Reduce Stress in the Workplace and Improve Staff Motivation Using Corporate Events

I was recently called in to troubleshoot a small business down south. There order book was practically empty and their turnover was way down on what it had been a couple of years earlier. So my job was to work out why and offer solutions.

So in I went. I met up with the managing director and the owner of the business in order to agree the plan of action and a timescale. I also had a general chat with them to get a feel for the background of the business and their current staff and systems.

Their systems looked fine, their policies were in place, stock levels were appropriate, lead times were realistic and staffing levels were pretty much spot on to deliver a good service. They had a couple of sales people out in the field, they were generating the few orders that the company were currently fulfilling but the problem seemed to lie with the tele-sales side. So that was to be my first focus.

The following week I made sure that I arrived early. The staff had been informed that there would be a consultant in the office who would be taking a look at how business profitability could be improved. The first thing that struck me was that when the sales staff arrived there was just no buzz. OK, so it was Monday, but the atmosphere felt like it was Friday afternoon! You know what I mean, when everybody has had enough of the week and is tired. They he seemed already to have that ' ready for the weekend' feeling. But to have that atmosphere on a Monday morning spells potential disaster for a business.

Why?

Because staff who feel like that will never ever perform at their best. They will miss opportunities to close a sale; they will transmit that feeling to clients and potential clients, who would then be uninspired either by the product or the company or both and look elsewhere.

So what happened next?

I talked to the staff in order to try to determine why they felt like this and it became evident that they were happy with the management (unusual or what?) and found their colleagues polite and pleasant to work with. The office surroundings were comfortable, air conditioned, light and with plenty of room for every one's desk area to be partitioned off.

So still a mystery? No not really for me; it became evident that the staff, about 20 or so, lived in different villages and didn't really see each other outside of work. So the root of the problem was in fact that they were effectively strangers and did not feel part of a team. The company, although they had taken great care to provide a good working environment for staff, had no canteen so there really was no central place or opportunity for staff to socialise and to get to know each other well.

Finally, I made my recommendations to the managing director and the owner. Firstly, I told them to get rid of the partitions between the desks, the staff would then be able to interact with one another much more freely and that will generate more of a buzz in the office. Secondly you need to make more opportunities for Stafford two socialise and gel; call it team building if you like. Organise them some company social events and even invite clients to a corporate event. That way the staff will get to know each other better and be able to develop a rapport with clients too.

Six months later, on my follow-up visit, the atmosphere was noticeably different, there was a much more positive feel about the office and more orders were coming in. The owner of the company had taken on board my advice and during that six month period since my initial visit, and had organized two corporate treasure hunts; a casino night just for the staff plus a spy themed corporate event in a country hotel, to which he had invited not just the top clients but some prospective clients. Apparently the day was a huge success, with several of the prospective clients placing orders in the following months.

The future of the company was thus assured by simply using corporate events as team building to bring not just staff, but staff and clients together. I quietly chalked up another success and gained a glowing customer testimonial for myself!