Sometimes going through the work day just for work will feel boring for every employee. A company must think of a way for employees to step away from their desks and enjoy the time with their team, from co-workers they usually chat with to someone they don't usually work with. To get strong and collaborative teams, a company must think about company outing ideas. This article will explain the importance of company outings, and what can be done to increase employee teamwork and collaboration rates.
What are company outings?
A company outing is an activity for employees to get together and have relaxing moments after working hours. Company outings improve team performance, motivate employees, and foster relationships between coworkers. It doesn't have to be a big event, because a simple outing can have a good effect on team bonding.
How do you organize a company outing?
The company outing ideas require perfect planning. Organize your company outings by paying attention to the following things:
Budget
First check how much budget you have, and how much money you are willing to spend. Your financial resources will determine the menu and activities during the company outing.
Check the participants
List how many participants there are. Determine how many men and women, what activities are suitable for your office, whether they can invite their family together on a company outing.
Choose the date
Choose a date where there are no deadlines, the weather is good, and the right day for employees to bring their families. Thursday and Friday are the right days because it is close to the weekend, and it is likely that employees' work will be finished at the beginning of the week.
Plan enjoyable activities
Interacting with team members through various activities is a great company outing idea. You can personally plan the activities by adjusting the venue or place outside to make a company outing fun, interactive and challenging.
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A nice and comfortable place will be a place to refresh employees, motivate employees and boost their morale.
12 company outing ideas for workplace bonding
We understand that company outing ideas can enhance connections and friendships, boost teamwork, and create lasting memories. Let's get started with some ideas, easy to plan, and bring your team to do something together besides the annual company party.
Host a mini conference
Create a fun learning event by renting a small conference hall and inviting guest speakers to share their knowledge that is relevant to your business. This outing focuses on learning events together with team members, but in a fun and exciting way. Don't forget to hold an icebreaker involving team members to make the outing more fun.
Ziplining
Ziplines are an adrenaline-inducing activity and a fun thing to do in recent years, but there are still many people who don't want to try it. Encourage all employees to try ziplines to see the stunning views from above, and feel the adrenaline rush when playing this ride.
Yoga retreat
Yoga includes exercise plus relaxation. A good thing about this activity is doing the yoga flow sequence in perfect unison, while providing time for each employee to communicate more. You can do a yoga retreat with the team once a month or even more, to encourage each team member who wants their body to be fit and stay focused while working.
A cooking class
Doing things with colleagues outside of work is fun. A cooking class can be an interesting company outing because all employees can benefit from the new menu they learn, learn to cook with a team, and develop a fresh perspective on what it would be like to cook with other people in the same kitchen. Learning new things in the culinary field is free and creative. Team members will get short-term benefits in the form of a good menu and delicious food, and long-term benefits for enhanced collaboration.
Take a group photography
A company outing can be unforgettable if it gives employees the opportunity to take home something memorable, such as a photo album. A group photography will provide exciting moments with the team to style together in one frame, using existing props to dress up as cute and unique as possible.
Make a photo album with a collection of group, individual and higher-ups photos. Make the photo album more interesting by filling in quotes or favorite words for each employee, like the graduate photo album concept.
Play sports at a local park
Going to the park with the team can be fun, especially if you are doing sports together with team members. You can play ball together, while several other friends are doing a little picnic while breathing fresh air at the local park. Sometimes a company outing doesn't have to go to a fancy and expensive place, but being with the team while doing something together will give a special impression.
Take a farm tour
If your office is in an urban area, you can invite your team to go on a farm tour. It gives employees an outstanding lesson about how the food they have been eating comes from. Bring along some games and a picnic at the farmyard to do team bonding, and learn about the farm itself. Every team member will remember this outstanding place, live stocks, and the relevance of several team members who are afraid of something on the farm.
Go on a hike
Hiking will be an organic company outing idea that never gets boring. The bonding will form automatically when hiking, because each team member will have a moment to help each other climb, prepare food, or encourage each other to reach the destination. The place for hiking doesn't need to be far from the city, but try to accommodate the coming and going of all members, so that you and your team can focus more on hiking in a fun way without having to think about other things.
