Teambuildinginc.com set a new site record of 29,212 visitors in October, or 942 visitors a day.

Is your team EXCELLENT? Applications by teams for the 2003 AQP National Team Excellence Award competition are due October 18, 2002. For information, visit our Team Competitions page.

YOU be the Judge! The Association for Quality and Participation (AQP) is looking for a few interested judges! The preliminary round of the annual team competition requires several judging panels. Final competition judges (for New Orleans, LA) will be chosen from among the preliminary judges. APPLICATIONS DUE September 20, 2002. Information can be obtained by visiting our Team Competitions page.

Teams will flip over the group exercises, personal stories, extensive participation, case studies, gags, fun, and, yes, even some magic in the Building High Performance Teams session! Awaken the spirit of your people.

CEO Pay... A Challenge to Teambuilding
The outcry has been growing, but a recent editorial in Business Week magazine characterized the widening gap in pay between CEO's and workers as "unacceptable" and "egregious behavior." In 1980, CEO compensation was 42 times that of the average worker. In 2000, it was 531 times. According to Business Week, "This is a winner-take-all philosophy that is unacceptable in American society, especially at a time when teamwork is being extolled as the key to higher productivity and company success, and all employees are putting in long hours at the office or on the line. The size of CEO compensation is simply out of hand." The editorial concludes by saying that "Taking away from a team effort isn't acceptable. It's time for CEO's who know better to speak up." 
(Source: Business Week, April 22, 2002, Editorials page 118)

Talbot County DSS Teambuilding
Seventy dedicated people of the Talbot County (MD) Dept. of Social Services spent a morning of teambuilding at their annual Staff Development Day held in April. 

According to Special Projects Coordinator Susan Draper, "We all agree that the time spent collaborating with each other, listening to each other, laughing together and working to "live with" each other's values and beliefs at your direction was enormously valuable---in fact, a peak training experience for our organization." For those of us here at Teambuilding, Inc., it was a pleasure serving these unsung heroes of our society.

Personality and the Team for 100!
Teambuilding's mighty Ray Martin recently completed the Herculean task of preparing 100 personalized Myers-Briggs assessments and conducting three workshops for employees undergoing team development training at ABB Offshore Systems, Inc. in Houston, Texas. Great job Ray, and thanks to our great help at ABB. 

Teambuildinginc.com Breaks Visitor Record in March
March saw a continued increase in the number of visitors to our website, reaching 25,050 visitors. We thank you for your growing interest in our site and encourage your feedback so we can continue to improve.

What is the Team Problem Solver?
The Team Problem Solver® is an online tool that helps you with your team's most pressing problems and help you understand team basics in an easy-to-follow process.

• Walks you through a series of questions that will quickly lead to practical solutions.

• Guides you to useful resources that can provide additional insights about your team's problems.

• AND gives you one year of unlimited personalized teambuilding support via email for all of your questions or issues that arise. This guarantees that someone is always available to support your company teambuilding efforts.  Click for more info or to purchase password access for you and your team.

Social Capital (Teamwork) Critical to Performance
The benefits of social capital are only recently being measured. Robert Putnam, a Harvard professor, points to studies showing that a high degree of social connection encourages more productive workers, discourages depression and illness, and makes government work more efficiently. "Your chances of dying are cut in half by joining one group, and (further) by joining two groups," says Putnam. Communities with a variety of civic and social groups and a network of informal connections also tend to have lower rates of crime, teenage pregnancy, and child abuse. Such correlations between social activity and a healthy community are not illogical. Friends and family are the ones who cheer you up when you're down, bring you chicken soup when you're sick, and help you find a job when you're unemployed. The stronger your social network, the easier it is to manage when times are difficult.
(Source: US Airways' Attache' magazine, February 2002, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name.")

ISP Sports Convenes in New Orleans - As part of their yearly conference, sixty dynamic sales, marketing, and operations people from ISP Sports Properties, Inc. spent a day developing their team and collaborative skills with Teambuilding, Inc. The first half of the day included Peter Grazier's Building High Performance Teams, and the second half our challenging Treasure Hunt through the French Quarter. According to ISP's Kelly Hilliard, "I cannot adequately express to you in words the multitude of compliments, enriching feedback and examples of learning that I have received since your session with my staff in New Orleans. Your message spoke to the hearts, souls, and intellect."

ABB Offshore Systems' Team Development Day - A full day of team development activities was spent by about forty employees of ABB Offshore Systems in Houston. The day combined our Building High Performance Teams and Personality and the Team sessions for a full day of enlightening activities. Initial concerns about "personality typing" gave way to insightful learning as participants learned how their unique abilities and preferred behaviors combine to create high-performing teams.

Tough Times Require Innovative Approaches
Given the state of the economy, we can either lament it or charge ahead. What a great time for creative approaches to marketing, selling, and greater efficiency! Dr. Roger Firestien's "Unleashing the Creative Power of Teams" is just what the doctor ordered. This session is guaranteed to generate break-through ideas. Call or email us for how this dynamic session can energize your sales, marketing, or operation teams. 

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