Program Contents
Team-Building exercises/Effective Approaches to Teamwork
In these activities there should be an awareness of the group. It requires your greatest persuasive responsibilities to higher the best people that you can and keep them. The participants will learn to work as part of a unit. They will discover that unless everyone cooperates, no one can complete the tasks at hand. In this respect, they have to support one another. They are starting to take responsibility for the group. Every person involved in a company has a vital role to play in reaching a common goal. By working as a unit your company can achieve its targets dramatically faster. The intentional outcome is to have your employees doing the best work of their lives.
Increase sales, customer service through understanding body language, personal space boundaries and building rapport.
Body Language
These exercises explore what is being said through body language. For instance, what are they doing with their hands? Are they standing still or swaying from side to side? Are their arms folded or are they using their hands a lot? Are they smiling or frowning? We must be aware of what are bodies are doing. If you are talking with a client and swaying from side to side you may appear to lack focus or confidence. These exercises will allow you to not only understand what your body language is saying but how to use it to your advantage. Understanding body language allows you to go all out when working with others.
Personal Space
These activities will explore your comfort zone and each individual’s personal space barrier. Personal space can be affected by culture, upbringing and personal preference. Through fun exercises and role-playing, personal space barriers are explored. In the initial encounter with a client you give them a gentle tap on the back. You may have just smashed right through their personal space barrier and lost the sale/account even before the meeting has begun. Understanding personal space boundaries is empowering for the individual and shows respect for others.
Building Rapport
Rapport is really a feeling of sameness. If you have rapport with someone you feel there is something that connects you, perhaps something that you have in common. By learning to mirror other people’s behaviors you can learn to build rapport with other people. Anthony Robbins describes rapport as “the phenomenon of people trading and/or sharing particular behaviors.”[1] Building rapport is of great benefit when working with others. Remembering a persons name is also a simple yet effective way of making an impression.
Memorization
These exercises explore visual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues to improve memorization. Your own potential for recall is greater than you ever imagined. In these exercises you are going to be exercising your memorization muscles. These exercises will also reinforce the use of other senses such as sound and sight, from which participants will learn that memorization increases as more of the senses are used.
Build Bonds
These exercises are about determination, friendship, fun, problem solving and overcoming obstacles. As the participants starts to join the dots, they will find that the connections and the parallels are endless. If a potential client perceives that you are after their money or connections, they may balk. By building bonds you are able to create substantial ties between employees and clients, creating a powerful force.
Break Barriers
These exercises are also about throwing away inhibitions. You will learn to strip away a number of inhibitions that society has placed upon you. By doing so you will be more able to freely reveal who you are. You may feel inhibited, but a potential client may not be. Fundamental change has to come from within. In order to break down potential barriers, you have to be able to let go of preconceived ideas and anything that holds you back from making a connection.
Build trust and add new lines of communication
Trust, support and cooperation are important for every successful business. In order to trust others you will want to learn to trust yourself. As a team-builder there will be times when you will have to put your trust in others. They may make the ultimate decision that controls the outcome. These exercises can help you to move away from the spotlight attitude and toward teamwork. Ultimately it’s the team who decides.
Problem solving activities
Problem solving is often a constant partner in your work. These exercises encourage you to stop every once in a while and figure out what is not working. You are encouraged to discuss different issues with others and experiment to see what works best. Problem solving does not mean persisting in doing what does not work. Problem solving means finding new ways that do work. You are creating products and services that you would want to utilize yourself.
Non-verbal communication skills
In these exercises we will explore the power on non-verbal communication. If you actions are not clear, other people may misinterpret them. Your fellow clients need to know what it is you are trying to say. If your communication skills are not clear then the message will become blurred. When you are fumbling, swaying from side to side, or looking at the ceiling all of these none verbal cues are sending confusing messages and a lack of confidence. The exercises in this workshop will help you to communicate in a more powerful and effective manner.
Exploring creativity and imagination
Numerous people have had their imaginations stifled over many years. As you begin to re-ignite your creativity and imagination, you are training to do something that probably feels foreign to you. These exercises will also help you to remove limitations and inhibitions that can hold back your creativity. The benefits of developing your creativity and imagination are endless.
Physical, mental and creative tasks
If you stand up and start to jump around with your arms in the air you are going to find that your body starts to release adrenaline and possibly endorphins as well. If you sit in a chair, cross your legs, fold your arms and droop your head towards your legs, you are going to find that your body reacts quite differently, possibly by releasing lactic acids. These chemical responses in one’s body can make quite a difference to a person’s life.
Focus & Concentration
In this section we explore exercises such as easy-to apply breathing exercises to enhance focus and concentration. These exercises will help you to complete tasks more effectively and efficiently. So concentration and focus should be like a virus that spreads among those involved in a project.
Becoming aware of the role that the subconscious plays in making our decisions.
The subconscious is a powerful part of human nature and has an influence on pretty much everything we do. Another term for building rapport with others is called networking. It is another absolute skill for those looking to connect with others. You may already do these things to some extent subconsciously. These exercises allow you to do them on a conscious level.
Vocal Confidence
These exercises focus on voice work and breath work. If you can speak clearly, you are going to feel more confident in yourself. Being able to avoid mumbling in meetings or with your work colleagues is going to be empowering for you. Working with the breath shows you ways to complete your sentences without running out of air. This is of tremendous importance when making a sales pitch or presentation of any kind. It is at these times we are most likely to run out of air through nerves.
Developing Listening Skills
Most of the time other people are talking to us we are thinking what we are going to say next. We may be loosing a vital part of their content without even realizing it. You need to be listening in a focused manner to participate fully. If you are only half listening, your mind might wander elsewhere. You have a deeper, wider responsibility than living in an air-tight box. Nobody wants to have to tell you the same thing twice. These exercises will develop your listening skills.
The Power of Observation
Observation is important to create an increasing awareness of your surroundings. So much of effective communication comes from our observations of others so it is imperative that you encourage this skill in your employees as soon as possible. If you observe a client walking briskly into the room they are letting you know that they mean business.
The Importance of Body Alignment and Symmetry
While we could use this section for discussing posture we prefer to use it to discuss health. When an individual’s alignment is out of sync they are more prone to injury. There body will also take longer to heal than that of a more symmetrical individual. A good example is small children who are often able to heal much quicker than adults after an injury. This is in no small way due to the fact that there bodies are more symmetrical than ours. Think of the staggering number of sick days lost in the workplace each year. These exercises take a step forward in reducing that number amongst your employees while increasing their health and vitality.
