The Sandstone Team Building Blog

So I got my gun out the other day and gave it a clean. The same stuff that’s used on tyres works wonders I find. Then again, my gun is rubber. We import them specially from the manufacturers in Nevada, along with real leather - real western! - holsters. We use rubber guns to teach people gunslinging skills from the movies and the rubber keeps it safe - no sharp edges to hurt people when the guns start flying as people try all the fancy tricks!

I never saw myself as a cowboy until some bright spark in our team came up with the idea of creating Wild West as a new team building activity. Now I can’t imagine a time when I didn’t don the boots, hat, bandanna, bootlace and, of course, the belt-holster-gun combo. I love it, but it isn’t without, shall we say, complications…

My admiration for the real gunslingers of old is unbounded. Not, as you might think, for their fast draws and fancy gunplay - hell, I’m a match for any of them these days! Nor for their ability to eat beans until the cows came home — I’ve never shied from a can of beans since I was a nipper. No - my admiration is for their ability to wear them darned boots all day and every day! For me, three things are guaranteed at the end of any Wild West event where I am the gunslinger. One - we have a happy client. Two - the winning team wear the widest grins. Three - my feet hurt!

So if you attend a future Wild West event and I’m on it, you’ll understand why I look grizzled. It’s not that I’ve spent ages perfecting an authentic enigmatic and tough look of the stranger with no name. It’s my feet.

Steve

Although some clients like us to help them find suitable venues for our team building options (and we are always happy to do so), most prefer to make the arrangements themselves. Indeed, many commit to a venue before looking for a team building supplier. This can be problematical.

Clients who make direct bookings - especially those who book before involving us - are often reliant on the advice of the venue’s representatives about what rooms are suitable for their group. Yet venue representatives are unlikely to understand the requirements for running specialist team events such as ours - and, of course, their interest is more around making sure the logistics that is part of their offering, such as refreshment and lunch breaks, are timely and well received.

Activities such as Cube, Memory Lane, Romanbar and Wild West all benefit from about three times the amount of space that venue folk think is suitable. It allows the participants a base to call home for the duration and the space to tackle the variety of fun elements that each of those team activities offer. Without that “extra space”, we need to get creative to deliver to our own high standards.

A recent event we ran in the South East of England for a new public sector client is a case in point. They had booked with an alternative team building supplier, who then let them down with just a couple of days to go to their event. We find it surprising just how often this seems to happen and we are always pleased and usually able to help in such circumstances. The practical upshot was that the venue was already booked and we had to work with what they had. Which, to say the least, wasn’t quite as large as we would have preferred for their chosen activity - Wild West. If I had to choose a word to describe it, “tiny” would come high on the list.

First and foremost, we got there the previous evening to see for ourselves the challenge and set about planning our use of the space. And we got creative and indulged in a little light negotiation with the venue people. When we had finished laying out the room, our contacts at the venue were, to use their word, “amazed” at what we had done with the room. They had never seen it organised the way we laid it out - and, for that matter, dressed up in the way we had done! Well, it was a Wild West event and we always enjoy making people feel they have stepped back in time and across the world when they walk into the room. If we’d had to, our innovative layout of the room would have allowed us to do everything within it, albeit with some re-arrangements during the course of the day. In the event, though, the venue staff were good enough to understand our challenge and helped us out by making some normally public space available for our sole use.

Don’t get me wrong, we’d much prefer that the space we have aligns nicely with the guidelines we give to all clients ahead of an event. But we recognise that this is not always possible and, deep down, we secretly enjoy rising to such challenges. Well, we do encourage clients to rise to our challenging activities - it would be churlish for us not to do so to real life ones…

Alan

There have been a few blogs now and although I’ve tried to avoid doing a real one (I said Happy Easter to everyone, but I’m not sure that counts!) I can’t get away with it any longer though. I’m someone who prefers to be in the background – the thought of standing up and running one of our events fills me with horror. This isn’t quite as bad…

Luckily here at Sandstone we have some wonderful facilitators who do enjoy leading events, so I’m spared that particular nightmare. I enjoy being one of the behind the scenes team. We prepare and mop up before and after each event. The teamwork involved is really quite amazing. Even for one of our smallest events there is much that needs to be done.

An example of this would be a recent Liberation event that was run for just a couple of teams. To ensure that the event ran smoothly there were a number of us working together to make this happen. The computer and printer for each team needed to be set up and thoroughly tested, plus a spare in case of problems on the day (rare though that is, it can happen and we’re always prepared). We printed and bound the booklets for every participant. We counted and checked the construction components along with some of the more specialist equipment. We called the venue to confirm that the conference room in use was correctly set up, the refreshments ordered and would be delivered when required. It all helps our team and the client on the day and we are pleased to do it.

Following the event everything is checked back in. We recycle as much as we can - printouts from Liberation are reused in the office for general printing before they are sent for recycling; booklets are unbound, new pages inserted and then the bulk is reused where practical.

There were three of us on this occasion but on much larger events our team grows. We each play our own role but it all comes together brilliantly and it’s all down to team work.

Barbara

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

Hi all. As Production Manager here, I’ve decided that my best contribution to our collective blog should be a “Team Building Event of the Month” slot. If nothing else, it saves me thinking too hard each time it is my turn! And I’m happy to make my first nomination.

During March, for me it has to be a Wild West event that we ran at the Abbley Hotel in Great Malvern. A very industrious group and between them they managed to pan more gold than any group before them. I must take my hat off - cowboy hat of course! - to the former geology student who set a new, impressive individual record of 140 pieces of gold!

Gunslinging was its usual fun activity, enhanced by the group banter - usually rude! - between colleagues. The finale may have been a bit more “Starsky and Hutch” than our more usual western-style shootout, but it still made for a fabulous finish and a wonderful addition to a great set of memories from this brilliant day.

Paul

When my gorgeous daughter was four weeks old (a lifetime and yet only six weeks ago) I sat on the sofa one morning and phoned my sister to ask where the off switch was. Francesca had been feeding and crying non-stop for a couple of hours and I was sure there must be some magical way to make her happy again. During the course of our chat my sister put her son on the phone, my three-year-old nephew Jack. As he came on the line Frankie started wailing again and I asked him if he could hear her. “Don’t worry Auntie Jo,” he said, “crying is just talking”.

Out of the mouths of babes! I couldn’t believe that a three-year-old had just shifted the whole thing into perspective for me. I have been involved in numerous team building events where the objective is to improve communications across departments, where colleagues complain that their point of view isn’t heard or that they aren’t made aware of important developments. My daughter was simply trying to communicate with me and I hadn’t been listening to her properly. It made me realise how important communication is, right from the day we are born. Maybe Jack should consider a career in team building…

Jo

Just a quick one for the blog today - everyone here at Sandstone would like to wish all our clients and visitors to our site a very happy Easter. For those who have to work over the long weekend, we hope you still get to enjoy some chocolate!

Barbara