The Sandstone Team Building Blog

Hi all, its time for my event of the month nomination for the month of April. I had the darned cheek to take some holiday during April and I believe that I missed a few really good events - including a couple of superb and back-to-back Memory Lane events in Nottingham. Sorry folks - I can’t select ones I wasn’t at, so if you were there at least you have the experience itself to console yourself with!

This month my award goes to a different Memory Lane event - one held at the village hall in the sleepy village of Chilton Foliat. A reserved start by all (it was a small group!), but before the end of the first hour, the usual hive of activity kicked in and by the time the bowling alley was under way they were steaming along. The calmer side of the event was our magnetic marble run, often referred to as the “big mousetrap game”. Our very constructive team members were constantly “tweaking” their run for the final roll. The finale of the day, where lot of points stood to be gained, was the space hopper final. It was a superb end to another great day.

Paul

As blogs are supposed to be personal to the person writing them, I simply have to write about elephants. A very important element of me is my love for elephants. I can’t remember my first introduction to elephants - they have just always been part of my life - and I know they always will be. Much to my partner’s displeasure - he is not so keen on the many elephant drawings we have around our house! Which reminds me, this is as good a time as any to thank those clients who, over the years, have sent me pictures that they have taken on the odd safari they have been on.

Coming back to my early years, I do remember my Granddad saying to me that the first time he took me to Chester Zoo when I was a toddler I was mesmerised. I have been ever since.

So why am I talking about elephants? Well partly I’m avoiding sorting out all the wigwams from our recent Wild West events (they are a nightmare to sort out afterwards!), but mainly because it’s relevant to team building.

Elephants live in family groups consisting of the matriarch (the leader) and her family. Whenever a new baby is born the whole family rally round to help with the rearing. Whilst the mother does the feeding, and protecting the baby from the sun. The older sisters and aunts also help look after the calves.

Elephants require a lot of food to survive, this means they need to keep on the move to ensure there are fresh food supplies throughout the year. Using migratory routes that the matriarch has learnt from previous generations, she passes on the knowledge to her herd. It is their close relationships that allows the rest of the herd to acquire knowledge to be used when needed.

So, again, what was the point of this? Well elephant herds work together. Organised by their leader, they not only collectively protect their young they develop them also. They work as a team, improve their team and help their less experienced members take on ever increasing responsibility for themselves and the rest of the herd.

Maybe we can all learn a thing or two from elephants.

Till next time …

Nikki

Hi everybody. Well here I am blogging for the first time and I bet everyone who knows me won’t believe it is really me doing this! I’m the “brother” referred to as “enough” in our very first blog entry. Thanks bro…

I guess many people don’t end up doing what they thought they would and I am certainly one of those. When I left school all I wanted was to be a professional footballer. I didn’t quite make that, but football was always an important part of my life and I have been pleased to have been a part of a small number of (though I say so myself!) some pretty good local amateur clubs. Never one to hold back in the dressing room or on the pitch, I was soon made Captain wherever I played. As Captain I was always trying to get a team spirit going, with everyone working for each other and building on our collective strengths. Some people was great defenders, some had the vision to create opportunities, others scored the goals. All were necessary and all had to pull together if we were to win.

Now I am part of the Sandstone team, I have found not much has changed except I have swapped footballs for flair bottles (in Romanbar), Colt 45s (in Wild West), Yo-Yos (in Memory Lane) and so on. While I really enjoy looking after some of the more belly laughter generating elements of our activities, I also know that all of the other bits that help make our team building options so enjoyable for all participants are equally important. So we all look out for one another in setting up, during the sessions and in packing everything away. All of the staff that attend our various events work really well together and take pride in finding something in every event that makes us a little better still next time. This in turn, helps ensure that our team really delivers each time for our clients and everybody wins.

Catch you all again soon!

Steve

So, for my first blog entry, where should I start? As an Event Assistant, Sandstone has provided me with great opportunities that would otherwise be hard to come by, so I’m going to talk about those.

Event Assistants here are people who are not full time (I’m one of our student team members but we have older folk too!) that are trained to handle specific jobs at the larger events. The variety of events that we run provide not only our clients, but the Sandstone team itself, with a wide choice ot things to get involved with. Notice I say “our clients” - we all feel very much part of the company. Sometimes I might be assigned to look after a small number of teams on the day, helping them with anything they need. Other times, I might be asked to run a specific part of the event - perhaps ‘Gold Panning’ in Wild West, ‘Cocktail Making’ (I am a student after all!) in Romanbar or ‘Walk the Plank’ in Cube.

The diversity is not limited to the range of activities either. Each individual event that is held is completely unique as we tailor them for client needs. This allows our team to get really involved in something fresh each time - just as the clients do.

This brings me back to some of the opportunities that I have experienced so far. I’ve found the best bit is getting to know the people attending the events. I’ve really enjoyed meeting - and having fun with - a wide range of clients. As we have members of the team all over the country, I’ve also got to know and work with other members of the team - and believe me when I say that they really are varied!

As someone who is a member of this team, I can safely say that Sandstone not only take great care of their clients, but also their team.

Jenny