First Community Bank Leaders Do a Day of Learning
A group of IT leaders from First Community Bank, along with their COO participated in a day-long team development seminar that tested them in a number of ways. The day began with our Building High Performance Teams session, then tested their learning in our Teambuilding Treasure Hunt in historic Old Salem, North Carolina. The early spring weather was perfect for the challenging hunt that took them through the entire village, solving clues, finding locations, and answering interesting questions. According to Steve Lilly, Chief Operating Officer, "I don't know how you could improve the session." Click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy!

Foremost Insurance Leaders Embrace a Winter Meeting in Lake Placid
It's easy to go to a balmy climate for your winter management meeting. Breaking old paradigms, however, was truly on the mind of Foremost Insurance's Eastern Region Manager Andy Thomas, as he took his team of 60 to Lake Placid in January. Adding our session Team Olympia at Lake Placid, the managers learned leadership and teamwork lessons firsthand utilizing Lake Placid's excellent facilities. Teams participated in Olympic style events that captured the spirit of teamwork in the Olympic tradition. According to Andy Thomas, "I can's say enough about how well the week went. I received rave reviews from the meeting participants. A truly memorable event that will benefit our organization for years to come." Click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy!

Tax Professionals End Their Day with a BLAST!
About 60 tax accountants and consultants of Amper, Politziner & Mattia ended their day-long meeting with a blast...actually, our Trivia Blast! with Doug Grunther posing interesting and challenging questions. Doug's years of trivia excellence were tested by Amper's teams of very bright team members. Click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy!

90 Utility Executives Kick Off Meeting with a Jungle Escape Challenge
Wanting to kick off their meeting with a great problem solving activity, about 90 executives from Calpine Corporation formed teams, each needing to build an escape helicopter before the impending monsoon flooded the jungles of the Philippines. In the end, they realized that they had to collaborate among the 15 teams to be successful. The 1-hour exercise was a great way to get the juices flowing for a more productive meeting. Click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy!

Air Products Team Conquers The DaVinci Conspiracy in Baltimore
Mystery, clues, and intrigue were centerpoint as the Air Products Business Process Improvement Group tackled The DaVinci Conspiracy at their annual meeting. With a great cast of Air Products characters, the Radisson Lord Baltimore Hotel watched as teams gathered information and solved the mystery of the missing painting, reinforcing their team skills in the process. Given the problem-solving nature of this team, they always succeed at these challenging tasks. Click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy!

University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Students Bond with Team Energy^TM
How do you get 115 incoming veterinary students to bond quickly for their next 4 years of training? Easy. Reinforce their orientation week with Team Energy. During the week these outstanding students learned more about each other through designed activities, culminating in a full day of Team Energy events at the end. Click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy!

Need for Team Building Reinforced by Study
In a new study of HR professionals conducted by Oklahoma City-based Express Personnel Services, more than two- thirds felt that attracting and retraining workers is the biggest threat to bottom-line profitability. Nearly half (47 percent) of the responses indicated employee retention was their No. 1 concern. “There is more to retention than offering competitive salaries, paid time off and insurance benefits,” said Kristy Curry, branch manager for Express Personnel Services. “By building trust, providing regular feedback, conducting effective annual performance reviews and giving appropriate rewards, supervisors and managers can lead their employees to a greater sense of commitment, increasing customer service, profitability and productivity.” In the Express Personnel Services survey, HR professionals identified the top critical concerns facing companies: retention/turnover (47 percent), recruiting/hiring (20 percent), training (19 percent), teamwork/teambuilding (9 percent) and morale (5 percent). Source: Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, 9/5/06.