STAVE OFF A SUMMER SLUMP WITH TEAMBUILDING

Written by: Sue - 12^th June 2016

Temperatures, thankfully, are on the up!  Plans for summer are a nagging distraction, there may be a restless air in the office and a temptation to wrap meetings up quickly.  This is the ideal chance to embrace the great outdoors and fine weather to stave off a 'summer slump' for your team.

Everybody knows a change of scenery can do you good.  In the past you may have chosen a meeting or conference venue with attractive surroundings so delegates can clear the cobwebs away with a stroll outside.  You may liven up a gathering with an energiser activity or 'go wild' by abandoning the training centre for a tour or a treasure hunt?  All such ideas are laudable and productive, but there is far more to explore under the 'teambuilding' banner - from quad-biking to film-making.

The essential aim is that the team has fun and all feel a buzz of excitement; invite them to a unique, non-conventional venue and the experience is all the more memorable.  When colleagues work and play as a team the individual goal yields to an organisational focus .  People help, support and collaborate with each other; they bond and unite for a common aim.  One day of teambuilding can foster what may take years in the workplace to achieve - for a more productive outcome.  In a teambuilding capacity we have worked with many different partners in all manner of settings and experiences.

Although, if you have a wild dream for an event  - a bit bizarre maybe - but you've never seen it done, we're certain we will know just the right preferred partner we can call upon to make it happen.  Imagination is exactly the area in which our network of partners excels.

Imagine Theobalds Park with DeVere Venues for instance - it feels just like a rural retreat and yet is pretty much on London's doorstep.  This Georgian mansion's imposing façade provides a wow factor for delegates on arrival, with the advantage of many high-tech meeting rooms yet 55 rolling acres of parkland to explore - all the space required for outdoor activities.  How about inviting creativity to scale new heights with a training or free-thinking session up in a tree house?

Team-Build In The Tree House is also a highlight at New Place, Hampshire under the blue skies of The Solent.  A range of country pursuit themed exercises are on offer here such as high-octane orienteering and duck-herding - sure to make everyone howl with laughter!  Duck-herding is also a possible pursuit at Mottram Hall with Q Hotels, Cheshire's most prestigious golf and leisure resort, surrounded by idyllic countryside.  The venue's 270 acres of parkland and ornamental lake have been expertly groomed and an impressive championship golf course sculpted into the grounds.  Archery, clay pigeon shooting, walks and tours also take place against this picturesque backdrop.

In five DeVere Venues  delegates can enrol in the 'Bear Grylls Survival Academy' - fire lighting, shelter building, wild cooking, traversing, learning rope skills - generally honing their wits and ingenuity.

With Classic British Hotels we can recommend Melville Castle Hotel on a country estate outside of Edinburgh.  Woodland walks and country pursuits take place here with the castle as enchanting scenery.  Principal-Hayley's Beaumont Estate near Windsor is an events venue fit for royalty - a most dramatic interior space with 75 meeting rooms, and acres of outdoor space for active sessions.

An inspiring, off-the-wall teambuilding venue can be found at The Churchill War Rooms in central London through our partner Sodexo - once the secret underground headquarters of Churchill's cabinet during WW11.  The Harmsworth Room showcases original features such as the 1940s electric generator and The Learning Room includes use of three breakout spaces.  The whole experience is steeped in atmosphere and history - especially fitting for themed events.

MacDonald Hotels have some teambuilding venues in amazing waterside settings in The Lake District and Scotland.  Away-days or residential trips by blue spaces - rivers, lakes or the sea - we feel are great for mental wellbeing, clarity and creativity.  Most people feel calmer and more focused near all the colours and sounds associated with water.

Outdoors in summer is also the perfect place and time to reward team members for recent successes - not just to motivate them for the quarter ahead - with an away-day, residential or awards night.  Sun, socialising and delicious food, bang on theme - whether a terrace BBQ or healthy fruit kebabs - summer and business can make a winning team.

(Pictured here is 'Bear Grylls Survival Academy' and duck-herding in the grounds of Mottram Hall, Cheshire with Q Hotels.)