Planning, organizing and executing a corporate team building event can seem simple. After all,  it’s not as complex as planning a wedding! Yet, corporate events often do not achieve their purposes. Sometimes, they end up achieving just the opposite. Several factors play a role in their failure. So, taking into account the professional goals of such an event, it is necessary for organizers to keep in mind certain dos and don’ts for optimum outcomes.

DOs

• Do invite suggestions from your team members for the activities. Let them voice out their interests and then try to find a common streak among them. You can also give them a few choices and conduct a small poll to finalize the activity.
• Do ask the participants to provide their feedback after a corporate team building event. Learn lessons from previous events; after all things may not go as expected, despite careful planning.
• Do provide a debriefing after the event. Reflecting and reviewing will help consolidate the learning experience.
• Do design activities that are purpose-driven, essentially linking them up to the challenges faced in your work environment.
• Do customize the activities to suit the needs and size of your group. It is best to get professional event planning help for this.
• Do encourage a bit of healthy, friendly competition among the participants.
• Do try to bring members out of their comfort zones gently to explore new roles.
• Do concentrate on the food and drink for a wholesome experience. Suggestions can be gathered for this too.
• Do give thoughtful presents to exceptional employees based on their performance in corporate event
• Do put an interesting spin on regular fun group activities to draw the participants’ interest.

Don’ts

• Don’t over-plan. Take care not to let the event appear too scripted. It would suffice to have a skeletal plan open to spontaneous modifications.
• Don’t make it all about work. Challenges in the workplace need to be addressed but that must not be the sole aim. Don’t be too serious when the point is to take a break from seriousness!
• Don’t just target the weaknesses. While it is true that weaknesses need to be resolved, it can dampen the spirit of the employees when they try and fail multiple times. Target their strengths for a chance to boost the confidence of the members.
• Don’t organize physically or intellectually demanding corporate events. This tends to exclude some members. Design activities that everyone may enjoy.
• Don’t conduct corporate planning events at the office. Try to get away from the workplace. It is important to choose a good spacious venue.
• Don’t force anybody to take part in an activity they don’t want to. Getting them out of their comfort zones is essential but forcing them to do so is not advisable.
• Don’t let the participants get too competitive. This leads to them behaving erratically and is detrimental to the betterment of the company. It creates tension between the members impeding their efficiency.
• Don’t expect the event to yield instant results. You may have to organize more than one event at regular intervals to see some improvement in the performance of your team.

Finding a good venue with a good event planning service is half the job done. City Beach, a corporate event venue in Fremont and Santa Clara, provides a wide range of corporate team building activities designed to motivate the participants while having lots of fun. After their first experience at City Beach, they will want to return!