What can you do to capture the spirit of Christmas, reward your staff and give to those less fortunate?
Workplaces reward their staff with fun Christmas parties, families come together to celebrate over dinner, decorations and carols create a festive atmosphere in shopping centres and kids play happily with their new presents.
Whilst these images may be familiar to some, they are not for many others.
It is startling to read that about 14% of the Australian population live in poverty and one-third of kids in New Zealand live in households below the country’s poverty line.
So as a workplace, what can you do to capture the spirit of Christmas, reward your staff and give to those less fortunate than ourselves?
I highlighted in my previous blog that a big part of building a positive team culture in your workplace revolves around making people feel good about themselves and feel good about their actions.
Here are three unique programs we have created that will help your business support the disadvantaged in the community over Christmas, and have a powerful impact on your team culture.
Fill it
This program involves participants working in teams to ultimately fill a trailer, wheel barrow or large children’s sand shell with the items then donated to a charity of your choice.
It features a number of team building activities that will test the resourcefulness, ingenuity and creativity of teams in a race against the clock to gather toys and ‘Fill It’.
Perfect as a half-day team activity for groups from five to 500, the power in this program comes at the end when the teams witness just how sizeable their contribution is.
Flat pack frenzy
As the name of this team building program suggests, it involves a frenzy to build flat pack furniture!
The challenge first is for teams to acquire the various tools and resources required to build the furniture by completing a series of fun activities.
Once these activities have been accomplished, a frenzy takes place as team members try to work in cohesion to build the furniture as per the manufacturer’s specifications.
There is a winning team awarded at the end, however the true reward is seeing the smiles on the recipients’ faces as the donation of furniture is made.
Out of the box
In this newly-created one-of-a-kind team building event, participants are challenged to think ‘out of the box’ in an effort to build a box of toys.
Using teamwork, creativity and lateral thinking, the activities in this fast-paced problem solving program can challenge the most innovative of teams.
The finale tops it off when teams learn what they have assembled is not just a box of toys as they originally thought. They will learn what they have assembled will have a profound impact on the recipient and change lives forever.
These three programs can make a significant difference this Christmas.
Whilst the power lies in the giving to others less fortunate in the community, these team events also focus on the participants learning, understanding and appreciating more about each other and working in unison towards a significant goal.
Why not try something a little different for your Christmas function this year and not only impact your workplace but your wider community as well?
Dwain Richardson is Managing Director, Corporate Challenge Events - a specialist in delivering charity team building programs in Australia