Team Building Event on a Limited Budget

By Kim M Hesse

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy  

Our client had 80 guests in Melbourne for a three day conference and on the second evening they wanted to host a team building event. We were on a very limited budget and while brainstorming cost effective team building ideas we came up with a pizza making competition.

This event provided us with the opportunity to take guests out of the hotel and place them in new and exciting surroundings.
Step one was to find the perfect venue. When working on a budget use your venue to set the scene. We found a rustic underground restaurant with a wood fired oven.
Being a weeknight we were able to hire the entire basement level at a great price. Note - Venues always want to fill their function space on a weeknight, you should be able to negotiate a better rate on a weeknight as opposed to a Friday or Saturday evening.
To start the evening off, we had the executive chef demonstrate the art of pizza making. The group were then split into teams and given the task of creating their own pizza's. This was a great way to provide a team building activity but also save money as they ate the pizza's they had made. Of course we supplied some professionally made pizza's as well!
In regard to themeing the venue, with not too much expense we transformed the space into a Little Italy. We utilised the venues free white table cloths and simply hired in red and white check table cloths to be placed over the white cloths provided by the venue.
We brought white candles from the reject shop and melted them onto empty wine bottle provided free of charge by the venue. Add some artificial grapes, again from the reject shop and presto a budget friendly and easy table decoration!
Lighting is also a great way to create effect without the expense. Here in little Italy we hired mini up-lights, when chatting to an audio visual supplier you can also ask for parcan lights. The lights were only $5 each and you get to choose what colour gel (in other words a thick cellophane cover) you would like. We chose gels in red and green placing them around the room to light the walls for a warm effect.
Our guests had a fantastic evening and as well as pizza making there was plenty of dough throwing!
Good Luck and Happy Eventing.

Kim Hesse - Managing Director of Venues 2 Events is an event manager at heart and has a crazy passion for the exciting world of events!

Venues 2 Events is a special event management company as well as an on-line venue directory. The last four years has seen Kim transform Venues 2 Events into an Industry Leader and resource for finding reputable venues across Australia. Kim believes in this Industry and hopes to share some of her passion and knowledge with you!

Why Team Building Is Out and Team Growing Is In

By Karen Schmidt

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy  

The old model of "building" a great team is outdated.

The concept of growing a team instead of building a team has been around a long time. It seems to have started with Frederick P Brooks in his book "The mythical man-month" written over 30 years ago. He believed that the "building metaphor has outlived its usefulness" and that "the conceptual structures we construct today are too complicated to be accurately specified in advance and too complex to be built faultlessly, then we must take a radically different approach".

So why do we persist with the term "team building"? I believe it's because it's easier for many technical managers to deal with inanimate objects than it is to deal with people. Building involves taking materials and logically turning them into something productive. You can determine in advance what you want to achieve and, with the right skills and equipment, reproduce an exact replica of a blueprint.

People aren't like that. Just because someone has the skills to perform a role doesn't mean they will perform it. Just because a reporting structure should work doesn't mean it will. Just because you give someone the title of manager doesn't mean they can manage. Things get in the way. Things like personalities, past experiences and perceptions.

We have moved on from the industrial age and are now in the information age. People are at the heart of most organisations. Today, most successful businesses are all about intellectual capital not capital works. So stop treating people like pieces of wood you can build into a structure and start treating them like living beings that will naturally grow if given the right conditions.

Like a good garden, what makes a good team comes down to intangibles and most technical managers aren't good at dealing with them. They want the black and white, right and wrong, one size fits all solution. Gardeners know that doesn't work. They know you can put five plants in the same garden bed, four will thrive and one will die. Often there is no logic to it, just like with people. You can do all the right things... give them good soil, water them, give them regular fertiliser and protect them from pests and they will still die! That's nature. Just like you can't command a plant to grow faster, you can't command a person to work harder.

So let's stop talking about team building and start talking about team growing. Let's look at what we can do to let people naturally develop rather than force them to fit neatly into a predetermined size and shape.

As a keen gardener and someone who advises managers on employee engagement, I can see that there are many similarities between creating a thriving garden and creating a thriving organisation. Whether you have one pot plant sitting on your desk (one employee) or a plot of land that would rival the botanic gardens (many employees) the basic rules are the same. Get it right and your plants will thrive (your people will grow). Get it wrong and you will be left with a dead and dying garden (high turnover or, even worse, high disenagement). Gardening can be a rewarding pursuit. There is nothing better than seeing plants grow and it's the same with people. It can also be hard work and involve a long gap between effort and result. The similarities to managing people are obvious.

So learn some lessons about leadership from mother nature. Here are my top 10 to get you started.

1. You can't have engaged leaders in a poor culture... you can't grow plants in bad soil
2. We pick people for leadership roles for the wrong reasons... wrong plant in wrong location simply because we like the look of it
3. New leaders need assistance and support... plants need help to get established too
4. A leader in the wrong position can do damage... the wrong plant can potentially become a weed
5. Bad habits from leaders rub off on their people... like pests and disease moving from plant to plant
6. The right leaders provide staff with shelter from the organisational elements... like a tree shading smaller plants
7. You need to remove the barriers to help leaders grow... plants grow better when you give them space
8. Sometimes leaders outgrow their role and need to move on... sometimes plants need to be relocated to thrive
9. You always need to be cultivating new leaders... you need plants in all stages of development to keep your garden healthy
10. If leaders aren't growing they are dying... the law of nature, especially when it comes to plants

How To Avoid Fake Data Entry Employers

By Diane Cruz
  
Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy   

Making money from home is what most everyone dreams of. There are so many benefits to working from home, however, due to so many scams, many people are simply scared to purse anything online anymore. Although scams have gone on the rise within the past few years, there still are many legitimate jobs online such as data entry.

