The current pandemic would make a fantastic blockbuster summer movie—if it weren’t real. When everything around you changes at breakneck speed, you and your team need to be grounded, anchored, and reassured. That’s why team building events are important during a crisis—actually especially in a crisis!
Life in the fast lane
Keeping a business afloat during an economic shutdown, transforming your business model on the fly; adjusting to a remote workforce; reassuring investors and other stakeholders. In this perfect storm, CEOs are expected to understand current trends that change by the hour and translate them into a believable forecast for the future.
This confluence of nightmare scenarios is a prescription for CEO burnout if there ever was one. They’ve got to be strong but empathetic, masterful but reassuring—all without falling apart emotionally or psychologically themselves. The S on their capes once stood for “Superman,” but today it stands for “Stressed!”
Courage and compassion
Some top dogs are stepping up to the plate with the courage and compassion of a lot of first responders. Many have fully embraced the culture of remote workforce management and have supported their workers while they adjust.
A number of them have given up their paychecks and bonuses in order to protect their employees. That kind of generosity is terrific if you can afford it and should be applauded! But if you can’t afford such heroics, you can still make a sizeable emotional investment in your staff and have a positive impact on your community at the same time.
Hope and healing
Having a safe place to show and share your humanity is another reason why team building events are important. They can help your staff get to know you personally and you can see them as husbands, wives, parents, hobbyists, and activists. Learning about their passions outside the office can translate into a wonderful team bonding opportunity. And you can also take a pulse check on where they are psychologically and emotionally during these tumultuous times.
We all need a way to decompress and destress. Some of us even need to reevaluate our jobs, our long term personal goals, and even life itself. We all need hope. And some of us need healing. The best way to receive both yourself is to give hope and healing to someone else. Heavy hearts united in a shared purpose heal faster. That’s one more reason why team building events are important.
Charitable team building events are reciprocal
Givers receive as much benefit as recipients. For one thing, when you focus on someone else’s problems your own problems seem smaller, less threatening, and not nearly as urgent.
And you and your staff don’t have to go out in order to reach out. Thanks to the pandemic, virtual charitable team building is now a viable thing. And it works! Bikes, wheelchairs, school supplies, and sports gear. Military care packages, food, and pet care supplies—you can donate any or all of these much-needed gifts to your neighbors.
Magnovo’s online charitable workshops can promote team unity at a time when your team may be feeling fragmented. And we will partner with you and a local social services organization to distribute your generous donations.
And as for you, courageous but overworked manager— nobody will benefit more than you! Kindness matters and yours will be felt throughout your community because good news travels fast. And no doubt your staff’s morale will soar. But most of all, a virtual charitable team building event will be good medicine for your own soul. And frankly, you deserve it!