Chicago is one of the largest and richest cities in the world. The job market is so diverse that the city has earned a reputation for a very balanced economy. In addition to being varied, those companies are also plentiful. In fact, Chicago is home to the second largest central business district in the United States.

With businesses playing such an important role in the city’s economy, it shouldn’t be surprising that many employers are willing to invest in Chicago team building activities for their employees. After all, teams make a company much stronger than it could be when individuals work independently because teams are capable of greater productivity and creativity. This is true for several reasons.

First of all, it is easier to complete large tasks when several people are working on the same project because it can be divided into smaller pieces. This prevents putting too much strain on any one person. Second, teams also have the capacity to capitalize on individual strengths and compensate for weaknesses within the group. And third, teams provide an atmosphere where relationships and trust can form. And all of these things increase employee satisfaction and productivity.

Even though teams can yield these kinds of results, the ground rules for team work need to be established before the work begins. Sometimes those ground rules and channels of communication are difficult to create in an office setting though. That’s why team builders in companies, athletic facilities and schools are starting to incorporate games in their team building efforts.

Professionals have learned that games naturally stimulate competition, conversation and a friendly environment. And, in this kind of setting, friendship and trust begin to form as well. Coincidentally, these are all key ingredients for team work as well. Games don’t need to be complicated or expensive to be effective team building tools, but they should involve everyone in the group and cater to people with different interests and abilities.

Team building activities that are available in or around Chicago include everything from sailing excursions on Lake Michigan to scavenger hunts around local neighborhoods, museums and attractions. Sailing will definitely get the group out of the office environment and teach your employees about the value of team work, but it might take longer than you would like. Scavenger hunts, on the other hand, can usually be completed in an hour or less and they draw on the strengths of the team as a whole. Since many of them take you through the city, the experience will be fresh in their minds every time they come to work.

If you are looking for some exceptional Chicago team building scavenger hunts, visit Watson Adventure’s website (http://www.watsonadventures.com/chicago.html). They showcase all of Chicago’s most popular attractions with creative and challenging clues. The author, Art Gib, is a freelance writer.

New York is the largest city in the United States, and as such it naturally has assumed the status of corporate capital of America, if not the world. Additionally, New York is one of the most often visited cities in the country due to its huge variety of sites and attractions. Even though there are countless landmarks and famous sites in New York, most tourists are still intent on using guidebooks to help themselves along. The problem is that most of these guide books only explain how to get from attraction to attraction and don’t go into much detail about what to do once you get there.

A corporate scavenger hunt can be a great way to immerse oneself in a more interactive experience of the city – both for tourists, and for residents and corporations. New York Team Building activities, such as scavenger hunts, allow groups of people to form small teams and explore places across the city, such as Times Square, local Museums, Grand Central Station, area Zoos, and Central Park, by following clues and trivia that help you get from one place to the next. All the while, someone is prearranged to guide you through each attraction so you can learn more about each attraction than any guide book could possibly provide.

As a corporate solution for team building in New York, these scavenger hunts can help a company to get to know each other, build relationships, forge a competitive spirit, and simply have some fun together. Just as any other New York team building exercises, corporate scavenger hunts offer unparalleled opportunities for departmental camaraderie and teamwork and can provide a unique way for companies to take a break from the everyday monotony of the corporate world. But, perhaps best of all, scavenger hunts are just plain fun!

These team building scavenger hunts utilize every member of the team, so they help build teams on from the individual level as well as the team level. They truly are a great way to build relationships, learn trust, create confidence, increase communication skills, and strengthen a company one team at a time. If you want people to work hard together, sometimes they have to play hard together, too.

So, whether you are trying to build a better team, strengthen a company, or just enjoy a vacation in New York, a scavenger hunt is a fun and exciting way to invest your time and money.

Art Gib is a freelance writer, and Watson Adventures (http://www.watsonadventures.com/new_york.htm) is a scavenger hunt organizer for team building in New York and other cities. They specialize in corporate scavenger hunts.

Teams are valuable because of their ability divide and conquer large tasks in an efficient and creative way. Everyone wants their teams to be strong and unified, but they need to be diverse too. In the best teams, team members are able to understand each other and work together without losing their sense of individual worth. After all, unity doesn’t mean that differences need to be homogenized out of existence. Rather, it means the team has learned how to capitalize on group dynamics and individual strengths that contribute to the team’s effectiveness as a whole.

