We are already 3 weeks into the New Year, have you already broken all of your New Year’s resolutions? Or failed to even set any? If you have, you are part of the majority. Studies show that the rate for failing New Year’s resolutions is around 80%.

The most common New Year’s resolutions are focused more on personal goals such as be healthier & exercise more, or be nicer to people or give more to charity. But what about at work? Setting goals for the year is the hallmark of good business everywhere!

Step One: Reflect

It might seem obvious, but many teams forget to take the time to review the year that was. Psychotherapist Esther Perel states that the New Year is a great time to be forward-thinking about who you want to be; but it’s also a great time to look back at what you’re ready to let go of. Put simply, the best way to set goals for the year ahead is to go back & reflect on the previous year i.e. what worked well & what wasn’t so successful.

If you’re unsure where to start, performing a simple SWOT analysis of your business will give you plenty of information to get going. We’ve included a template from Wordstream as a guideline below, however there’s an abundance of information online about performing a SWOT analysis:

Step Two: Identify Your Goal & Purpose

According to the famous Tony Robbins, there are two key questions that you need to ask yourself for compelling goal planning: identify your goals & identify your purpose.

1. Identify Your Goals: What do you really want? What is the exact objective you desire? A promotion at work? To take up daily meditation? In order to set achievable goals, you need to have a clear outcome in mind.
2. Identify your purpose: Why do you want to achieve this goal? What will it bring you? Will that promotion give you the financial freedom you desire? In order to keep your goals, you need to ask the right questions and seek real change in your life. If you know what you’re moving toward, you’ll find ways to make it happen by learning how to set goals.

Step Three: Set SMART Goals

You may have already heard of SMART goal setting as it is so widely used as a successful guideline for goal setting. See below:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time Bound

Set Specific Goals

Your goal must be clear and well defined. Vague or generalized goals are unhelpful because they don’t provide sufficient direction.

Set Measurable Goals

Include precise amounts, dates, and so on in your goals so you can measure your degree of success. If your goal is simply defined as “To reduce expenses” how will you know when you have been successful? In one month’s time if you have a 1 percent reduction or in two years’ time when you have a 10 percent reduction? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you have actually achieved something.

Set Attainable Goals

Make sure that it’s possible to achieve the goals you set. If you set a goal that you have no hope of achieving, you will only demoralise yourself and erode your confidence.

Set Relevant Goals

Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your life and career to take. By keeping goals aligned with this, you’ll develop the focus you need to get ahead and do what you want. Set widely scattered and inconsistent goals, and you’ll fritter your time – and your life – away.

Set Time-Bound Goals

Your goals must have a deadline. Again, this means that you know when you can celebrate success. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker.

SMART guideline via MindTools

Happy New Year and Good Luck!

Since October last year we have been inundated with enquiries from clients wanting to find out how they can incorporate a charity-style team activity into their upcoming conference – primarily with the desire to give back to those affected by the bushfire crisis.

We have spoken previously on our blog about what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means and the importance both employees and customers place on working for and spending their money with businesses that prioritise CSR. Put simply, CSR refers to a company’s efforts to improve society in some way. This doesn’t always mean a donation to charity; CSR can relate to any kind of improvement effort such as creating a more sustainable workplace.

There has always been a high demand for team activities that incorporate CSR however as mentioned above, with the prevalence of the current bushfire crisis we have found more and more companies are wanting to include this in their conference as part of their organised team activity.

Bushfire Relief

The NSW Office of Emergency Management has recently advised that monetary donations are the most useful & valuable way to help those affected by the bushfire crisis. The RFS has also requested that people don’t donate any items such as food or water to local brigades as they have everything they need at this point in time.

“The best way is to donate money. This allows people to buy the things they need, and it supports local businesses which have also been impacted. We know many people want to donate physical items such as food and clothing but these take up much needed community space.”
NSW RFS

The NSW Office of Emergency Management has encouraged people to only donate to reputable charities, as currently there are some scams involving people doorknocking or calling via phone and claiming to be or represent people who have lost their homes in the bushfires.

If your company is looking to make a donation, here is a short list of some registered charities below:

• NSW RFS
• The Salvation Army
• The Red Cross
• WIRES
• Koala Hospital Port Macquarie
• RSPCA
• St Vincent de Paul Society

CSR Team Building Events

Based on the above comments, our activity recommendations for groups wanting to give to those affected by the bushfires are those activities where a monetary donation is made by the group to a charity representative at the conclusion of the activity. The two CSR activities that suit this format is the Race to Make a Difference & the Challenge for Charity.

