The ”hard chargers” learned that whenthey drive over the more amiable members on  their team, it can be costly to relationships.  The Amiables learned that, those Drivers don’t mean to be so bold, and that being a little bolder gives them a little more control.  Expressives learned to borrow some of the detail oriented skills from the Analyticals, and the Analyticals to be a little more…well…expressive.

We are sooo.. analytical!

It all came together during a Rescue Bear-teambuilding, workshop.  In turn the Rescue Bears, lions, lambs and puppies will rescue some ailing children who are stuck in the hospital and need a friend.

The team also learned that understanding how different personalities compliment, and sometimes collide, will help them sell more.  Just understanding the decision makers personality and how to work with that personality, may help get the ink onto the contract, and more cash into their pockets.

Once the crime took place the group was divided into 4 teams that took time interviewing each of the 6 suspects. Once the interviews were complete they tallied their notes and named their primary suspect witht eh evidence and motives. Fianlly the culprit was revealed. He made a break for it but was captured and arrested.

It was a fun time of interaction for everyone and even the suspects enjoyed themselves.  The Charade Murder Mystery Team Building Event is a fun and exciting event that gets people working together for a common cause. There is a lot of laughter and everyone gets a chance to participate. Those are important aspects of team building. When teams are cohesive there is a spirit that pervades the team, and that spirit is often revealed in laughter. When teams get along and are making progress there is an attitude of cooperation and tolerance that can often be demonstrated by people having a good time. So the best teams share laughter.

Another good demonstration of an effective team is when members participate. That means that each team member realizes they have a significant role to play on the team. So each member particpates in the work of the team and contributes to the overall success.

Take a look at your team. Do you see a lot of laughter? Do you witness particpation and valuable contributions from each member? If not, maybe it’s time to call the Leader’s Institute and plan a Charade- Murder Mystery Team Building Event for your group.

Here is the replay of our free webinar called PowerPoint Tips: The Ten (10) Biggest PowerPoint Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. We ended up with hundreds of people registering to attend, so if you happened to try to login and all of the seats were gone, we apologize. Enjoy the free PowerPoint Tips Webinar.

If you have trouble viewing the movie above, you can watch it at the source at: http://www.blip.tv/file/4024846/

Other Resources:

• www.fearlesspresentations.com
• www.10publicspeakingsecrets.com
• www.leadersinstitute.com/images/PowerPointTips.ppt

By Doug Staneart

This week, the last combat troops are returning from Iraq, so Merck decided to combine their annual team building event in Washington DC with a special Thank You for these returning troops. They decided to conduct a Hero Quest, which a version of our very popular scavenger hunt team building event — The Camaraderie Quest High Tech Team Building, and we had an absolute blast!

The Team met in their convention banquet hall, and they were divided into ten groups. The event planners at Merck were a blast to work with, and they decided to get each of the ten group a set of different colored sunglasses, so that when they saw each other on the scavenger hunt course, they’d know who the “enemy” was. Each group had a Camaraderie Quest Tool Kit that included a smart phone that was used to receive each task along the way, a digital camera to prove that each team had accomplish the task, a map, and an envelope full of cash to buy items for their soldiers gift boxes. Below are a few of the pictures that each team took during the event:

Posing with Elvis	Historical Ford's Theater
Hidden Fountain	Posing with Ben Franklin

You’ll notice in a lot of the photos that the teams are carrying bags of items. With over 100 people collecting just a little bit for each soldier gift box, we ended up with 30 gift boxes filled to the brim for soldiers still at war or returning from war. When the last box was completed, a roaring applause came from the group. We shipped of 200 lbs of gift boxes to Operation Shoebox for the soldiers. Everyone had a blast!

Register for the seminar by clicking this link: http://www.leadersinstitute.com/powerpoint-tips-10-biggest-powerpoint-mistakes-webinar-replay/ 

In the free webinar, we’ll cover the following:

• The 10 Biggest PowerPoint Mistakes and How to Avoid them.
• The simple mistake that, if you do it, will cause your presentation to fall flat every single time (and what to do instead).
• How what we do to reduce our nervousness actually causes us to be more nervous (and boring!)
• A strategy that will increase the clarity of each slide ten-fold.
• How, often, the things we do to make our slides look prettier actually cause the audience to be confused.
• Everything your boss and coworkers have ever told you about charts and graphs is absolutely wrong — and once you know this secret, you will tower over them.
• How just physically moving two feet in the room can give you more confidence and authority on your topice (seriously — two feet, and it’s not what you think).
• And how if you let someone else design your slide deck, you’ll increase your nervousness exponentially.
• And a whole lot more!

