Boosting your team’s morale can be tough. However, it is a fundamental aspect in business. Companies must strive to please employees if they want their productivity and bottom line to improve. People with increased, positive morale are a lot more eager to do their jobs, and they don’t see challenging tasks as a chore, but as an opportunity to develop their set of skills.
Organizing an outdoor corporate event can make them feel valuable; it can show them that the company is open-minded, and that their ideas do business are indeed worth unconventional. Here are 10 ways a business event can persuade workers to feel like valuable members of your business.
1. A change of scenery
Rather than have meetings and corporate events organized in a ballroom, you might want to consider a park or any other sort of outdoor venue. All employees will be delighted to attend because it’s someplace outside, where they can breathe some fresh air and recharge themselves with positive energy.
2. Empowering messages
Outdoor events instill drive and determination. A natural décor made of flowers, trees, and waterfalls for example, might have a positive effect on your team’s morale. It might make them work harder, and go to extreme length to achieve their goals.
3. Relaxation
Outdoor venues are excellent because they’re relaxing. Most corporates organize weekly gatherings with employees someplace outside. The goal is to help their people relax their minds and bodies. Such environment is a more laid-back than an office. It smells good, it feels good and in some way it boosts productivity.
4. Better communication
When people are not constrained by a formal working space they feel free. They’re a lot more willing to share ideas, and they collaborate better too. Teams will also be able to brainstorm ideas and with a bit of luck transform them into successful concepts.
5. Activity-based events
Activity-based events are not just meant to increase employee morale. They’re also meant to build team spirit and teach employees that working in teams makes them productive. Consider team-building places and take your people hiking, biking or swimming. Spend quality time together and make them feel part of a family. Physical activities diminishes stress, and you’ll have the chance to see them behave outside the office too.
6. Casual picnics
An outdoor corporate event can easily be a picnic. Gather the team on a Friday morning and tell them to pack their bags. They’ll instantly be happy to go outside, sit on the grass and socialize, have some lunch and share ideas with their peers. Picnics are ideal when you’re trying to make your employees work together more productively. It is an opportunity to make new friends; chose Friday because then they’ll have a whole weekend to relax. They’ll return on Monday refreshed and ready to work with a smile on their face.
7. Send invitations to an outdoor corporate event
Whether you’re planning a meeting at a luxury corporate conference venue or someplace in the park, it might be a good idea to send invitations. It will make employees feel valued and appreciated. If the location is outside, even better; it is an opportunity for them to wear casual clothes and engage in information conversations with peers and bosses.
8. Outdoor business events foster original ideas
Believe it or not, the best ideas come from employees who feel relaxed. Since there’s a lot of stress at the office, they won’t be able to do that. However, organizing a meeting outside will change their perceptions. They won’t feel pressured in any way, which means they’ll be in full capacity to express their ideas even if they’re unsure of the outcome.
9. Improved productivity
Employees feel a lot more productive when nobody screams at them. Why should they fear you? Organize a business event someplace out of the office and allow them to meet you on a more personal level. This will encourage them to ask if they have doubt, as well as lay out ideas without the fear of being rejected.
10. Employee evaluation
Casual business events are an opportunity for HR departments and entrepreneurs to evaluate employees without making them feel bad. Getting together somewhere nice and relaxing fosters communication. People are more willing to open up when they’re somewhere outside; the atmosphere is a lot nicer and they won’t feel constrained to finish tasks by the deadline.
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Image via Flickr user Luigi Mengato under C.C. 2.0 license
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