CONFERENCE TRENDS: TEAMBUILDING ON THE INCREASE

Fostering an environment of teamwork is a top priority for an increasing number of South African companies.

This is according to Christa van der Merwe, Marketing Manager at Kievits Kroon Country Estate and Spa, an upmarket business and leisure destination in the scenic Kameeldrift Valley, north of Pretoria. "Companies are increasingly looking for a value-ad to the usual conference programme. This is not surprising, since the benefits of a great team are clear: increased productivity, improved customer service and employee empowerment."

Forming a dynamic team and getting them to work together is sometimes a tricky task. That's why many businesses are now hiring professionals to conduct teambuilding seminars. In line with this, Kievits Kroon Country Estate & Spa has recently established a relationship with a variety of teambuilding professionals. One of these is Elephants in Main Street, a teambuilding consultancy based in Johannesburg.

According to Melissa Blades, a director at Elephants on Main Street, South Africa is on par, if not ahead, of global teambuilding trends. She says delegates are looking for new and creative teambuilding activities that do not necessarily involve great physical feats in the great outdoors. The consultancy teams up with properties like Kievits Kroon to offer the best of both worlds to clients: world-class teambuilding activities in upmarket facilities that offer all the standard conference trimmings.

"One of our best selling products is 'News Room'. This teambuilding event requires delegates to write articles and video record 30-second interviews - all resulting in their own news bulletin. The session can be worked around a central theme," she says.

Blades says this teambuilding activity is a perfect vehicle for a launch. "It educates the team on the various aspects of the product and encourages them to talk to each other about the product."

While it is fun and entertaining, teambuilding workshops enable individuals within teams to reach new levels of self-realisation and raise performance levels. "The spin off is that employees get to know each other, but ultimately we concentrate on assisting our clients to increase the bottom line," says Blades.

Van der Merwe says that while companies are still highly focussed on meeting budgets for 2007, larger portions of these budgets are being allocated to teambuilding events and stress management activities.

"There is a 'work hard, play hard' ethic supported with a move towards a wellness culture developing," says van der Merwe. "Stress management is key, and part of this means coupling your conferences and marathon meetings with relaxing activities like golf or massage."

Kievits Kroon has answered this call for "healthier" conferences by introducing a package for smaller corporate groups that combines health-oriented programmes with the typical overnight conference schedule. In addition to the standard half-day conference programme in the morning, the Corporate Wellness package includes two spa treatments in the afternoon and three well-balanced meals. This kind of "all-in-one" packaging is also a draw card for companies.