Team Outings

Team outings can be a great way to acknowledge everyone’s efforts on the team. A team outing can be as fancy as an off-site multiple-day meeting in some exotic location, or as simple as a backyard cookout. Team outings can have several benefits:

•   Employees feel appreciated, and if the families are invited, they feel appreciated as well.

•   The employees get to know the manager and other employees on a different level.

•   It’s nice to have fun with the team members outside the work place.

•   A sense of family, or connection, can be made.

In planning a team outing, there are aspects a manager needs to consider carefully:

•   What are the objectives of the outing?

•   Should it be employees only or their families as well?

•   What are some possible dates?

•   What should we do?

•   What have I budgeted for?

•   Who should be assigned to work on the details?

•   What would the impact be on the team?

•   What kind of activities can we have?

•   What do we want them to walk away with after the meeting is over?

Team outings can be a tremendous boost to morale and motivation. There are some caveats though that can ruin a team outing if not considered:

•   Always check. If a manager is taking the group to see a show, the manager or someone the manager trusts should go see the show ahead of time. This way the team won’t be subjected to any surprises such as nudity, foul language, or embarrassing situations. A manager should always check in advance on all aspects to ensure that nothing negative happens.

•   Watch the alcohol. Nothing can ruin a team outing more than the abuse of alcohol. The team’s superstar getting plastered is not the memory that most managers want for a team outing. Professional managers have ways to control the serving and drinking of alcoholic drinks at a team outing.

•   Don’t force them to attend. Managers should not make team members come to a team outing, especially if it is on the weekend. In some companies, managers make team outings mandatory and the outings become drudgery. The idea is to make the outing so much fun the team members want to come. I once worked for a manager who had a team outing every quarter on his boat and he insisted that everyone go every quarter. What was once fun became a chore.

•   Keep it “business light.” At team outings, there can be some business, but most of the outing should be just having fun and setting the stage where people can make connections.

•   Respect other belief systems. If managers have a Christmas party, they might unknowingly exclude people of other faiths. Managers are best served by avoiding all religious aspects entirely, and that way no one will be offended. My wife, for example, is a Jehovah’s Witness. I have been to many company Christmas parties where I was badgered for not bringing my wife. I thought this was disrespectful of her beliefs.

Managers should use the various types of acknowledgment to ensure that employees feel appreciated. The feeling and impact of being acknowledged will vary with each employee, so it is up to the manager to determine how and how much to acknowledge that particular employee. The art of managing is like figuring out how to open a combination lock. The difference is that each employee has their own unique combination. The manager’s function is to find the magic combination for that employee. On the following pages is a list of ways a manager can acknowledge employees.