We designed this Wagon Builders Charity Workshop specifically for a two day Crowe Horwath event their management team was using to assess the teamwork skills of a group of 40 young interns. Management already knew coming into the workshop that each of these interns was hardworking, talented, and smart at the individual level, but it remained to be seen how they could merge their skills with others and work toward common goals. Knowing exactly Crowe Horwath wanted was even more helpful than usual because it allowed us to design their workshop in a way that emphasized particular teamwork skills and let management observe from up close how their interns would react in a group setting.

A Group of Talented Interns Learns Quickly

Crowe Horwath’s management had briefed us on the high level of skills the individual interns possessed during our pre-event meetings, so we worked hard to come up with challenges that would force each of them to put aside their egos and become part of a team. Before the workshop started, we divided the interns up into various teams and paired each of them with veteran Crowe Horwath staffers. These staffers were there to evaluate the interns’ teamwork skills, as well as to help them collect toys for the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, which was the local charity they had chosen to assist beforehand.

We spent the first couple of hours coaching the different teams through a set of custom designed ‘warm-up games,’ including dice prediction, cup stack, and air counting. This gave the interns a chance to show off their willingness to work as a team and let management observe them while they did so. Next came the parts earning stage, in which the teams compete with one another to win the components they’d need to build the wagons that would later be stuffed with toys and given to the kids representing the Boys and Girls Club.

Everyone Came Out a Winner, Including the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club

This workshop a great opportunity for fun as well as philanthropy. Both the interns and the veteran staff had a great time working together to help the deserving kids at the Boys and Girls Club. The end results were satisfying for everyone involved– Crow Horwath got to see their young talent in action, the interns learned teamwork lessons, and the children dragged off 5 great wagons and all the toys they could hold.