What do a kayak race, a dodgeball tournament and excellent customer service have in common?
Teamwork.
Robert Whitehouse, General Manager of Combined Metals, understands the importance of fostering team spirit. Teams that work together, succeed together, and that success is in turn shared with their customers. When he put together the plans for a Friday to Sunday team building exercise this May he knew not only was it good for colleagues to see each other again after the events of the past year had sent many remote, but that as a team they would come to better understand their individual strengths and weaknesses- one of the many key components of customer service success.
Five critical components of sales and customer service are:
- Overall Customer Experience
- Product and Customer Knowledge
- Communication
- Speed
- First Call Results
Team building exercises reinforce all these critical points, turning a weekend away into a prime learning experience. New or strengthened skills and connections are then transferred into the office setting to increase communication, response times, error reduction and more—all to our customer’s benefit.
“Given the year we had had with Covid and individuals feeling separated, it was good to be able to have as many of the team as possible in one place, working with each other, socializing, bonding and just feeling like a team again. For several, the weekend marked their first time spending time together, understanding each other’s different personalities, and provided a chance to see how when working as a team we can be the best at what we do.”
– Robert Whitehouse
So, what does a weekend of team building exercises look like for a company that values teamwork as highly as Combined Metals does?
Colleagues from Sales, Purchasing, Production, Quality and Management were divided into three teams.
The weekend started off with an Amazing Race style adventure, with Robert providing clues and challenges the teams had to complete before they could continue on their way to their ultimate destination: the beautiful Rost Lake in Coleman, WI.
The first night was easy- dinner and a quiz to better get to know one another. Saturday morning marked the start of main event. Throughout the day, teams competed in various challenges- a skills test, kayak race, 3-legged race, and a flags puzzle (loser grilled dinner!). The day was finished off with a Bags tournament, Giant Jenga tournament, a pub quiz, and lots of laughs.
Teams competed for the big win Sunday in dodgeball and tug of war tournaments. Teams also had the opportunity over the entire weekend to earn extra points for trying new tasks or helping teams out, one of the highlights being Brooks-Ann getting a point for Robert teaching her to ride a bike!
Once the points were tallied, the results were in.
Team Corporate Punishment may have emerged the winners of the weekend, but, says team captain Brooks-Ann Meador, “I can honestly say that this weekend was so much bigger than a trophy. No matter which team was in the lead, every colleague was cheering each other on every step of the way. It was an amazing weekend and brought all of us closer together as a collective unit.”
Because of these team building exercises and many more, Team Combined Metals stays refreshed, united, and in position to provide an exceptional sales and customer service experience.
Experience our amazing teamwork in action:
