. Now, keep those balloons aside until the end of the training.  During the final part of the training ask each of them to use a needle and to pin the balloon. The balloon will explode and the message will drop out.
Now each person will just have to read the goal and answer what he/she has learned about that goal. Remember as Yogi Berra said: “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up some place else.” But, if you know where you are going, let’s make something spectacular at the end of your journey.
!#63

Now, questions you have to think about:
1. What does your team need at this moment?
2. What tool could you use for another group … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #62 I like about her…

Do it When you want them to introduce each other.  At the beginning of the session ask participants to introduce themselves and as a part of the introduction they should share something they like or respect about the person on their right. After that, ask all of them what they have learnt about their counterpart. “It doesn’t matter where you are, you are nowhere compared to where you can go.” -Bob Proctor

Now, coaching questions for you:
1. What do you respect about the person that was with you during session today?
2. In which way would you like to be like that person?
3. How this change is affecting your business?
4. What are advantages of this change?
5. What are the bad things in this change?
6. What else is even more important to you right now?
7. How important to you is to make necessary changes?
8. Who else will benefit from this change?
9. Make a list of all actions that you have to make so you will be prepared for the change?
10. Now, think about actions that other industries will make. Which of them are applicable in your company?
11. Now, when you … Read more

By 3 min read

Idea #60 My good colleague

Do it When you want to make a stronger connection in a team. Everyone in a group has to make a profile of someone else without making so obvious who that person is. In fact the point is to tell the truth about that person, but to make it so hard to recognize. Sentences could be: “She is a cat lover. She prefers to wear a white shirt. He always makes jokes. He has a degree in economics. She is very charismatic. He is a book lover. “Another criterion is that other people can’t say: “Yeah, we all like going to the parties!” So the profile really has to be unique to that person. In the end discuss what new  you have learned about people in your team. The better we know each other, the sooner we grow as a team. Remember what Clara Ortega said: “To the outside world we all grow old. But not to our brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.”

Now, … Read more

By 3 min read

Idea #59 What are Characteristics of your Team?

Do it When you want to make a team building. Divide your team in the groups of three. Give them the same task. Imagine that your team is represented with an animal, but that animal has to be the combination of three animals with one characteristic from each one. For example, we are as brave as a tiger, with the speed of an antelope and we are strong like an elephant. Now each group should draw its animal as a group logo. All three members of the group should draw at the same time. At the end make presentations and discussions. Remind them of this quote: “What we need to do is learn to work in the system, by which I mean that everybody, every team, every platform, every division, every component is there not for individual competitive profit or recognition, but for contribution to the system as a whole on a win-win basis.” – W. Edward Deming

Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine that for solving your main company problem you should develop three characteristics. Name all 3 of them?
2. What does the solution to this problem mean to you?
3. How would you know … Read more

By 3 min read

Idea #55 What we have learned from donkeys

Do it When you train team building. First tell them a story: Once upon a time there were two donkeys that were tied together. They both wanted to eat off the bushes but the rope wasn’t long enough. They both really wanted to eat but they just couldn’t reach,so they just pulled and pulled hoping that the rope would stretch but it wouldn’t. Because they couldn’t reach,the donkey just sat and tried to think of a way to eat? Then one suddenly clicked and said “now that we are friends why don’t we just stand next to each other and take turns”. They decided they’d eaten all they could from the other bush, so they moved to the next one and carried on all day.
Now, ask each of  them to write a list of things that he/she will do for other members of the team. The employee with the longest list will receive a prize.
Make smaller prizes for all members of the team.

Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine that you can help your team members in the way that is the most valuable for them. What would it be?
2. Why is that so important for … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #53 Tennis ball & Team Building

Do it When you have team building. People are standing in a group or sitting around the table. Give them an easy task: Tennis ball has to pass everyone’s hands as quicker as possible. Team members will have to prepare strategy. Usually they will start with quick throwing ball. Measure their time and tell them that it can be quicker. They will start doing that quicker for sure. After several tries tell them that record is 2 second. After the first shock they will manage how to do it. They just have to make “tube” with everyone’s hands and pass the ball through that “tube”. Everyone will be happy with new idea.  “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” – Antoine de Saint

Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine that your team has become perfect?
2. Why is that so important to you?
3. How would you know that your team is perfect?
4. What other valuess would you have then?
5. What else is even more important … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #49 Deaf dance

Do it When you want to build your team. Task for a team leader is to perform a musical composition just by clapping with his hands and stepping with his feet. Then his team has to repeat this activity and say what the name of the song that he has performed is. He has to make 3 different performances, and his team has to guess at least two of them. After that we need to discuss what we can do to make a better connection between a leader and the team.

Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine that you are a perfect team leader. What does it look like?
2. Why is that important for your business?
3. How can you know that you are perfect?
4. What other values do you have then?
5. What else is even more important to you?
6. Who else can benefit from you as a perfect team leader?
7. How can you be sure that you are on the right track to achieve your goal?
8. Who can help you on your way towards the goal?
9. How would you engage all those people to help you?
10. What will the … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #32 Change what you do

Do it when you want to show importance of change. Give to all participants colored paper balls. Ideally, there are 14 of participants. On your sign they have to throw paper balls to each other. Every time someone has to catch just one ball. On sign everyone will have new ball. Do that 8 to 10 times. Then ask them to wrap up all paper balls.
On every paper should be just one word. Give them 3 minutes to make sentence.
Correct answer should be “If you do what you always do you will get what you always get.”
!#32
Now, coaching questions for you:
1. Imagine that you can restart your life, starting from the year that you are now. But, you can work your dream job. What it will be?
2. How will you know that it is your real dream job?
3. How satisfied would you be on a scale from 1 to 10?
4. Who would you be working that job?
5. Who else will be proud of you?
6. What type of resource you have?
7. What would you be ready to do to achieve that dream job?
8. What would be your first step?… Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #28 Positive feedback for the end

Do it When you are finishing the training. After any training it is very important that people leave it with positive feeling. This means that everyone has done his part in developing total success. Using this tool everyone will leave training with something very concrete. Supply everyone with piece of paper. Then he/she has to write his/her name on the top of the paper. Than each one has to give his paper to the person left to him/her. Each person has to write one sentence what that person has developed during that training. After that he will pass that paper to the left. At the end every person will have positive feedback from all colleagues. It is important that one by one read aloud what was written.
!#28Now, coaching questions for you:
1. What was the nicest thing that anyone in the company said to you?
2. How you have felt when you heard that?
3. What other values you had that time?
4. Which melody can repeat that feeling to you?
5. What other things you can do to regain those feeling?
6. Where and when in the future you can use those values?
Thank you and … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #26 Firm as this stone

Do it When you want quickly to introduce all participants, and make them think about their characteristics. Give the basket with stones to the participants. Everyone has to take one stone and keep it in his hand. After that one by one each person has to say: 1) His name 2) His job position and the most importantly 3) His main good characteristic. He will do that by saying: “My enthusiasm is firm like this stone!”
After this introduction you can ask them questions like: “How each of those characteristics can be useful to our team or that training?”
!#26
Coaching questions for you are:
1. You have to take one stone and keep it all your life remembering about your most important good characteristic. What is it?
2. Knowing that you have that characteristic, what are the other 2 good characteristics that you also posses and maybe you are not so aware about them?
3. Now when you have those 3 characteristics, choose some area of your life, and some specific goal where you can use them. What is that goal?
4. How important on a scale from 1 to 10 is completing that goal?
5. Why is … Read more

By 3 min read

Idea #23 Why do you respect your boss?

Do it When you want to connect people and make a team. 
African born English Writer, William Plomer said: “Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.”
Now, we are going to implement that creativity in practice. All you need is love 🙂 and a bag of m&ms or any other colored candies.
Closed eyes each member of your team has to take one candy. Just tell them that take it doesn’t mean eat it.
!#23#
When everyone has his candy including you tell them the rules. One by one according to clockwise order, everyone has to tell in 3 sentences a story based on following:
Red candy: Why he/she likes to work in your company?
Blue candy: When  he/she was the most proud during his career?
Yellow candy: What was the most difficult client and how he/she has solved that?
Brown candy: When was the time he has felt miserable and how he has overcame that?
Green candy: What is his/her the most ambitious plan in your company?
Orange candy: What his/her boss said to him that made him the proudest person?
When all finish they can eat candies, and we can start coaching!
1. Now,
… Read more
By 3 min read

Idea #21 How to learn a new skill?