Data entry typing jobs have become the cream of the crop when it comes to preferred online work. It's mainly because these jobs are not only enjoyable, but they are fairly simple to do. Out of all the many programs available online, ad submission jobs have become the most lucrative. These jobs entail posting ads online to promote web companies and their products. They are particularly great for stay at home moms, dads and students as well. They offer lots of flexibility and one can choose to do as much or as little work as they wish. It's also a great way to cut down bills such as gas and child care expenses. As everyone knows, these bills can get quite expensive. With this type of work one is not employed, they are considered self-employed which means they will be responsible for their own taxes at tax time. Unlike traditional jobs, there is no prior experience required to land a job like this, because training is offered. The requirements are so minimal, basically anyone from anywhere around the world can participate in a program like this. Although contrary to popular belief, these are not a get rich scheme. However, it is not uncommon for one to be able to earn $200-$500 a day with time and effort.

Although these jobs are great, one still has to be very weary of online scams. It's best to do your research on any company you wish to work for prior to. Even the nicest looking websites can be hiding deception. There are several different types of scams concerning data entry. One that most people do not consider is someone who poses as being with a legitimate company. Therefore, if you were to run a check on the company and find out they were legit, you probably wouldn't think twice of paying someone that sent you the offer through an email. Then once you pay, you find out you just paid a total fraudster that had no relation to the website whatsoever. This has been happening much more frequently as the guys figured out that you can easily check out a business nowadays, however, how would you know if he were with the actual business or not? Well there are a few simple ways to avoid this scam. First of all, always make sure that the email address used to solicit payment matches the company in question. If they are using a free email address such as yahoo or gmail, this should instantly become a red flag. Just noticing small things like this can save you a lot of frustration. Also make sure the name on the email matches the name on the website. One other thing you can do is email the company from the actual websites contact form and make sure they are the one to whom you've been corresponding with.

Data entry is by far one of the most lucrative jobs online, just always make sure to do your research before handing over your hard earned money to a potential scam artist or fake employer.

Business Coach Certificate - A Career for Those Who Love Business By Rafael Tassini Platinum Quality Author

By Rafael Tassini

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy

Business coach certificates and training courses help people passionate about business learn how to assist company leaders in planning, productivity, efficiency, marketing, and more. They are the "go-to" people for companies that are doing well and those in trouble who want to prevent lay-offs or company shut-down. Business coach courses introduce students to models, processes, formulas, and methods in business that have been tested and proven to work in many areas. These strategies can be applied immediately for improved effectiveness. An analysis of the company can show a coach the weak areas so they can make suggestions for improving them.

The training courses for a coaching certificate do not only teach the skills needed to analyze business productivity, they also train students in business planning. A coach in business can help company leaders write a mission statement, devise a business plan, make goals, and set action steps. They can assist in raising capital through various loans, investors, or private means. Marketing is also an area that can be tweaked by a business coach. Successful marketing often means targeting the advertising. Integrating modern technology can be facilitated by a coach as well.

Communication skills and interpersonal skills for dealing with clients are a part of the curriculum during business coach certificate courses. The right communication style can motivate and encourage business leaders while you are critiquing their leadership methods. Speaking of clients, business coaching is nothing without them. The best coaching courses teach you how to find, hook, and retain clients to build a roster of people who keep returning to you for advice. Ambitious, business-loving, clear communicators make excellent coaches in business.

Business Coaching Certification - Joining the Business Coaching Field

By Rafael Tassini

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy

Business coaching is a growing industry that provides the service of consulting or coaching for business owners and CEO's. The leaders who run companies sometimes need an outside perspective to survey the operations and assess where productivity is being slowed. These coaches can provide analysis, advice, support, and new knowledge, especially in the areas of ways to raise capital or business use of technology. The best coaches have earned their coaching certification credentials and are fully qualified to do these jobs. However, there are some coaches out there who have little to no experience or training in the field.
Business leaders seeking the services of a business coach should check to see if they have their coaching certification. This is gained through a strenuous training class that focuses on the practical application of business coaching principles followed by a rigorous qualifying exam to earn the certification. These courses provide students with study guides and memorization tools to help them learn the tools, processes, and formulas that have worked in the field of business as well items specific to coaching in business. These include learning how to acquire clients and lead business leaders. The clients of coaches in business are not used to being in the role of a follower, so there are special techniques and interpersonal skills that can increase the success of the business coach and the business leader with whom they are working.
Coaching certification courses teach students how to be effective and efficient in their own businesses to make profits soar. It would not speak well of the doctor is he was continually sick, right? Obviously the business coach must use their own expertise in their own business as well. The courses also train students in the best practices of business coaching. Students also learn how to structure a relationship with the client to be most effective at improving the productivity of their business.
So, who becomes a coach in business? Well, those that have had successful careers in business leadership and want a change of scene or pace might gain their business coaching certification. A person who has great analytical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills might seek it as a career from the beginning. Much like a sports coach, it does help if the business coach has been in business at least a little. Sometimes a role like this opens up in a corporation and people need training so they take the course to qualify.