Attend a comedy show
Sometimes, being in the office long enough will provide enough tension and stress. Invite all team members to a comedy show, and enjoy the jokes from the host to make them full of laughter and re-energized. You can bring the whole team to a comedy show on a certain date, or you can invite a comedian directly to the office and bring the joy while giving employees time to interact with that famous comedian.
Play a game of capture the flag
Playing a team game is a fun thing to do during a company outing. Capture the flag encourages teams to create strategies, conduct fair competitions, and how to win matches with a group. The game will provide unforgettable moments, as well as exercise for every employee who has not had time to exercise. Let the team laugh while playing games, see the funny actions of team members who want to contribute to their team, and how happy they are when their group wins.
Go on a coffee tasting
If every team member likes coffee, then you can go on a coffee journey with the concept of trying several types of coffee in several different places. Chatting while enjoying coffee is something that is enjoyable for everyone. Make it more interesting by telling each employee not to chat about work matters, but to give them time to get to know each other while sipping their favorite coffee.
Take a public speaking class
Not all employees have the confidence to do public speaking. By taking a public speaking class during a company outing, you give every employee the opportunity to engage in the act of public speaking. Every employee will appreciate the new skills and special encouragement that will be useful for them in the future.
Doing fun activities with colleagues will be a mood booster, stress reliever, while fostering employee's relationships. Choose an outing company that suits your budget, and get long-term benefits when you provide unforgettable moments for them. That's all about company outing from SMEBrother. If you want other information about advancing business, check the SMEBrother site and get complete information about finance, leadership, licensing, and other skills to advance any scale of business.
A solid team is one of the keys to smooth and successful business. Creating a good team must be equipped with good leadership, as well as managing the team so that it remains in good performance while fostering the team bonding. Team management skills are needed by every leader, because it is not only leaders who have to struggle to produce good performance by the team. Let's read to the end about what skills are needed for team management and their competencies.
What is team management skills?
Team management skills are a collection of skills that must be possessed by team leaders to always advance and improve their team. Effective management skills will have an impact on individuals and also on their teams. These skills will help the leader to unite his team's thoughts, help team members to collaborate, and what is needed in the workplace. Having a skill set for team management will ensure managers to lead their teams well.
What team management requires?
Team management requires a team with aligned minds, not having big egos, a shift in mindset to trust the leader to guide the work. Skillful leaders can find out what the weaknesses and strengths are of team members, evaluate work, delegate, and split tasks to team members according to needs.
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Managing a solid team requires strong leadership, but you must have a team that is willing to be directed. Sometimes the difficulty for leaders is facing team members who are difficult to collaborate with, want to do everything themselves, and are not on the same page as each other. Growing trust in team members to work together will speed up work and get better results.
10 top team management skills to lead your team
Now, let's get into what managers must have to achieve the best team potential and achieve group harmony.
Delegation
Delegation is the most important requirement from a leader to his team. The role of the leader is to look for the best talent to suit his team, and utilize each collaborator as effectively as possible. Team leaders can see the best potential of each individual, enabling employees to be successful in personal performance and how they can work with a team and trust them to do the job.
Delegation is needed if managers start to have difficulty handling many things. Even though leaders can handle the tasks alone, they must be able to guide team members to do the job and increase employees' confidence to complete it.
This skill requires a shift in mindset to trust who and what the team leader chooses. Leaders are expected not to make mistakes in choosing talents according to their skills to delegate tasks with split tasks accordingly.
Boundary setting
The ability to set boundaries will teach every team leader to aim for relatable and respect. The leader's task is to make themselves as qualified as possible as a leader, but still see employees as human beings. The leader will not burden the team members, adapting to what happens if they do the assigned amount of tasks.
The balance between authenticity and authority can be achieved with proper boundary settings. Increase communication with team members for matters outside of work, and not discuss work-inappropriate topics. By strengthening communication, leaders can gain closer relationships with employees, and can arrange which times are relaxing and which are serious times to receive fair treatment.
Team building
Team building is intentional and a process that will not stop at any time. Leaders need to understand how to build relationships, team bonding, and foster communication. While some colleagues can get along, most groups still have employees who are aloof, don't trust teams, or are more comfortable working alone. Communicating, recognizing, and coordinating each other's skill sets can recognize employees' unique personalities and unite them in the team.
Great team leaders can be the center of the team, can spotlight members' strengths and apply them to the team. Each team member will not be embarrassed or afraid to show their skills to achieve success together. Trust with each other through communication and direction from the leader to achieve best performance.
Decision making
The leader will be the decision maker and will apply to the team. Managers will set strategies, plot courses, and settle disputes. Leaders are obliged to care for the team's well-being and when is the right time to complete the project. Every decision must serve the clients, business, and the team with balanced results.
Good leaders not only pursue current results, but also the results of every work completed by the team to think about the development of the team as a whole. Evaluating team performance and understanding how to act is essential as a team leader.
Emotional intelligence
Managers will interact with various employee characteristics, responsibility levels, and personalities. A high emotional quotient is needed to manage any situation with grace and dignity, ensuring respect for clients or employees.
Emotional intelligence is one of the traits that a team leader must have because it will accurately identify expressions of feelings when interacting with colleagues. Good emotional intelligence will prevent conflict and make it easier for leaders to connect with team members.
Organization
Team leaders need to direct their teams to be well-organized in carrying out tasks, receiving and processing information, and carrying out operations until they run smoothly. Managers understand the right time to hold meetings, how to convey information so that it can be received by all team members, and who should be able to check in for each update.
Some things that can be done with the organizational method are creating to-do lists, spreadsheets, and daily scheduled rituals.
Problem solving
Problem solving is needed by every team, because no team is free from problems. Leaders and team members must be aligned in solving problems together, and how to prioritize client satisfaction. Each team member needs to observe what the main causes of conflict are and require an optimal approach.
There is no need to feel that each individual is the most right, but rather focus on solutions and solving problems in a short time. Team leaders can mediate every problem and consider issues from each individual perspective, then choose practical solutions.
Communication
The team will be solid if they communicate with each other. Regular communication can be a bridge to get to know each other, build trust, and respect each other. Leaders with good communication skills can convey important details, clear expectations, and are good at explaining instructions. Lack of communication can create misunderstandings between team members, make employees frustrated, and reduce everyone's confidence because they are afraid of making mistakes and not being communicated with.
Managers need to check-in team members regularly, and verify there are no urgent matters or problems that need to be discussed.
Constructive criticism
Team management skills can be determined by how leaders provide constructive criticism to team members. Listening to feedback can make team members defensive, but good leaders can convey messages and provide solutions successfully. What every employee wants is criticism that is not too harsh, but still honest. Instead of telling you to roughly fix mistakes, give great feedback by giving each team member time for experimentation and reflection.
Time management
Planning and excercising are steps that every team leader must take for the success of their project. If you don't carry out time management, the team will not be able to complete tasks according to the deadline, or there will be some team members who can hamper the team's work because they take too long to complete tasks. Time management does not only apply to team members, but also to leaders. Sometimes leaders who consider too much without immediately taking action will reduce work time and the results of the work will be hampered.
Having time management will help the team to keep pace with the workload, be able to prioritize tasks, and solve problems together to reduce time that could be wasted.
Leading a team is a challenging task, but it can be helped with team management skills. By expanding team management competencies, leaders can more easily create a more solid team and can fix any issues. That's all about team management skills and competencies from SMEBrother. If you want complete information about how to advance your business, finances, permits, and important things for business preparation, you can visit the SMEBrother site and get the important information you need.
Human resource management is needed by every organization to help improve the effectiveness in the work environment. HR management ensuring high performance standards, improving company morale, resolving any employee conflicts, maintaining company budgets, and many more. Before you apply for a human resource management position, you must understand what HR skills you need to have.
Human resource management plays a key role in business, such as reinforcing, developing, and changing an organizational culture. If you want to learn what it takes to become HR in a company, read this article to the end.
What does a HR do?
HR departments exist to provide objective guidance to all employees on people-related matters. Simply, the HR department is looking for the right talent or guide people to do the job and keep them content and productive. There's a lot of HR do, including recruitment, compensation, benefits, training, and development. Human resources work as supporters of employees to get training, education, health and their well-being. Good human resources are the key to employee morale and satisfaction.
Why is HR role important?
HR matters more than other departments because it plays a crucial role in creating a positive workplace that is engaging, productive and inclusive. Human resources handles many tasks and is responsible for the company's progress. Almost all aspects will be supervised by HR, because HR departments help to develop teams throughout the company.
What are HR skills and competencies?
Being a human resource must have skills and competencies. HR skills are the ability to help others in achieving interpersonal skills, effective communication, and selecting the best talent through recruitment. Being a human resource is a difficult position because the company's progress depends on how HR oversees the department. Let's see what skills are required for HR as well as their competencies.
15 best HR skills that every HR professional needs
Have several key competencies below to become a human resource professional.
Interpersonal skills
This is the most important HR soft skill. As the name suggests, human resources is focused on humans. HR officer's job is interacting with employees. Sometimes HR staff are the first people every applicant meets during the hiring process, and they must show a positive impression as the face of the company.
The HR department becomes the voice for the organization and as an employee advocate. HR staff have a great influence on company culture, and help employees feel welcome and safe while in the organization. One important skill to have is being able to chat with coworkers about anything outside of work, but not too deeply into colleagues' personal lives. HR professionals need to show social skills, because interacting with coworkers is a major part of being HR.
Confidentiality
Being an HR professional you must be able to maintain confidentiality. The human resources department has sensitive information such as employee's details and personal records, payroll information, and performance evaluations. Employees sometimes talk about their personal problems such as unstable living situations, medical problems, or family disputes.
Whatever conversation occurs in the HR department is private, and no one should know. All information must remain private, and it is the job of HR professionals to build employees' trust and confidence by guarding their secrets.
Emotional intelligence
This is an ability to accurately respond and identify to emotions. HR departments must have this skill because it is the most valuable skill for better understanding with employees. Acknowledging and recognizing employee's feelings and experiences makes HR staff trustworthy.
Workers don't easily talk about what they really feel, or maybe they have told the story but no one recognizes it. HR professionals who have emotional intelligence can pinpoint the emotional drivers and get straight to the root of the problem quickly.
Emotional intelligence makes a person more aware of how they behave with coworkers, thinks about the reactions and feelings of the person they are talking to, and helps the individual to respond to the situation calmly.
Event organizing
Organizing skills are useful for becoming an HR professional. HR staff are often appointed to be in charge of employee engagement campaigns, such as holiday parties, health fairs, outings, recruitment fairs, trainings, staff appreciation days, onboarding, etc.
HR staff must be able to organize vendors and materials, build solicit signups, design a schedule, and run the event. After the event is over, HR will gather feedback from post-event staff to improve the next event.
Active listening
Listening skills are crucial if you want to be in the HR department. HR staff are the ears of the organization. They hear employee's complaints, questions, and ideas. Human resources gather feedback from staff through meetings or engagement surveys. HR council is a place for teams or individuals to experience and resolve problems.
The two most important reasons why human resource staff must have active listening skills is because listening to what employees say makes them feel heard and valued. Also HR needs to pay attention to write detailed reports by listening carefully to every document conversation.
Conflict resolution
Resolving company disputes is one of the main functions of the human resources department. The department provides employees with a safe place to work by mediating arguments between team members and working through issues together.
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The HR staff needs to solve problems calmly and reduce tension in the room, listen to each problem clearly, negotiate compromise, and direct the conversation until a solution is found. The human resources crew acts as a mediator on every issue, giving each party time to convey their point of view.
Communication
Communication is an HR competency needed to be a bridge for all members in the company. HR staff must be good at communicating, starting from the interview process until new employees learn company rules and carry out orientation. HR professionals not only deal with individuals during recruitment, but also conduct presentations and workshops.