The webinar will take place Thursday, Aug 19th (that’s this Thursday) at 8:00 PM Central Time (9:00 PM Eastern/6:00 PM Pacific) and it’s free to our friends and clients.  Seating is limited, though, so you do need to register in order to reserve a seat (login early because we expect to run out of speaces.)

If you’d like to attend but can’t make it, register anyway, and we’ll send you a link to the replay so you can watch it at your leisure.

See you at the webinar! (The links in the article now forward to the replay of this webinar. Just click any to watch it.)

Presentation Skills, Using Analogies — Analogies are a great way to take complex data in a presentation and make it easier to understand.  I was in Rome a few weeks ago, and I was staying in a hotel that overlooked the city.  It reminded me of an analogy the Freud created to explain the complexities of the conscious and sub-conscious mind.  This video shows how he took this complex data and made it more understandable.  Fearless Presentations is a presentation training course offered in major cities all over the world, and here is a video from Doug Staneart, CEO of The Leader’s Institute, who gives a few ways that a little training can eliminate stage fright.

A good question, “How can I build a team that works effectively and efficiently?” A how question always starts with a beginning, where do I begin to make this happen? The answer doesn’t begin with the team, but with the team leader and the team members.

It begins with the team leader because they are the ones that begin the process and set the stage for what is to come. It begins with the team members because they are the ones that have to come together in a cohesive manner to do their best work possible. I really don’t think you can begin to build the team until the leaders realizes that they must build the team members. Team Leaders need to use The CARE method of team member building.

(C) Consider
(A) Appreciate
(R) Respect
(E) Encourage

First consider the team members. Take some time to set back and think about each member as you know them. In your present relationship how do you get along? What are the dynamics of the relationship? How do they really see you? How do you see them? Take serious time to go over each of the team members and think seriously about who they are, what they can contribute, and what each one may be seeking for themselves. A good team leader will consider the goals and visions of their team members and consider how they can help each team member realize their potential.

Next appreciate the team members. Get to know them. If you can’t answer the questions above then show them you care by finding out. Be genuinely interested in them, their families and what ever their primary concerns are. Each person has unique gifts and talents, they have dreams and goals and visions, they have families and friends and many cares and concerns outside the workplace that influence the work place. Likewise, the workplace influences other parts of their lives as well. Learn to appreciate each team member for who they are and where they are. Express that appreciation in tangible ways.

Each team member can be build into a vital part of the team when respect is openly demonstrated. Consideration and appreciation should lead to a respect for each member’s individuality and ability to contribute to the organization. This respect means allowing for differences and disagreements without it becoming personal or in any way demeaning. Two people, or more, can disagree without either or any of the sides being wrong. Even if a person is wrong, they and the opinion must be respected and guarded as important in leading to the overall effectiveness of the team. The self esteem of each individual in the group must be valued above individual opinions.

Lastly the team leader must be always ready to encourage. The team leader is the cheerleader for the team. When the heart of each team member is encouraged first by the team leader then the team will be poised to cheer on each other. It starts at the top. And when a person feels encouraged their outlook changes and becomes one of enthusiasm for the cause and excitement for the team making a positive difference and being successful in its endeavors. A team leader must always be present with a word that gives confidence, a compliment, something that builds the heart, promotes the person and demonstrates unwavering support. Confidence is an important ingredient in each team member and it is the team leader’s responsibility to build the confidence of each member of the team.

Are you a team leader and do you want to build the best team possible? Then try building your team members first. Let them know you CARE. Because your people won’t really care how much you know until they know how much you CARE.

Craig Wagganer is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building in Chicago, IL that insert fun and energy into any convention or annual meeting. (http://www.teambuildingchicagoil.com/) Craig teaches team building events in major cities like Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis.