Camaraderie Building Workshops
One of the most underrated and important pieces of a successful organization is the team culture and chemistry. The word “teamwork” gets thrown around so much that it starts to lose its meaning and what it should represent.
I consulted some longtime experts on definitions: Merriam and Webster. This is what they gave me as the definition of “teamwork”:
“work done by a group acting together so that each member does a part that contributes to the efficiency of the whole.”
I can literally hear some of you, rolling your eyes in your head, thinking of THAT team member that doesn’t contribute efficiency to the whole. I’m doing it too. However, the issue is that efficiency can be subjective. Everyone has a different definition of what is “efficient”, so if you see a teammate not doing things in a way you would determine to be “efficient”, you may unknowingly harbor bias or some distrust towards them for not being a team player.
However, when you reframe it as “cameraderie”, the tone is totally different. Again, Merriam and Webster told me this definition of “cameraderie”:
“a feeling of friendliness, goodwill, and familiarity among the people in a group.”
What stood out to me? Teamwork has a focus on the task(s). Camaraderie has a focus on the feeling. FEELINGS? What do you mean “feeling”? This is work! We can’t have feelings at work!
Well, 1950 called and they want their antiquated ideas back. Your teammates are people. Your direct reports are people. People have feelings and because of that, our motivation is driven by how we feel about something.
If your organization or team is missing camaraderie, that doesn’t mean you are a bad leader or you aren’t doing your job well. There are many factors out of your control that can contribute to this:
Organizational Changes
when organizations decide to restructure, there is a high possibility that people are moving to new teams or teams are being combined with others. While the changes make sense from an organizational efficiency perspective, it can leave team members feeling lost or lacking an idea of what their new “identity” is.
Lack of Resources/Time
one of the number one things I hear from leaders and teams is that there hasn’t been enough time or resources in order for them to feel like they can “take a break” to plan activities outside of normal work and build camaraderie.
Physical Distance
this is probably the most common reason, especially in the last 5 years: the physical distance between team members. There is a large population of people who work remotely and their teammates live in other states or countries. There is no proverbial “water cooler” to gather around, so building a connection seems impossible without a feeling of forced interaction.
Camp Cameraderie
Camp Camaraderie is a workshop for organizations that are looking to cultivate more camaraderie on their teams. This can be done as a half day workshop or a full day.
Pending on the amount of time I have for the workshop, I will curate a set of activities and exercises for your team. These activities have nothing to do with the tasks that you do in your daily work and everything to do with the people doing the tasks.
Each organization has its own unique challenges, so I don’t do a cookie cutter workshop for every team.
Here is my process:
Consultation
If I have intrigued you enough to consider me for your organization, please email me at jkb@staygoldenjaclyn.com. From there, I will reach out to you to do a free consultation call. I want to get to know you better, learn more about the organization, and I can tell you my initial ideas.
Proposal
After the call, I will send you a survey for some more detailed information and from there, I can create a proposal for you.
Agenda
If you choose to work with me, I will then gather ideas from my catalogue of activities, create a sample agenda, and we can pick a date!
Workshop
Once you approve the agenda, I will reach back out to you a week before our scheduled workshop to see if there are any last minute adjustments or changes.
Investment
The investment starts at $3,000. The cost can vary depending on the length of the workshop, if additional items are needed for the activities, and travel expenses (I usually do one flat cost that will include travel). I have done this virtually before and it worked better than I expected, so there is that option as well.
Additionally, if you are a nonprofit organization or fellow small business owner, I am happy to provide a discounted rate to work with your budget.