As a manager one of your many responsibilities is to come up with new and innovative ideas for team building exercises.
Most corporate companies value team building days because they are an opportunity to get out of the office and enjoy a new experience. Likewise, if you have a team of sales reps – or some other role where your employees are always on the move – then they might not cross paths very frequently so a day out is an opportunity for them to get to know each other.
However it is important that your day out is not simply a day of dossing. Instead it should be an active, memorable event which teaches your team transferable skills.
Unlike duck-herding or archery which have become clichéd activities that lots of your team might have already experienced, paintballing is exciting, adrenaline-fuelled fun which teaches plenty of skills in the process.
So what sort of transferable skills will your team learn from a day of paintballing? Have a look at our mock-up CV of what everybody might learn:
Paintball Matrix – Team Member 2014
-As a member of a paintballing team it was my responsibility to work out a strategy of reaching the other team’s post before they reached ours.
-I needed to evaluate which of our team members were strong in different areas, for example I gave my fastest team the responsibility of sprinting to the post, while I situated slower members in spots where they could shoot the opposition from a stationery base.
-To win the game it was important to have a plan of action because otherwise everybody would end up running around with no aim. I created a clear strategy for the team to follow which included details of everybody’s role and their individual responsibilities.
-Sometimes my team members were unhappy with their role so I discussed their wants and the team’s needs with them to come up with a solution that we both agreed upon.
-When somebody wanted to be in an attacking position rather than a defensive one; I arranged for him to swap with one of my attacking members half way through the game.
-When a member of my team was taken hostage, I negotiated so that I could exchange 5 paintballs to have him back on the team.
-The most important skill that I developed during paintballing was teamwork; without this we would have all been out instantly.
-We quickly learned that it was important to know where the rest of the team was to win the game
-We often had to defend each other against attack, and shout out warnings if we could see someone unknowingly being approached by the opposition.
-We constantly needed to inform each other of how many paintballs we had left; if one of us was low on paintballs then we had to swap some otherwise they would have been defenceless.
-Planning a strategy was vital but we quickly learned that we needed multiple back-up plans in case things went wrong. If the plan was altered then we needed to ensure that the whole team understood this.
-Likewise, if a team member was injured or out, we needed to quickly let the whole team know so that we could work on making up for the lost member.
-In one of the games that we played I was made team leader; in others I was a team member but if the leader was shot out; it was important for me to step in and organise the team.
-As leader I needed to listen carefully to the needs of my team so that I could place them accordingly. For example one of the older members of our team did not like running so I situated him in a hidden area where he acted as look-out for the team.
-I rarely needed to discipline my team but when some members became tired I encouraged them by pointing out all the brilliant contribution they had made throughout the game.
- During any paintball games there are constantly unexpected problems that occur such as injured team members, tired players, running out of paintballs, kidnapped or shot individuals – these are all issues that I needed to solve.
-If there was a problem I altered the strategy according to the problem, for example if there were a lack of paintballs, I encouraged the team to divide the paintballs up according to how likely it was that they would use them.
- If the other team called a temporary truce –so that both teams can have a break –I decided if this was a good idea for my team.
-Ever since the economic crash, roles in every organisation have become more pressurised than ever. Every business is in competition with hundreds of others and I feel that my ability to work under pressure will benefit your company.
-When I had lost several team members and knew that my opposition were stronger in numbers than mine, I worked twice as hard to make the match more equal.
-Sometimes it was me against 3-4 people but I knew it was important not to give up and instead to establish where their weaknesses were so that I could win.
If you would like to book a corporate team building day, contact 0800 44 88 997