It seems like these days the phrase team building has become an umbrella term for any non-work time spent with coworkers outside of the office. As such, team building is used to describe anything from trivia night at the local pub, to eye-roll-inducing trust falls in a forest meadow, or even a few loops around the local go-kart track. Here at Adventure Associates we don’t deny the joys of coiffing tasty ale while showcasing your obscure knowledge of 80s daytime television, nor do we scoff at the rousing experience of reliving Days of Thunder in a lilliputian sized race-car. (We…

Brainstorming, commonly defined as the spontaneous generation of ideas out loud in a group, is inextricably linked to the creative process and is firmly established in the business realm as one of the best routes to lightbulb moments. It’s a process that has followed me all the way from elementary school science class sessions to upper level marketing classes at university. However, being mildly introverted and not wanting to compete with louder group members, I’d always wondered at the efficiency of this process that we’ve been doing for so many years. And by years, I really mean decades. Brainstorming was…

Stories of competitive workplaces are naturally quite provocative, conjuring up images of high octane law firms or blue chip consulting outfits. McKinsey is famously an ‘up or out’ firm, where if you do not advance, you are counseled to leave. Jack Welch, former CEO of GE also famously promoted a culture wherein the bottom ten percent of employees were let go. This Darwinian approach to human resource management—and corporate culture, really—may be compelling to some managers, especially in light of some of these companies’ successes. However, be cautious when considering introducing competition into your own workplace. First, let’s explore some…

Many companies are moving away from old structures that involve top-down leadership in favor of a newer approach called distributed leadership. Adding elements of distributed leadership to your organization’s way of getting things done will revolutionize the way your company functions. Distributed leadership can help spread decision-making ability throughout a team, particularly to those on the front lines of the operation. Encouraging initiative and collaboration, this technique allows those closest to the action to make the decisions that will most affect their success. Although it’s common for people to view a single person as the leader of an organization, such…

Appreciate Inquiry (AI) is the study of what breathes life into organizations, teams, and individuals when they are functioning at their very best. AI is the brainchild of organizational psychologist David Cooperrider: By definition it rests upon the principle that an organization will grow in whichever direction its members choose to focus and direct their attention. Here at Adventure Associates, we like to use AI in our team building and workshop events to uncover what is working in an organization, instead of solely focusing on what isn’t. Often this focus on strengths can create the type of growth that organizations…

Some teams fire on all cylinders — they function with boundless energy, intense focus, and passionate drive — but how can you get there? The answer is simple: intrinsic motivation! Motivation is everywhere in your life. Whether you’re at work, relaxing on the couch, or raiding the fridge, some kind of motivation has caused you to be doing whatever you’re doing. We can be motivated by love, fear, greed or something else. But not all motivation is created equal– sometimes the motivation isn’t strong to begin with, or it wanes over time, eventually resulting in a total lack of productivity.…

Planning a corporate retreat can be a daunting affair, but we’ve put together some tips for you so that you can get the most out of your time together. By taking the time to strategically plan your company retreat it can be a great experience where collaboration is enhanced and powerful discoveries are made. Want to embed this infographic on your site? Check out the code below this image.

Did you know that if you were a prisoner up for parole, you’re more likely to be set free if your hearing is in the morning versus the afternoon? Well, it’s the truth and it’s due to a phenomenon called decision fatigue. See, deciding to let a criminal go who may re-commit a crime is difficult. It requires a lot of analysis and thought—it’s mentally taxing. As a judge, you want to make a good and fair decision, keeping in mind the rights of the prisoner and the safety of the public. The safe and easy decision is to say…

A story recently circulated around the office here at Adventure Associates about the completion of the NASA backed Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS). Basically, a team of six aspiring space voyagers spent eight months together in a 1000 square foot geodesic dome to simulate living in a habitat on Mars — the third group to do so in this series of experiments meant to prepare us for our eventual journey to the red planet.

It’s one of the most common — and annoying — interview questions you’ll encounter, “What are your weaknesses?” Gurus tell us to offer up obvious non-weaknesses like perfectionism, or dogged determination. It’s funny that we all possess weaknesses, but rarely are we allowed to admit it openly. And sometimes we don’t even admit it to ourselves. We’re taught to shore up our weaknesses from an early age. If we struggle with something like math or English, we might find ourselves in remedial classes, getting tutoring and spending an inordinate time on those areas of difficulty.

It’s official: despite what your whip-cracking boss might think, breaks actually correlate with productivity. At least that’s what a recent survey by productivity software company DeskTime found among the top ten percent of performers. To be absolutely specific, the study found that the optimal work and break intervals were fifty-two and seventeen minutes, respectively.

Open-office floorplans, those gleaming, spacious workspaces emblematic of Silicon Valley productivity and flat organizational hierarchies are no longer a radical, avant garde approach to structuring office spaces, but rather the norm. According to the International Facilities Management Association, an overwhelming 70% of offices across America have adopted this office setup. The reasons behind this shift were, for the most part, well intentioned.

As an adult, your first day on the job is about as close as you can get to re-living the first day of school. There are a bunch of new people to meet and procedures to learn. Some are obvious, some less so. This all begs the question, what’s the best way to orient new employees to their new job. Here at Adventure Associates, we have a particular methodology that we think works pretty well. Recently, we hired a talented new team member named Lacey Cope and we figured we’d get her fresh perspective on our process. Below you’ll find…

Huddling up isn’t just for sports teams, it works great in business, too. Here at Adventure Associates we have a morning huddle every day. For us it’s a quick, highly-directed stand-up meeting that allows us to check-in with the rest of the team on current activities and to keep abreast of any major happenings in the company. They’re a great way to get off on the right foot for the day, and even for those of you who are averse to meetings, you’ll likely find that they’re quite painless and actually helpful. Likewise, they also help develop camaraderie and a…

Meetings often feel like one of the ring’s in Dante’s infamous journey, a sort of business life purgatory fraught with Dilbert-esque absurdity and frustration. But whether you like it or not, they’re also an absolute necessity. So how do we get better at meetings? They don’t all have to be mind numbing rituals, I assure you. To make sure we’re getting the most from our meetings we need to be confident that they’re actually providing value to us. We’ve come up with a few questions for you to ask yourself before deciding whether your next meeting is actually worthwhile.