Good communication skills will foster the ability to be good at conversational, written communication skills, and public speaking. Every HR professional understands how to communicate with the person they are talking to with warmth and empathy.
Recruitment
HR professionals have an important role in recruitment. They understand how to create job postings, select qualified candidates, conduct interviews, and hiring decisions. Good HR staff collaborates with any department to adapt to the team's criteria and needs.
When carrying out recruitment, HR professionals will have many considerations such as how good the candidate is in terms of their attitude, technical skills and culture fit. They understand how to start an interview, find out information about candidates according to the office's needs, and what if someone makes an offer.
Analytical ability
Human resources need to learn about analytical components. HR needs to collect and analyze what the office needs, such as anticipating hiring needs, monitoring employee needs, and company conditions. HR managers must be able to analyze what the best steps are for the future, whether staffing needs or adjusting the budget.
The data needed does not have to be numbers, but human resources must understand how to measure employee satisfaction and optimize their performance. All of these tasks require the ability to collect and analyze information.
Critical thinking
Each individual has their own thoughts to solve problems, but sometimes causes strong emotions and tension in a workplace. If there is conflict between team members, they will feel they are right and others seem wrong. As humans, we sometimes put forward biases, feelings, and assumptions. But to be an HR professional you have to put all that aside, because there must be fairness for all employees and think objectively.
HR professionals must have critical thinking not to jump straight to conclusions and make judgments from what each individual says. Human resources must be a neutral party and avoid favoritism.
Research
Human resources staff must continue to learn new things to adapt to standards as society and corporate culture evolve. They must have research skills and the desire to continue learning new things. Human resource professionals need to keep updated on shifting regulations and industry trends. Higher ups will ask the HR department about what needs to be changed, and what parts need to be improved to keep up with the latest developments.
Connectors
HR staff not only care about each individual, but also serve as connectors for the team. Human resources use team building skills for team bonding, planning fun team activities, and opportunities to foster team relationships. Each individual has their own skills and ways of communicating, but there is HR who has the task of transforming from a solo player to a team player.
This is different from the task of project managers who see team members on an individual basis, because HR has an important role in making each team member feel there and needed. Sometimes HR can be a coach to unite the team. HR experts can be good leaders to form a better team.
Wellbeing evangelism
HR professionals have an important role in ensuring that each team member is healthy, happy, and productive. HR staff will listen to each employee's complaints and what they want for them. HR staff will talk to higher ups regarding the same problems, and look for solutions to increase employee retention.
Being an HR must have the skills to support wellbeing initiatives, making the organization an excellent place to work. This will have a good impact on employees, because they feel heard and try their best to achieve achievements and advance the company.
Multitasking
The many responsibilities that human resources have require each staff member to have multitasking skills. Preparing interviews, training programs, guiding new employees, and other tasks requires having the ability to multitask and good time management to maintain good performance.
Human resources professionals will remain calm even when working under pressure, whether the pressure comes from any conflict, employees with concerns, or there are problems in event progress. HR staff as much as possible do not leave their work neglected, by multitasking and remaining on good quality.
Change management
The HR team must understand when employees are not comfortable with their position, or managers lack chemistry with their team members, which has an impact on the results of task completion. Not everyone can get along with other people on the same team because there are many factors. The task of human resources is to select and place employees in appropriate divisions so that the employee's best potential emerges.
HR professionals always take part in more organizational changes, starting from changing team personnel, modifying policies, to creating new regulations for the company.
Human resources are a crucial position for business because there is a lot that can be gained for the company's progress, starting from a solid team, a comfortable work environment, ensuring employees get wellness, and analyzing how the organization should run in order to get its best potential. Everyone who applies to become human resources must be prepared to have several competencies and skills.
That's all about Human resource skills and competencies. You can see articles from SMEBrother for other amazing tips such as how to advance your business, important knowledge about licensing, leadership skills, finances, etc. Immediately visit the SMEBrother site and get information about businesses ranging from small-sized to large businesses.