Can rollercoaster endurance really make your staff work better together? The Sift Media crew tested the latest team building craze to hit the market.
According to the latest annual CIPD annual recruitment survey, the average cost of recruiting a new member of staff (excluding their salary) is around £4k, although this can go up to as much as £10k for senior managerial staff. With staffing budgets expected to remain tight over the next 12 months in most sectors, it pays for employers to try to retain existing staff. As well as supporting their ongoing professional development, one way to make staff more inclined to stay is to ensure that they feel like part of a strong team.
Studies have shown that making room for team bonding activities can actually improve staff productivity in the long-term – which will have a significant impact on your bottom line. It was with this objective in mind that team Sift Media, a motley crew of editors from TrainingZone, BusinessZone, AccountingWeb as well as HRzone, plus community manager Becky and production manager Kate set out to test the latest in team building trends – the bootcamp conference package at Alton Towers. Far from what the name suggests, the bootcamp is designed to test not your physical strength but your mental capacity.
This specially designed activity day is aimed at helping teams work together and build relationships and is centred around the park’s new thrill-packed rollercoaster Th13teen. The bootcamp comprises several challenge tasks including psychometric testing, orienteering, rollercoaster endurance, and building an outdoor camp while being subjected to various scares. The package includes access to the Alton Towers Resorts conference centre, as well as exclusive hire of resort attractions such as ‘Air’.
For team Sift Media, the most challenging aspect of the day was the orienteering – despite our combined expertise in business imperative areas, it seems that none of us has much of a sense of direction. Reading maps and getting lost together did highlight the different characters we have on the team though – we’ll leave others to guess from the photos who were the dominant, passive, and supporting characters!
Rollercoaster endurance was an obstacle for some; in our self-imposed men vs. women challenge, the women came out on top, mastering Rita (queen of speed), Air, and the big one, Oblivion without so much as breaking a sweat (although there were a few high pitched screams to be heard). As well as having fun, the objective of the rollercoaster endurance challenge was to conquer fears together – something that many teams are bad at in a business environment because no one likes to show weakness. Success in this area relies on effective communication and the ability of team members to recognise fears in others and support them. Team Sift Media scored reasonably well in this area, although our powers of persuasion weren’t so good on team members who were afraid of heights!
This package offers teams a series of challenges to face together in a safe environment. Some members of the team will always be more daring than others, but it’s an opportunity to spend some quality time together getting to know what makes your colleagues tick – and this is the type of knowledge that could come in useful in work situations.
After all, the team that screams together stays together.
For further information on corporate events at Alton Towers, please visit www.altontowers.com
