If you run a business, or are in a position where part of your responsibilities are to make sure the whole team works well together, you will know that there are many ways to bring a workforce together. One of the most popular over recent years has been to arrange corporate days out, which can not only help break down barriers but can also lead to enhanced productivity.
Happy workplace
Everyone wants to be able to go to work and feel that they are in a happy, friendly and safe environment, where they can bank on the support of their colleagues. Sadly, for many people, this isn’t the case, and their daily duties can be marred by a fractured workforce and problems with other employees.
Obviously, this isn’t an ideal scenario, and fortunately, many working environments are actually pleasant due to the way in which everyone pulls together and builds a positive and productive atmosphere. However, even the happiest workplaces can always benefit from an occasional push in the right direction, if only to nip even the remotest chance of potential problems in the bud.
Corporate days out
Taking people out of a familiar environment as a group can make them see each other in different ways and gain a respect that they may not have had before. It can be difficult to socialise out of work hours due to family commitments and the pace of modern life, and this can be a particular barrier when it comes to management and ground-level workers mixing other than in their work roles. When not in a workplace environment, people who work together are essentially out of their comfort zone and so will interact in new ways.
Plenty of choice
From organising a trip out to a sporting event or taking part in a more competitive pastime such as paintballing or go karting, there are many ways that you can be creative in creating an opportunity for workers to mix in a different way. Obviously, age and fitness differences might mean that some of the more active options might not be suitable and therefore actually have a negative effect by making some people feel excluded. That’s why a visit to the races or an organised outing to a football match can often be the ideal solution. Even these can provide the chance for a little friendly out-of-hours competition by placing a bet on a horse or making goal scorer predictions.
Socialising
Central to any successful corporate day out is the idea that getting workers to socialise outside of the workplace will help them to understand each other better and form closer bonds. This can also be achieved by organising less-formal activities such as a simple pub trip, a restaurant outing or a quiz night. These have the advantage of being less of a formal occasion and can also happen more frequently, so there’s no pressure on attendance, and people won’t feel obliged to take part each and every time.