Construction Professional
The Coins 3 Peaks Challenge is the ultimate in team building. But you don’t have to move mountains to improve your company. Denise Chevin reports.
Scaling the heights to create a better team
IN THE NEXT few days more than 300 construction professionals will don hiking boots and cagoules to scale three mountains in 24 hours for charity. The Coins 3 Peaks Challenge is one of the industry’s biggest fund raisers and also one of its most high-profile team building exercises. It’s seen as a big opportunity for folk
from across different regions, or within their departments, to come together and pit their physical stamina and mental endurance against others within their own company as well as their rivals. It’s meant to be a bit of fun too. But those who have taken part say the exhilaration, exertion and mutual support it takes to get everyone in a group to race to the summits of Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell and down again, on little sleep and in the pouring rain, forges an altogether better understanding and respect between colleagues. Construction firms organise all kinds of
exercises to get people working together in the same companies, or across projects. They’re not all this scale, or all that physical. But how successful are they? “No question. Our level of mutual
respect and understanding was very strong after the event,” is the view of Taylor Wimpey CEO Pete Redfern, who took part in the Three Peaks Challenge last year in one of four teams fielded by the house builder. In his group were senior colleagues drawn from various parts of the company either abroad or in the regions, and because of this disparate geography didn’t get to spend much time with each other.
26 | APRIL 2012 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER “I was climbing with individuals who I
respected and knew who did a good job, but whereas before I might not have been quite sure where they were coming from or their approach, I feel I understand them much more now and vice versa. “It wasn’t just about coming together for
the day, we also met up for practice climbs during the weekends leading up to it.” Redfern, a keen marathon runner who
says exercise has helped relieve the stress of managing the house builder through recent difficult times, has now signed up to do the Coins 24 Peaks
Greg Davidson on making your team building event a success
If you’re organising an event for your company here’s a few points you should be thinking about: 1. What is the purpose of the team building exercise? Is it purely to give people a fun time with work colleagues? Bring out the importance of key business skills such as communication, decision- making, leadership and strategy? Or is it to help bond, integrate, and introduce a group of people? The purpose will be the initial factor in choosing the type of team building activity. 2. Who will be taking part? Once the purpose is known then the type of activities must give consideration to the people taking part — are they
male, female, old, young, fit or not, or a cross section of all? If a team building activity is chosen that only provides interest for one of these groups then the others will not enjoy the experience and possibly feel the company is just paying lip service to “team building”. The end product could be an event that alienates some of the participants and fails to achieve its purpose. 3. When will be the best time for the business and also for the people attending the team building event? There may not be an ideal time, but it must be considered. 4. How much can be spent and who will provide the money? If delivered by an in-house team
will it have the same impact as by an external supplier? If using an external company, make sure you pick the right one. A supplier may offer very exciting activities, however if the people they employ to deliver those activities are no good then the whole event will not deliver its intended outcomes. So find out as much as you can about the people running the event. 5. Always involve the people who will be attending where possible, or a “focus group” if the team building event is to remain a surprise. The event will not be a complete success unless everyone (or the vast majority) buys into the occasion.
greg.davidson@spy-games.com
“People get to appreciate the problem-solving skills that other people have in the business that they may have little contact with.” Brian De’ath, Mount Anvil
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