Author: David Priestley

I recently did some research for our assessment facilitation programme and came across this fantastic video from Apple, which gives a great insight into their recruitment policy, ethos and company values. Apple is a business that strives for constant improvement and this video gives you an in-depth understanding into their working culture and practices. If you have three minutes to spare, then watch this video and think about how you can improve your own workplace practices for the better. Apple’s employee recruiting video

A quick tool for gathering and developing creative ideas for groups. Start the process by stating the issue to be ideastormed. Get everyone in the group to call out all their ideas as fast as possible, ensuring they don’t think too much about it – encourage crazy ideas too as they can inspire fresh concepts. Select one or two note takers to write all ideas down on flip-chart paper or a whiteboard. For the initial idea generation stage, make sure there is no discussion or comments – this can come after all the ideas have been generated. Once you have…

This might seem like a strange idea, but it’s a nice way for everyone to take the time to think about what they have learnt during a workshop, and what changes or steps they might make in their lives or work because of it (also known as transfer of learning). Give each person in your group some paper, an envelope and a pen and ask them to write a letter to themselves which gives an overview of what they have learnt during the workshop, and how they would like to use their new found skills to make a change. Once…

Blindfolded and under pressure, the group have to work together in a race against the clock to put up a tent. Blindfold tent build is a great challenge for developing communication and leadership skills. Equipment Required: Basic 2 man tent Space Required: Medium. Indoors or outdoors. Group Size: 4 to 6 ideally. For larger groups split them into teams and use more tents. If you don’t have the tents available then do a time trial with teams competing against each other. Total Time: 40 minutes 5 minutes to brief and set up 10 minutes to practice and discuss 20 minutes to complete the challenge 5 minutes…

Organise your group into a circle, so that everyone can see and hear each other. Ask each person in turn to share concerns, distractions and events that are on their mind. For example, “I’m giving a presentation this afternoon and I feel nervous.” “I am meeting my girlfriends parents for the first time. I’m a little scared.” Ask everyone to give their full attention to the speaker. As the facilitator you can help speakers if they appear stuck. Interventions could include: “What action do you need to take?” “What else would you like to add about the subject” This tool is suitable…

Hand out some coloured paper and coloured pens to each person. Ask your group to draw or paint a picture that expresses who they are. Give them about 10 minutes and then pair them up with a partner – give them a couple of minutes to explain their picture to each other. Next, organise your group into one big circle and get each person to introduce their partners using the pictures they created.

Moneyball is based on the true story of Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A’s Baseball team. Beane and his Assistant GM, Peter Brand learn that by hiring under-valued players, they could win with less than 40% of the budget of their competitors. In the 2001-02 season, the A’s achieved a 20-game winning streak – an all-time record. Now, you may think it’s just another sports movie, and it is – a very good one at that – but if you look only that far when watching this film, then you’re going to miss out on half the story if not…

Finding the best possible people for your company is both a challenge and an opportunity. This article lists the 1o top qualities an employee has to posses. With the help of David Brent, here’s what makes a great employee remarkable. 1. Positive Thinker “You think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s only some bugger with a torch bringing you more work.” – David Brent 2. Problem Solver “A problem shared is a problem halved, so is your problem really yours or just half of someone else’s?” – David Brent 3. Ambition “It’s almost like my work here’s done.…

Using Lego for team building is a great choice for fun, engaging and creative challenges. We have around 2,000 Lego bricks in our arsenal and use them constantly when working children (and adults) for both tasks and reviewing. Lego bricks can be used in a number of ways, but are great for communication based exercises and teamwork challenges that involve constructing a tower of sorts, often these builds lead to some impressive designs. Speaking of using Lego builds… Did you know that Top Gear presenter James May built the world’s first full size Lego house (using 3.3 million bricks) in…

To be effective people need to work together toward a common goal in a coordinated and cooperative way. Therefore you could say that team building is a systematic process designed to improve working relationships and team functioning such as problem-solving, decision-making, and conflict resolution that enables the group to overcome any goal-blocking barrier. For many this result-orientated mission is the real purpose of team building. A team-building goal therefore could be simply to identify and develop effective communication. Another way of looking at it is that team building is like coaching but for a collective group. Why is Team Building Important?…

To make experiential learning effective the learning wheel is used. This is a cycle and a process of setting goals, followed by thinking, planning, experimenting and decision making , followed by action, followed by observing, reflecting & reviewing, followed by a bit more thinking, decision making and sometimes adjusting goals, followed by more action and so on. What makes experiential learning so special? Simply that the approach to experiential learning utilises participants own experience and their own reflection about that experience, rather than lecture and theory as the means of generating understanding and transferring skills and knowledge. Is experiential learning team…