In case you are planning for a teambuilding event for your team, you might be caught in a dilemma between 2 criteria:

1. The teambuilding must be fun, so everybody enjoy themselves and feel energised; and

2. The teambuilding tasks and games must create enough stress so that your team's potential will be fully unleashed, i.e. they achieve high levels of performance that they never knew they could

Most teambuilding events are "fun" oriented.  They are a way of getting team members out of their work, so as to communicate and bond in a fun-filled manner.  Fun teambuilding programmes are sometimes held in resorts or scenic locations, so that team members can do their sight-seeing after their teambuilding.

However, there usually is a lot less learning in these fun-filled teambuilding events.  Team members either forget what was learnt fairly quickly, or the teambuilding event wasn't even conducted to let team members learn anything (apart from having a great time).

To improve learning through experiential teambuilding, some teambuilding programmes are created to make team members "suffer".  This can be done either by having the teambuilding conducted in places where there are few or no amenities such as (tap water or electricity or telephones), or having the team members going through a military-style boot camp to enforce team discipline.  There will also be activities that will test team members levels of endurance, perseverance and determination.

While team members are likely to take away long lasting memories and learning experiences of such teambuilding events, team members are so exhausted that they would rather not attend another of such teambuilding ever again.  If not conducted properly, there are also associated high-risks (e.g. usage of high-element props, bad weather etc.) which sometimes can cause severe injuries or even deaths if accidents were to happen.

Hence, if there is a teambuilding event that cause enough stress so that team members unleash their full potential, and is fun-filled at the same time, this could be a panacea to all teambuilding event organisers. 

Introducing a teambuilding workshop called "How to Make Your Own Movie and Win an 'Oscar' in 24 Hours".  This is how it works:

• Participants split into groups, where each group is given a theme (which could be based on corporate values, mission statements or new corporate initiatives);

• Each group will then have to write a 5-7 minute movie script, which group members will then have to act, film then edit to make their own movie, ALL within 24 hours;

• There will be technical specialists to help groups in the filming and editing, but groups will have to give specific instructions on what to film, and which areas to edit;

• At the end of 24 hours, teams will then present their movies to a panel of judges, who will then give an "Oscar" to the group with the best movie.

• Depending on how in-depth the teambuilding is going to be conducted, sometimes a facilitator can be assigned to each team to take notes of the group's behaviour in making the movie.  The facilitator will then feedback to the panel of judges the group's behaviour, which can then be used as judging criteria, but more importantly, as key learning points for debriefing.

Hence, there are a few key advantages in conducting such kinds of teambuilding:

• Team members are going to have fun making their own movie, while at the same time, experience stress due to the tight deadline and the competition between groups;

• Such activities can be conducted just about anywhere, be it indoors or outdoors, in summer or winter, in an office building or a 5-star resort;

• Behaviours that drive innovative culture such as empowerment, honesty, leadership etc. can be spotted and used as debriefing learning points; and most of all

• The movies can be brought back to the workplace so that the learning experiences can be reviewed repeatedly.

If you would like to generate more creative ideas for your teambuilding event, you can e-mail info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-136 7190 2505 or Skype: cydj001