Do it When your team have to learn some now skill or to face a difficult change.
People say that:” The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change”. But employees are often afraid of a change. Sometimes they are even afraid of some new skill that they have to adopt. Show them that learning new skill is easy as A, B, C… or should I said Z, Y, X…?
Ask your group to say alphabet from A to Z. People will laugh and did it with moderate speed. Tell them that new task is to do the alphabet backwards. They will laugh even more and say that is not possible without reading.
Tell them that it is all up to them. If they think it is not possible, for sure they are right.
But they have 3 minutes to prepare strategy for learning and 10 minutes for practicing. During that time they can use whatever they want just to learn that new skill.
After those 13 minutes for sure they will succeed. Ask them:
How did they feel when they heard for the first time what the task is?
In which way preparation of strategy … Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #19 Measuring importance

Do it When you want to improve self awareness, empathy and social expertise.
As managers sometimes we send mixed messages to our employees. We tell them that they and their work are important to us, but if you ask them usually they have different opinion. Obviously we have to learn how to take care about them and show that they mean a lot to us.
!#19
Write down names of all of your employees and job activities of each employee.
Then, for each employee answer the following questions:
1. How often you ask that person about his job?
2. Scale (from 1 to 10) where are his/her job concerns on your priority list?
3. When was the last time you have asked that person about his/her opinion?
4. When changes happen on his/her work is that person involved from the beginning or just informed at the end?
When you answer all questions for all employees you will have visual picture of how much importance you deliver to each employee.
What other question would be appropriate to make?

     
 
 
 
    
… Read more
By 2 min read

Idea #18 Make Your Team Rules

Do it When you motivate your team or during team building. Nobody likes rules.
That’s because rules are limitations that someone else is putting on us.
That is so demotivating. But rules are necessary for doing business.
Without them we would be in anarchy. So lets turn it around.
Ask them to write down 10 rules that are so important for them on the job.
Then one by one has to say his 10 rules and someone is writing on the flip chart. Obviously, some of the rules are gonna be said several times. Just count it like votes.
At the end you will have 10 rules or you can narrow to 5 rules that are confirmed by all of them. Those rules are your company values and can be easily transferred into company mission.
!#18
Now coaching questions for you?
Imagine that you have to make your life according to 3 rules.
1. What would you choose?
2. What sort of person would you be if you obey those 3 rules?
3. Who else would benefit then?
4. Why is this important to you?
5. What will be your next steps?
Write down on comments or if it is more … Read more

By 3 min read

Idea #17 Learn from the Zig & geese

Do it During team building. Great Zig Ziglar had funny story about gees.
He would ask participants 3 questions and encourage them for answers.

  1. Why are geese flying in “V” formation?  And most of the people are familiar that using that trick geese save 70% of the energy.
  2. Why from time to time geese change formation for several seconds? Again, there is in every group someone that will explain that leading goose is accepting the majority of the air pressure and for a while another goose will take its position
  3. Why is one leg of the formation always longer than other?  Looks like everyone has noticed that but no one has logical explanation. Then Zig would say: “Because in that “leg” are more geese!“

This will make people laugh, more connected and prepared for main topic. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q40h8dPmgwQ&feature=related[/youtube]

There much more we can learn from the geese.
1. Geese flying at the end of formation are honking for supporting ones at front.
2. When a goose drops out of formation due to sickness or tiredness, two other geese join her and protect until it is ready again.

Now, you can make a discussion:
Imagine our team being more efficient… Read more

By 2 min read

Idea #12 Hello Susan, my name is Steve. I am glad that you are here!

Do it When you have a group of people size up to 20, whom don’t know each other, and you know you have to do something interesting.
People have tendency to talk only to people that they have been introduced. If they don’t know anybody they will talk on the phone or just stare at handouts.
So you have to introduce them quickly.
greeting_card_popup

You need very nice Greeting cards. My suggestion is to take greeting cards with motivational quotes and/or pictures. Before the training in each of them write name of one participant. Then at the beginning of training randomly give them cards. Instantly they will recognize that they have someone else’s card.
Tell them to find the right person and in one nice sentence give the card. It will take just several minutes, and after that you will have totally relaxed group of people.
Now questions for you:
1. What is a good sentence for presenting card?
2. What can you give instead greeting card?
3. What would you do if the person likes the card and doesn’t want to give it to the right owner? 

     
 
 
 
   
… Read more