Creating this kind of team unity can definitely be a challenge. To attain this kind of unity, team members must learn about each other through good communication in addition to having common goals. Knowing each other well is important because it helps team members form realistic expectations and avoid unnecessary frustration. For example, it is harder to be patient with weaknesses when they pop up as surprises and nigh impossible to capitalize on another individual’s strength if team members don’t even know that it exists.

One of the best ways to get people to work together without sacrificing individual strengths is through team building games like rope courses, trust falls, relay races and scavenger hunts because team building games do more than force people to work together. They bolster enthusiasm, build relationships and establish channels of communication that can also be used in an office environment once they have been formed. Teachers, coaches and managers have all been so impressed with the results of team building games that many of them are willing to invest time and money into getting employees, students and athletes out of the office, school or field and into the games.

Games are such an effective tool because they usually take place in a less stressful environment than work which makes it easier for people to open up and be themselves. Games are also useful because they create shared experiences that everyone enjoys which will help them bond together and become a better team. By adding a little fun into the mix, the activities you choose can also function as a release valve that rejuvenates and recharges your employees.

If your team building games do prove successful and your teams become more effective in the office, make sure you reward them for meeting their goals and becoming more efficient. Reward can come in the form of simple thanks, praise and treats but the form of appreciation isn’t nearly as important as making sure it is expressed. Work may not be as fun as team building games, but meeting their goals and being recognized for their work can go a long way in keeping people motivated.

If you want to invest in tried and tested team building games that have been acclaimed by the New York Times, check out the scavenger hunts at Watson Adventures (http://www.watsonadventures.com/team_building.html). The author, Art Gib, is a freelance writer.

Life starts as we are born into teams, called families. At this point, the task of learning to “get along” begins. Then the task continues as we keep working in teams during school and careers. Why is “getting along” such a universal hardship. Perhaps it is because we are all so different and the way we think and express ourselves varies from person to person. Although some people do simply click when they come together, in most cases different personalities clash a little when they are brought together and told to work in a team.

This is somewhat ironic since teams are formed not only for their efficiency, but for their diversity as well. After all, with a potpourri of different personalities come a wider variety of strengths that can help compensate for individual weaknesses. Unfortunately, as sibling rivalry illustrates when we are very young, just being part of a team is no guarantee that everything will go smoothly. Ask any parent, teacher, coach or employer and they will all affirm that team building can be a difficult task.

So, what can help the important process of team building go smoother? Let me suggest an anecdote similar to Mary Poppin’s creed that a “spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Whether you are dealing with families, athletes, students or employees, teach them to have fun together and the ability to work together will follow.

When people have fun together, communication and energy naturally start to flow. This in turn develops trust, relationships and understanding that can then be used in a home, school, sports or office environment. Friends, not enemies, make well-oiled teams.

One of the best team building activities for groups of all sizes is a scavenger hunt because scavenger hunts do a good job of involving every team member. Scavenger hunts utilize sharp eyes and minds rather than physical prowess and everyone can contribute to solving the clues along the way to find the answers.

Scavenger hunt team building in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York and other large cities is especially fun because of the many attractions and historical sites to build on. On these hunts you can learn about local haunts, find clues in museums that hold your interest and keep you moving through the art or learn the most random and entertaining facts about founding fathers like Benjamin Franklin. Some hunts have been adapted specifically for special occasions like Mother’s Day and Father’s day while other are versatile and fun for many kinds of groups any time of the year.

To learn more about scavenger hunts and fun activities for team building in Philadelphia, visit Watson Adventures (http://www.watsonadventures.com/philadelphia.html) and look through a wide variety of options. Your students, family or employees will love it. Art Gib is a freelance writer.

Finding ways to motivate employees to do their best and beyond is rewarding for both the employee and the business. A successful manager turns reasonable requests asked of their employees into incentives for a job well done.

Motivated employees are your greatest line in defense in attaining quality job performance and meeting future goals.

Motivation is a key ingredient to any success. A skillful manager provides a winning strategy by setting up targets for the employees to achieve company aims. Most people respond well to positive feedback.

Today’s workforce understands budgets and do not always expect to see rewards in their weekly paycheck. A personal comment of- ‘Good job, Mary’ or ‘Thank You, Bob’- can at times gain more profitable results than a fat bonus (don’t tell my boss- I said so).

A strong leader knows how to inspire employees because one person can not manage the workload alone. Every person wants to feel their hard work is appreciated.

Competition is a tool you may find useful in motivating your staff. Your driven helpers competing with their fellow co-workers can only mean more productivity for you.

