If you want people to be creative they have to trust the people they work with! The last five years has delivered business conditions that have required organisations to change in many ways. Management has had to spend more time worrying about the cost side of the business. Teams have had to focus harder on winning and keeping business. One side effect of a greater focus on cost management has been the elimination of “team building” events. Yes the fun stuff where the group goes rock climbing, go karting, sailing, bush walking…or just out for a long lunch that ends after dinner! As a Manager I have been guilty of driving such moves in the business with a view of maintaining our profit margin etc. Don’t get me wrong, this does not mean I believe effective cost management is not critical for all business; wages for staff come first over any other priority. It does however mean that upon reflection, by getting rid of these so called “nice to have events” I was party to reducing the capacity of the business to work creatively (during a time that needed higher rather than lower levels of creativity). Let me explain this a … Continue reading Want Creativity – Bring back fun team building events!