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 One hundred years ago in Zhejiang Province, the mountain retreat Mogan Shan served as a getaway for foreigners wishing to escape the bustle of Shanghai. Since then, it all but disappeared as a tourist destination, only worthy of a few lines in the first Lonely Planet guides to China. Today, however, it has returned to its former glory as a prime vacation spot – only this time, Mogan Shan plays host to more than the honeymooners and romantic couples. The majestic mountain resort now welcomes an increasing number of corporate team building events. It was on one such team building excursion, that ClarkMorgan went ‘Into the Wild!’.
The words ‘ecological’ and ‘China’ are rarely used in the same sentence. With 21.5% of the world’s total emissions, China is the largest producer of carbon dioxide, slightly ahead of the USA at 20.2%. To add to its poor environmental track record, two years ago the World Bank reported that of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 16 were in mainland China. History suggests that with China’s continual economic development, these numbers aren’t likely to drop significantly anytime soon.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Over the past 15 years, a ripple of environmentalism has been making its way across China. This paradigm shift was probably first sparked by the work of Ma Jun, an environmental journalist writing for the South China Morning Post from 1993 to 2000. Ma’s bravery in naming and shaming polluting companies and local governments earned him a place on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world by in May 2006. Today, environmental action groups have sprung up across the nation and Chinese leaders have begun to add the words ‘environment’ and ‘protection’ to their political speeches. In essence, however, protecting the environment has originated as a ‘grass roots’ movement abroad, and is likely to follow the same footsteps here. So how can you help?
Making HR green
“HR departments are in a powerful position within an organization, as they can link their decisions to CSR initiatives,” says Andy Anderson, environmental activist and founder of Spark09. “Take team building for example. An enormous amount of carbon dioxide is produced to move participants to a location, and once there, what impact is your group having on the local environment? Tour groups in China have had a bad reputation for trampling the very nature they have spent money to see!”
It was with this thinking in mind that ClarkMorgan decided to reduce its impact on the environment by hosting its latest team building event at the eco-resort Naked Retreats, located in historic Mogan Shan.
“In 2008, our 80 person team traveled to Suzhou where we stayed at two 5-star hotels. However this year, in alignment with our CSR initiatives, the entire company became environmentally conscious and we decided to reduce our impact on the environment,” says Mike Joseph, ClarkMorgan’s National Training Manager. “But this team building wasn’t only about being green. We also had a big need to realign our team after the horror of the Global Financial Crisis.”
Time to realign!
In China’s recent history, there’s probably never been a more important time than 2009 to realign your staff and undertake team building. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) not only trimmed staff, but also damaged company morale. Now that the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be appearing, it’s vital that your organization sets upon to the common goal, redefines roles, builds stronger intercommunication, and leverages from the synergy in your organization. Chances are your competitors have already started! Doing all this with the environment in mind is the challenge before HR in this
moment.
“Winning Training Firm of the Year for two years in a row didn’t exclude us from being struck by the Global Financial Crisis.
Thankfully, we were quick to make changes, and by December 2008 we had cut our staff numbers in half, in anticipation that clients would delay contracts or cancel altogether. We survived, when so many other training firms didn’t. But as the world economy started to bounce back this year and purse-strings loosened, it was clear that our staff’s morale had taken a beating. It was time for a team building to build overall synergy,” continues Joseph.
Relationship Building vs. Team Building
“The majority of team building events are actually only ‘relationship’ building,” says Joseph. “Dinner together, karaoke, or climbing a ropes course builds bonds, but doesn’t lead to increased efficiency and overall synergy come Monday morning back in the office.” Team Building expert Luke Lombe outlined the four ingredients of a successful ‘team’ in his 2008 Network HR article ‘Synchronicity for Success’. In the article he highlighted the need for:
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A common goal
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Defined roles
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Clear communication,and
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Synergy
So how do you incorporate these four components into a three day team building event?
“Activities,” says Joseph. “We broke our staff into four groups named after our core values of ‘Respect’, ‘Energy’, ‘Dynamism’, and ‘Synergy’. Each team worked together for the three days, earning points at different stages.”
Joseph continued to explain how each team was created to bring different strengths and weaknesses together, break up company cliques, and encourage awareness of others’ roles within the company. While the activities allowed for competition and therefore excitement, the overall goal was to foster awareness of the four ingredients outlined by Lombe.
What to play,when you're away(ie.Activities)
The challenge for the organisers was to keep the activities fun,while focusing on the four ingredients of 'team building' and keeping an enviromental theme.Here are some suggestions of activities to play,when you're in the wild!