Bosses are surprised to learn that money is not always enough as a motivator. Recognition and fairness are among the awards that employees treasure and can not be deposited into a bank account.

Creative contests are a good idea for seeking to pump up the game in your crew. Keeping up the group’s morale is beneficial for the future good health of your employees and the company.

Allowing your trusted employees freedom to enjoy themselves while working is a great self- motivator which takes some much needed pressure off management.

Use the competitive edge in people to insure assignments will be carried out in a professional manner. You do not want the integrity of your business to suffer just because someone covets a desk clock prize.

A self-starter in the workplace can rally the others who may have fallen behind in their work. Let your valuable employees see that you appreciate their extra effort.

Give them an unexpected twenty minutes on their lunch break. Tell the employee who always volunteers to work late that they have earned a half-day holiday. Do not consider above the call of duty dedication as part of the job description.

Loyalty is a great motivational speaker that will not go unheard.

Surprisingly, factors such as pay, benefits and working conditions were given a low rating by both groups. So after all, and contrary to common belief, money is not the prime motivator. Though this should not be regarded as a signal to reward employees poorly or unfairly.

You should not have to coax your employees to manage dead lines. Pride in themselves is more than a sufficient accomplishment for plenty of folks.

A personalized plague to hang on the wall or a signed card letting them know they are valued is a small token that makes a huge difference. Give yourself a pat on the back and get to work!

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Team building has been around as a corporate training technique for decades, but recently it’s fallen into disuse. Why? Because many of the techniques of team building seem more like play than work, perhaps.

Or because managers decided that the team building they’d already done was enough to make the group cohesive and maximize their productivity.

However, team building is a continuing process. As the military has found in decades of trial and error, when you have units of people playing and competing together, they grow closer, start thinking as a group instead of as individuals, and find it easier to work as complementary parts rather than as units.

Communication improves. And almost like magic, a bunch of people are transformed into a functioning team.

How Team Building Works

Great team building exercises use a variety of techniques to build group cohesion. Communication is an essential part of team building, as are group focus on a single goal that requires strategy to accomplish.

Often, but not always, it helps to have separate teams competing against one another.

One especially effective method is the scavenger hunt. The manager conducting the team building exercise takes into account the individual strengths and weaknesses of each team member and includes challenges that will exploit both of these for each member.

Team members have to work together at times to accomplish certain goals, like using landmarks that different members are familiar with as markers for the hunt. And the reward at the end must be applied equally to all.

Paintball is used by the military to bring units together. This exercise requires not just physical fitness and good aim, but the more important and hard to train skills of strategic thinking, communication, and learning to bond.

While the sport is a little rough and tumble for many offices, it can be a great teambuilder for the right group.

Other great team building exercises can include things like round-robin quiz games, word puzzles, and ordinary sports. That office softball team? It can be fun and also a great team builder.

Including Team Building Into A Meeting

Team building exercises are generally fairly involved and take a considerable amount of time. For this reason, they are inappropriate for most meetings outside of office half-day or full-day retreats.

For these longer meetings, get away from the office so creativity can flow and natural barriers are broken down. Start the meeting with something relaxing and positive, then move into the team building games.

Only after the team builders should you get into serious work. Why? Because fresh from the team builder, your people will work better together and find fresh creative ideas. You’ll notice an immediate result, and you’ll begin cementing those new bonds right away.

When To Use Team Building

Every office with numerous workers who frequently do not interact directly should look into using team builder exercises. However, there are a number of situations that almost require the use of team building.

For instance, in an office where there has been considerable friction or small groups competing in negative rather than positive ways, team building can break down barriers and create rapport where only strife existed before.

This is really excellent if you can do a contest pitting upper management with the people in cubicles, between whom a natural and healthy rivalry already exists in most cases.

Also, in offices with high turnover a regular team building exercise can build bonds that will help slow that turnover rate as well as improve interworking relationships for new and established employees.

In this case, team building exercises when your turnover hits a critical mass of 10-15% new employees can help bring the new people into your current corporate climate.

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There are many different companies, organizations, schools and other groups that could benefit from fun team building activities in Washington, D.C.

Team Building Benefits
Team building can help the people in your company, college or family work together and have fun during the process. As they work together in a fun environment, people learn how to communicate with each other and capitalize on individual strengths in a team setting. These skills can then be transferred to school, home and business environments where they will make less entertaining activities run smoother. In addition to being fun, team building activities can also serve as a needed release valve. If you sense that people you need are getting a little burned out, you may want to invest in a team a building activity just to renew their energy.

