Time to Work Happy and Play Smart
After almost three years of lockdown and working remotely, many organizations and businesses are getting back to work.
Most Organizational Development professionals will tell you COVID-related disruptions have changed the face of work and things are forever changed.
Many people saw the pandemic as a great time to call it quits and take that retirement package. This shift created great opportunities for emerging leaders to move around and step into newly vacant positions. Many others decided to go out on their own and start that new business they had been dreaming about. And many others changed careers completely.
No matter what industry you work in, chances are you are either part of a new team or your old team looks very different with the addition of many new teammates.
The pandemic pushed back many workshops and off-sites; organizers are scrambling to rebook. Departments in all sectors are looking to bring their teams together for team development workshops, visioning, values work, branding, and/or team strategy.
If you are responsible for booking a team workshop or off-site, prepare early. Facilitators are booking up quickly and staying busy.
If you are a facilitator, take stock of your materials and make sure everything is in order before you get too busy. You might want to take a refresher course to get your head back in the game.
Checklist:
-Your area should be twice the size of a normal meeting room. This allows room for both small table discussions and for opener activities requiring people to move around.
-You need end tables to hold your materials.
-Tables should be free of plugs and clutter and easy to move around. This will allow you to reconfigure table size as needed.
-Chairs should be comfortable.
-Natural light and access to the outside are great benefits, and they support big ideas and thinking.
-Walls should allow for flip charts to be posted with painter’s tape
-Room should be private and free from outside interruptions, such as announcement systems, equipment noise, etc.
-Ensure necessary technology is available and in great working condition.
-Depending on the acoustics of the room, you may need a sound system to project your voice.
As a reminder, here is a short video to help you think about the training space and workshop room. Our participants at CPSI in NY took the Mannequin Challenge to illustrate the room and setting.