How to Keep All External Stakeholders Happy at a Team Building Day

In my previous article that focused on the internal stakeholders for team building away day, I noted that there were potentially seven stakeholders with an interest in the day. The internal ones are the team participants themselves, the manager in the hierarchy that sits above everyone attending, the organisation they all work for, and the person or people responsible for arranging the day.

This article looks at the subject from those acting as suppliers to the organisation. The potential three stakeholders are:
* Representatives of an event management company, if one has been engaged
* Representatives of the professional team building suppliers, again if used
* Venue staff involved with the group, assuming a third party venue such as a hotel is used

It is possible, of course, that an event is run and held internally in which case none of these will be involved. Nonetheless, as most events are held off-site, let us look at each in turn.

Sometimes team building is one component among many, most commonly at a conference of some kind. In this instance, it is possible and perhaps even likely that an event management company is retained to arrange the full logistics of the event, including such things as audio-visual, stage sets and so on. Whether or not they recommended the team building provider, they will know that the activity session will be the one that can make or break the whole event. They will also know that it is the one part of the day over which they have the least control, so they will be anxious about it. What they want most from it is that it doesn't reflect negatively on the event as a whole and, by implication, on them as professional event managers. If it is a fantastic session, that will be a bonus but it will not be their primary goal.

The company supplying the activity will likely have a number of people in the facilitation team present. This is what they do so they will want to enjoy the session, confident in the knowledge that a determinant of their enjoyment is that the group is also enjoying it. Most team building providers get their biggest kicks at the end of an event when people come up at the end to thank them. This is especially the case when they add that they were not expecting to enjoy it or words to that effect.

Venue staff mostly want as easy a life as they can get. As busy as they can be at all times, they recognise that the demands of running some kind of event limits the times that they have to handle what can be quite large groups. Work such as moving tables to accommodate different requirements at different times can be quite demanding and if you add to that he need to keep the group refreshed and fed efficiently, getting it all right at the right time is very difficult. Ideally, therefore, they will want as much information on requirements and any changes to schedules as soon as possible. So for them, effective communication is vital with whoever is controlling the logistics at any given time.

In conclusion, for the external stakeholders all to be happy during the selection of team building activities chosen for the day, communication is as important as the focus on what each of the internal stakeholders are hoping to achieve.