It was a gorgeous spring day in San Francisco when 106 accountants converged on the Hyatt Regency Airport Hotel for team building activities that truly had a purpose. This huge group proved eager to work hard, communicate, and learn as they participated in the Bike-a-Thon Charity Workshop we custom designed for the Essex Property Trust team. Smiles and enthusiasm abounded all day long as the numbers people got out of their heads and into their hearts to donate 16 bikes to the San Francisco Fire Fighters Toy Program. And the presence of two firefighters to accept the donation was just icing on the cake.
A Large Group Eager To Learn
This was a large but very manageable group. They came into the morning activities hyped up, enthusiastic, and ready to learn a few important things about teamwork. They also came in ready for some friendly competition, a quality we’d heard about from management and prepared for in advance by setting up a rewards system for winning individual activities.
But because management also wanted the teams to focus on working together, we emphasized throughout the day that the ultimate goal was donating as many bikes as possible to the San Francisco Fire Fighters Toy Program. Balancing individual achievement with team goals is a constant challenge in almost every workplace, so we always go out of our way to emphasize group accomplishments during our events.
This is one of the reasons that Charity Workshops like our Bike-a-Thon are so effective in developing the teamwork skills that companies need to thrive in today’s ultra-competitive markets. Giving back to the community is the ideal way to bring out everyone’s individual best in a way that’s conducive to the success of the group.
Everyone Brought Their A Game to Help the San Francisco Firefighters Toy Program
The warm up activities went off without a hitch. They also went a long way toward harnessing the high levels of energy that the various teams brought to the workshop. By the time they entered the parts earning phase that precedes the actual bike assembly, the teams had developed a unity that was truly gratifying to watch unfold.
The tangible end result was a set of 16 bikes that the firefighters graciously accepted on behalf of their organization. But the invisible results were just as rewarding — the knowledge that we’d helped local children and taught our clients valuable skills they could take back to the office.