Just by being fun, team building activities can also make your employees, students and family members happier and it is a proven fact that happy people work better than grumpy and disgruntled individuals. Perhaps this is because they tend to have more energy and higher commitment levels which make them more effective. They are also easy to work with which is an important characteristic to possess if they interact with other employees and your valuable customers.

Why Washington, D.C.?
Theoretically, you could organize or participate in team building activities all over the country, and a lot of people do just that. But Washington, D.C. is a particularly fun place to host events because it is home to many beautiful and historical attractions like the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of American History, the Air and Space Museum, the Lincoln memorial, the White House, Georgetown and the Zoo.

Team building activities are also easy to find in Washington, D.C. because the busy environment in the nation’s capital has created the need for effective teams and an occasional release valve. Banking institutions, government organizations, businesses and colleges are scattered all over the district which means there are a lot of stressed and busy people working in the area. Johns Hopkins alone could probably generate enough stressed-out medical students to merit some fun team building activities.

A lot of people are wising up to the importance of incorporating a little fun in our competitive and highly stressful society. Whether you work with youth, young adults or grown professionals, you will find that they work better together and become more committed to you, if you can throw a little fun into their day.

If you are looking for ways to foster team building in Washington, D.C., Watson Adventures (http://www.watsonadventures.com/washington_dc.html) has been acclaimed by the Washington Post for their creative and fun scavenger hunts. The author, Art Gib, is a freelance writer.

This will be a brief discussion on some of the rationale companies use to decide to provide team building games for their employees and an example of scavenger hunting as the next new wave of exercise. The specific example of such an exercise will be for those in the Chicago metro area.

Sometime after the industrial boom, social awareness and unions gathered to protect the employees’ welfare. Companies and competition grew throughout the U.S. and more focus was directed within. Corporations saw a direct relationship between work quality and employee mental health and wellbeing. Large staffed businesses saw that there was value in boosting moral and recognizing the individual as well as the company as a whole.

There is a duality to the group that drives attitude. Employees both think as a whole and as an individual. However each attitude coalesces into a whole group thought. So each individual needs to be paid attention to. The catch is there is no real timely way of doing that. Enter the team building exercise where small groups do the work.

The Problems with Traditional Team Building Exercises

To pay attention to the individual while bolstering attitudes in a team building effort is done traditionally by creating groups first. Groups are given a task or goal to work towards in some form of rewards system — something to mirror an exemplary form of what should take place in the office under regular business constraints and working well doing so.

However, given some statistics based on a group dynamic, there will be individuals who will assume dominant personalities and tend to create an oppressive system that may alienate or marginalize some members. This is usually due to the rewards or the stakes that are involved. There are some exercises that are used to detach the reward system and focus more on the game at play while using everyone in the group as important talent. One of the techniques is the use of scavenger hunts.

The Scavenger Hunt Advantage: Team building in Chicago

Scavenger hunting in Chicago lends a wealth of opportunity, landmarks and history for an enriching experience. Many organized hunts will take groups through the neighborhoods hitting infamous locations and landmarks. The scavenger hunt is more than just a regular team building in Chicago exercise; it involves the interaction of team members — each and every one of them. The Hunt questions do not center on a specific task where one person may be better than the other within the group.

For instance, someone knowledgeable of the Chicago area will not necessarily have an advantage over someone who may be good at word games. The questions are varied enough to touch on many different skill sets. One could be trivia based, another could include a hidden anagram or a word may allude to a dual meaning that unlocks to reveal the answer. The questions can take them through downtown to the Sears tower, or over to Wrigley field, asking varied and unusual questions that touches on such a variety of subjects that someone in every group will usually have an answer for.

Team building in Chicago with a scavenger hunt provides great landmarks for game questions and also helps the workers know each other not by force but by simply having fun and getting out on the town. The corporation and workers reap social rewards such as:

- Socially lubricate the group communication
- Build teamwork naturally, unforced and fun
- Build lasting bonds between each other, they’ll have fond history together
- They’ll know more about Chicago and appreciate it more
- Gives them a great excuse to throw a party or meet for drinks afterward

Art Gib writes for Watson Adventures (http://www.watsonadventures.com/chicago.html) who organize and arrange scavenger hunts in major metropolitan areas. Team building hunts, like team building in Chicago metro, are popular with many top corporation executives.