The Race to Make a Difference

The Race to Make a Difference is a fast paced, action packed CSR event that culminates in the team giving back to a charity organisation. The goal for the participants is to be the team that raises the most dollars for charity.

The challenges are designed to be fun, hands on and require the team to think strategically and work together to achieve success. Teams will be issued $$$ based on their performance at each challenge site.

Ultimately the teams converge on the final location where the winners are announced and the donation to charity formalised.

How to include the Charity? We have two suggested formats:

• Teams choose a charity that appeals to them to compete on behalf of. The winning team get to donate a cheque from your company to their nominated charity. i.e. First = $1000, 2nd = $500, 3rd = $250.
• The company chooses the charity and all teams are competing to see what team can earn the most for that charity. Ultimately the winning team would present a cheque onto a representative of that company who is present at the finale of the event.

Example Road Block Challenges:

Number Triangle – Nine numbered tiles are laid out in a triangle shape. The team moves the tiles so that the addition of the numbers is equal on each side.

Shape Shifter – Using memory and instinct teams must recreate a series of original shapes.

Catapults – Teams fire tennis balls via replicated catapults towards a landing zone where strategically positioned team members await ready to catch.

Pyramids – Teams are racing to rebuild a pyramid that can only be structured from bottom to top.

Duration: 2 – 3 hours

Location: Outdoors, all areas around a resort or city/urban areas

Challenge for Charity

Challenge for Charity is a fun, high energy fundraising event where teams compete to raise the most for their chosen charity. This is an engaging way to make a Corporate Donation and involve your team in the process.

Each table becomes a team and is issued with a Charity for Challenge activity booklet. There are 45 challenges within the booklet, 15 easy, 15 medium and 15 hard. Teams work frantically to complete each page of the booklet, ripping them out and handing in to the Pinnacle staff as soon as possible. A correct page will see the delegates earn money for the charity e.g.

Easy = $2
Medium = $5
Hard = $10

At the conclusion of the activity we will introduce the charity representative to say a few words of gratitude and announce the total amount that has been donated on behalf of your client. The amounts can be adjusted to fit with your donation budget. Once the desired donation amount has been decided the challenge amounts will be worked back accordingly.

Example Challenges:

Team Mascots– Strike fear into your opponents with your team mascot to start the game!

Origami my Team– Can you follow the steps towards Origami master status?

Number Puzzle- Does your team have the smarts to crack the code?

Hidden Letter– Search high and low in your conference room for the letters and you shall find the ANSWER!

Duration: 45 mins – 2 hours

Location: Indoors with 1 x table per team

Tailor Your Own!

As always, we are happy to tailor an activity to suit your specific requirements. Please contact us to find out more information & discuss your upcoming event!

Every year it is said that the third Monday of January is the gloomiest day of the year – also known as Blue Monday. As the theory goes, by the 20^th January 2020 all the joy from Christmas will have faded & all we are left with is a dilapidated bank account, a bulge around our waists & we’ll be riddled with guilt that our New Year’s resolutions to be healthier, fitter & wiser have fallen by the wayside.

But is Blue Monday really the saddest day of the year or is the label just a misguided PR stunt – we think so!

The concept was originally coined in 2004 by psychologist Cliff Arnall.

He came up with a “formula” for the January blues after he was asked to do so by travel firm Sky Travel, who then used the phrase in a press release to promote their winter deals.

It took into account a number of factors likely to contribute to low mood and read as follows:

W = weather

D = debt

d = monthly salary

T = time since Christmas

Q = time since failing our new year’s resolutions

M = low motivational levels

Na = the feeling of a need to take action

Arnall has since confessed that the formula is essentially pseudoscience and has urged people to “refute the whole notion” of Blue Monday.

Whether Blue Monday is a real phenomenon or not, the month of January is a great time to get the team motivated and bring everyone together to kick start the new year. Strangely enough, we are almost booked out for events on Monday 20 January 2020 & are filling up fast the remainder of that week!

If you’re stuck for ideas, check out our previous blog post Team Building Ideas to Kick Off the New Year or give us a call.