September 2018

Connect Your People to Your Brand

Building a strong brand image is key to standing out among the competitors in any industry. A brand is made up of everything that represents a company or organisation in the world, ranging from its logo and slogan to its colours, name and its PEOPLE.

The right brand identity can transform a company’s image and make it memorable to current and potential customers or clients. It can also have an impact on the company’s profits and returns in the long run.

Consumers are extremely loyal to their favourite brands. They fall in love with the brand’s products and trust in its service. Don’t let your people let the Brand down!

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Here are a few ways to ensure your people represent the Brand better:

  1. Engage your people

You may know your Brand and how you want your customers to remain loyal to it. But are your staff as loyal to the brand? Hold facilitated sessions where the staff can discuss their understanding of the brand and brainstorm ways to better promote the brand. This way they will begin to feel that they are part of the brand’s development.

  1. Connect the Brand to your Culture

Your Brand is a statement of intent. Behind your brand is a series of promises about quality, service and values. There is nothing worse than seeing a brand that does the opposite it says it does. For example, when Avis says “we try harder”, and the very first person you meet from that company gives you the cold shoulder, says “Sorry I’m busy,” and “I’ll get back to you.”

It is very important to allow your team to understand better what is expected of them, by facilitating an exercise that identifies the work ethic that is non-negotiable and that supports your Brand. This becomes your culture, and this will link to your values and value statement. If not, then get a better facilitator.

  1. Acknowledge support of your Brand

Be alert to the times when you see your staff or team going out of their way to represent the brand positively. Acknowledge regularly as this will strengthen both the understanding as to the correct work ethic as well as the right behaviours in your organisation.

At the HiSide Group, our HiSide Training team make it happen.

How to Boost Employee Morale When You Can’t Afford Bonuses

It’s almost that time of year when employees will be expecting a nice bonus for the holidays or even a raise early next year.

While it would be the right thing to do especially if your staff have been working double-duty or on a reduced workforce, it may be that your company, unfortunately, can’t afford to give everyone a bonus this year. This fact can dampen the morale of employees and affect their performance at work.

However, there are other incentives you can provide to boost morale without handing out extra cash.

Side Hustle

Some employees have not aspired to be in their current position, but this is where life has placed them. Perhaps what they love doing does not fall under their current job description.

Find out what their passion is. Maybe the guy in sales wants to work in IT. Or the cleaner would have a hidden talent in marketing a product.

Give employees some downtime and allow them mobility to go to other departments and learn a new skill.  Let them take on their personal projects with this downtime. They could come back feeling refreshed, and you would have happier employees.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Training

Training and development programmes are usually more common in large corporations, but even if you are a small business, you can offer employees a chance to take a course or attend a conference of their choice.

In this way, you both reward the employee and fulfil the continuing education goal for your business.

Motivation

The reason you can’t afford the bonus is that the team didn’t reach the goal for the year. Remind them of the goal post and set an even higher one. Set out a game plan on how to reach it and make the rewards transparent for everyone to see.

A motivational talk might be “old school” but not when a CA and business expert is talking at a level everyone can understand. Let John Ingram do an hour’s motivational with your team to kick-start their aspirations.

Successful teams do what other teams are not prepared to do! Are you ready?

Take your team beyond with Beyond Teambuilding’s exciting events, activities and challenges that push boundaries and guarantee loads of fun.

Common Pitfalls for Teams

Building great teams takes a lot of time and effort from HR, management and the employees. Choosing the right team is essential for the success of projects and for the business itself.

However, teams sometimes unconsciously sabotage their success in small but important ways. In his 2012 book, Choose Not To Fail, US businessman Peter Jerkewitz outlines the common pitfalls that plague teams and stops them from doing their best work.

Some of these pitfalls include the following:

Focus on the Wrong Problem

Clear direction and leadership are needed to avoid wasting time and effort in trying to solve the wrong tasks. While they might do the perfect job, if these efforts do not align with the company’s goals, it will all be in vain.

This situation then creates more work for the team who will now have to go back to the drawing board to fix the original problem, thereby resulting in more wasted time and more pressure placed on the team.

Our Movie Making Teambuild is perfect for teams to understand a process from beginning to end and not waste time on pointless tasks.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Delivering too Much or too Little

It becomes a problem when teams fail to deliver, miss deadlines or do not complete assigned tasks. However, over-delivering can also be a problem.

If your team is assigned to create a new product or campaign, the goal is not to have as many ideas as possible but rather to have one or two strong ideas. It will result in less time wasted on fleshing out weak ideas and more time spent on a great idea.

Our Ubuntu Teambuild will help teams focus on what is important and how best to deliver exactly that.

Dismissing Personal Issues

A team is not made up of robots. Different personalities and beliefs will clash every now and again. Hurt feelings and closed minds can result in a decrease in productivity.

The above should not be underestimated. Put systems in place to deal with such instances before it affects other aspects in the workplace.

Take some time and get your team to complete a Team Climate Survey and let us help you understand your team.

Successful teams do what other teams are not prepared to do! Are you ready?

Take your team beyond with Beyond Teambuilding’s exciting events, activities and challenges that push boundaries and guarantee loads of fun.