Scavenger Hunting is catching on with how some corporate execs think would help their staff bond, work together and find each other’s strengths in the city of brotherly love. A private treasure hunt for an afternoon outing involves some legwork, riddle solving and the combination of unique skills and brain power.

Scavenger hunting within the city of Philadelphia can hinge on a variety of unique themes. For instance a hunt to-do question list can bring hunters wandering the old neighborhood of Philly, touching on such landmarks like the Liberty Bell, and from there walking on to Carpenter’s Hall (the meeting place for the first Continental Congress).

Any hunt can be done either inside or out, on foot or in a vehicle (hunting via Limo is not unheard of).

Scavenger Hunting and how it Foster’s Team Building

The scavenger hunt is more than just a game; it involves the interaction of the group as a whole. The Hunt questions do not center on a specific task where one person may be better. For instance, someone who is good at history of Philadelphia will not necessarily have an advantage or scene steal from the rest. The questions are varied enough to touch on many different skill sets. One could be trivia based, another could include a hidden anagram or a word may allude to a dual meaning that unlocks to reveal the answer, something tongue and cheek so to speak.

Team building in Philadelphia with a scavenger hunt provides great fodder for game questions and also helps the corporate team learn some things about themselves and other. The corporation and workers reap social rewards such as:

- How to be more relaxed, and laugh care free
- Build teamwork and not feel forced
- Build history between each other to look back with fondness and something to talk about in the future
- Know more about the city and surroundings of Philadelphia
- Have a great excuse to meet up afterward for drinks and lively chat

Some Big Names in Industry Used Scavenger Hunts

Corporations across the nation are using team building: Philadelphia to LA some CEOs have raved about the experience. CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos was quoted saying “I can’t think of a better way to bring people together and have fun.”

There are names like Microsoft, BASF and Apple that have also been known to use this as a get away for their teams.

It is important that the emcees get it right during when they organize and explain the hunt. For a good hunt the emcee needs to psyche them up while informing. If you are looking for an organization that will help with your team building in Philadelphia effort, check their background to see what past experiences they’ve had.

Art Gib writes for Watson Adventures (http://www.watsonadventures.com/philadelphia.html) who organize and arrange scavenger hunts both public and private. They have specific private hunts such as team building in Philadelphia hunts that tour renowned city districts and museums.

Finding a destination management company (DMC) in Baltimore is easy. Finding a destination management company that has both the knowledge and extensive experience required to make your event special isn’t quite so easy, unless you know what to look for:

- How well does the DMC know Baltimore and the Maryland area?
- How many and what kind of clients has the DMC done special events for?
- How much experience does the DMC have?
- What are the attitudes of past clients?

Let’s touch on each of these items in more detail…

How Well Does the DMC Know the Baltimore and Maryland Area?

Obviously you’ll want to go with a DMC that lives in and knows Baltimore and Maryland very well. Using an event planning company that doesn’t know the area very well could result in your special event being less special than it could be.

How Many and What Kind of Clients has the DMC Done Special Events For?

Who has the destination management company planned and executed special events for in the past? This will tell you who trusts the particular DMC to handle their special events. It will also tell you who the company has experience doing corporate event work for. The bigger and better known the client list, the better the DMC is likely to be as a result of the experience gained from working with these clients.

How Much Experience Does the DMC Have?

Planning truly special events in the Baltimore and Annapolis areas in Maryland requires more than just an intimate knowledge of the area. Experience comes in to play quite heavily. Knowing where to hold a special event is one thing, but having the experience of planning and executing a special event at that location is what will make the difference between a barely memorable event and one that will have your people talking for months afterward.

The more settled a DMC is within their area, the more contacts they will have built up, and the smoother your special event is likely to go.

What are the Attitudes of Past Clients?

Perhaps the most telling, and most important, indicator of how your special event will turn out is how they’ve turned out for past clients of the DMC. Ask the special events planning company for a list of past clients. If they are not able to provide that, check for testimonials on their website.

Simply reading a testimonial is not always helpful. If possible, contact the person who gave the testimonial and ask them directly what their experience was. Most people, if pleased with the service they received, will be more than happy to discuss their experience with you (and if their experience was bad, they’ll probably be even more anxious to speak with you).

GEP Baltimore (http://www.gepbaltimore.com) is a destination management company in Baltimore that specializes in planning and executing corporate special events in Baltimore, Annapolis and surrounding areas. Their client list includes some of the largest and most well known corporations in America.