Training Blog

Recently, there have been a number of articles in Middle Eastern publications highlighting the importance of team building for companies in the United Arab Emirates and other GCC countries. Facilitated team building can make a significant contribution to corporate performance. Unfortunately, a pattern is emerging in Dubai that is similar to what has taken [...]

From traditional to modern, Japan offers:
- a wide variety of possibilities for team building themes
- many options for recreational activities and excursions to flesh out your theme
- the facilities to pull off a team building retreat, business meeting or conference flawlessly
Throughout the year, there’s an opportunity to incorporate some really interesting Japanese cultural experiences into [...]

The earlier you start planning your corporate Christmas event, the more options and choices you will have for venues and activities. If you’re having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit when the temperatures are soaring, here are some places where it’s always Christmas. You’ll find insipiration the momemt you want in the front door.

With a little bit of imagination and the right technology, places where temperatures soar throughout the year are designing new approaches to keeping residents and visitors cool. Here are some unexpected cool places where you can beat the heat all year long including Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, and Florida.

Believe it or not, Ace of Cakes and Hell’s Kitchen have a lot in common. Chef Gordon Ramsay and Chef Jeffrey “Duff” Goldman are both entrepreneurs with a their work and a clear vision of the kind of environment they want to create. They both have a passion for excellence and place an emphasis on [...]

It’s been a tough couple of years for many companies and they have had no choice but to scale back or forgo Christmas celebrations. That is unfortunate but understandable. In 2008 and 2009, we saw the Scrooge Factor take over even in some companies that were doing well. They cancelled their Christmas celebrations because they [...]

…..with apologies to Jonathan Swift.
The recent release of Pac Man on Google fired off a lot of brainwaves. With some of the trends we’ve seen in recent years, don’t be surprised if some companies use the free flash version of Pac Man to reduce their “team building” budget to 0. Now there’s a cost saving [...]

Years ago, one of the top American bleach manufacturers had an interesting TV commercial featuring identical twins dressed in matching outfits. An announcer asked:
“Do you see a difference?”
The only difference was that each twin had used a different bleach. The announcer’s question reminds me of some of the confusion in the team building industry.

At the end of the day, business is about the bottom line and generating a profit. Profit is not a dirty word. There is an even greater danger when companies forget their primary mission and purpose. When businesses forget that they exist to generate bottom line results, there are a host of concerns. This article [...]

Before proceeding with an executive retreat or team building initiative, it is important for your executive team to assess the costs and benefits of such an initiative. The following steps will help you undertake such an analysis. This blog entry also has a free team building calculator and selection tool that you can download.

Has your company recently gone through downsizing?
Are you thinking that, under this scenario you can’t possibly justify team building?
Think again.
Expertly facilitated business team building is one of the most leveraged investments a company can make during turbulent times with no downside.

Since the 2008 Wall Street Meltdown, it’s been a bumpy ride for many companies and industries. Yet, signs are that the economy is on the upswing. So, how does an executive take a team that’s battle weary and a bit discouraged and inspire them to give those final pushes required to seize emerging [...]

The Greater Toronto and areas accessible to it (e.g. the Muskokas, Niagara-on-the-Lake) offer many possibilities for team building. Your options will vary depending on the time of year and, of course, your budget. The key is to combine facilitated business exercises and cases with activities to invigorate your team and boost team spirit. Here are [...]

If you want to create a team building session with a tropical theme, you can always plaster the room with travel posters, scatter beach balls around the room, play reggae and calypso music, serve drinks with umbrellas, and project images from a DVD. Somehow, this doesn’t come close enough to the real thing [...]

With companies looking for cost effective approaches to provide facilitated business team building, team building with a winter theme is an approach worth exploring. The beauty of this approach is that one can scale it up or down depending on budget.
With modern technology, it’s now possible at unexpected places around the world including Dubai, Singapore, [...]