Banner Making – To get each team to start working as a unit, the first task was for each team (Respect, Energy, Dynamism, and Synergy) to create a team banner. Each team was given an art canister, A3 paper, and coloured crayons as well as 30 minutes to brainstorm and then create a banner. Banners must have included:
- Their team’s core value
- A Slogan affirming their core value
The winner was the Energy team, with “What A Terrific Team Spirit (WATTS)” with an honorable mention going to the Respect team with “You have to give it to get it”.
Photo Scavenger Hunt – “In 2007, we ran a photo scavenger hunt across Beijing and it was so much fun,” says ClarkMorgan co-founder, Andy Clark. “Teams had to take photos that address very ambiguous challenges such as ‘a photo of your team on water’ or ‘a photo of your team rocking out’. Using the photos, we were able to create a hilarious end of team building music video, so we decided to repeat the activity this year at Naked Retreats.”
All the teams were given a list of 10 photos that their team had to take as they made their way from the Lodge (where they ate) to the Sky Bungalow (where they slept), which overlooked the Mogan Shan valley. The list was intentionally made vague to encourage creative thinking. The photo challenges included:
The winning team? The Respect team triumphed with creative interpretations on those themes.
Tea Picking – How much tea can a group pick in ten minutes? Naked Retreats is bordered by tea plantations, so each of the four teams was challenged to pick the most tea in only 10 minutes. The winner was not based on weight alone, but also on the quality of the tea leaves, with the smaller leaves being better for brewing. This time the Energy team came through with both superior quality and quantity.
General Knowledge Test – “Team building has to be fun, so don’t overburden the staff with too many ‘school’ activities,” adds Clark. “A company quiz, as part of a series of activities, will keep your staff thinking about the reason they are all together in the first place without boring them silly.” Ten questions regarding all aspects of ClarkMorgan were written on a chalk board, and each team had only 15 minutes to come up with as many correct answers as possible. The brainiacs from the Respect team took home this challenge.
Cook-off – There’s an old saying, ‘the family that cooks together, stays together’. It was with this mantra that a team ‘cook-off’ was
conceived, to test both creativity and the staff’s stomachs. On the second evening of the retreat, each team prepared one dish with
pre-bought ingredients. Teams had to first nominate a single chef, and as a team help prepare the ingredients for cooking.
“Cooking for 32 people was tricky,” says Faye Pan, whose dish ‘salami rolled asparagus’ won for her team, Synergy. “My team went for taste over volume, and the judges liked it.”
Talent Show – Just about every culture loves to share stories at the end of a hearty meal. With teams of Americans, Australians, Britons, Chinese, and Singaporeans full from dinner, it was time for the talent show. Each team had prepared earlier in the day, in order to present a 5 to 10 minute performance to showcase their many and varied talents. The winners were Respect, with a satirical look at the corporate training industry.
The Apprentice – Another activity that was resurrected from our 2007 team building in Beijing was ‘The Apprentice’. Clark reminisces, “Back then, our staff were required to interview Swissotel senior managers, and then as a team create and present a marketing plan in less than 2 hours. This year we did the same for Naked Retreats, who found that the Energy team had the most creative thoughts on how to expand their marketing reach.”
Each of the activities were judged by three senior managers, who awarded 5 points for first, 3 points for second, 2 points for third,
and 1 point for forth place. The winning team was Energy, who received a bottle of champagne for the group and a bamboo container of locally picked Naked Retreats tea for each team member.
Awards
Activities are one way of creating team spirit. There’s also the importance of acknowledging your company’s high achievers with
annual awards. “This year we held the awards in a bamboo forest at Naked Retreats, and we projected our company’s logo on the side of a cliff,” continues Clark. “It was an amazing night.” ClarkMorgan has been combining an awards night with the national
team building for the past three years.
“The key to an awards night is to have staff nominate their colleagues,” says Clark. “We had three nomination awards that reflected our core values, and the winners really were the people’s choice.”At the ClarkMorgan awards, Second Runners Up and First Runners Up both received a plaque, while the winner of each category receives both a glass trophy and plaque. The ‘Evolution’ award winner, Lewie Yao, says he was “surprised, and delighted” at receiving the award. He was later seen surrounded by peers who wanted to know the secrets of his success.
Team building without the footprint
“Motivating staff while keeping true to your company’s CSR initiatives is not impossible,” says Joseph. “In fact, I am sure that my staff was twice as happy because their company funded holiday also had an environmental side.” The team at ClarkMorgan has set the challenge to all HR departments around China. Whether you do it this year or next, ensure that you combine green initiatives with your next team building. You don’t have to ‘go Naked’ but it certainly helps.
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