New Team Building Event - Just in Time for Santa's Elves

Nov. 28, 2011 - PRLog -- It’s not just Santa’s elves in Lapland who are busy making toys in the run-up to Christmas. Corporate training and team building specialists Fresh Tracks have created a business training game The Toy Factory (http://www.freshtracks.co.uk/toy-factory) in which delegates are tasked with manufacturing handmade wooden toys that are then donated to children’s charities in the UK and beyond.

The inspiration for the Toy Factory came from an increasing number of organisations wanting to apply Corporate Social Responsibility to their training events and conferences alongside the need to bring to life efficiency programmes like LEAN and Six Sigma.

Play has always been at the heart of Fresh Tracks’ thinking – in the past they’ve created management development exercises involving chocolate, juggling and quad bikes. “Children and animals learn through play and so should adults” states Dan Collins, lead facilitator at Fresh Tracks. “When we play hierarchies break down and we begin to get to know the real person behind the job role; and because we are having fun our brains find it easier to process and retain information.”

Research by London Business School (http://bsr.london.edu/lbs-article/395/index.html) in 2008 found that businesses that embraced play benefited from greater innovation and stronger teams.  Examples of successful businesses that aren’t afraid to play include Google, Apple, 3M, and innocent – all organisations that regard having fun at work as critical to their success.

This isn’t an entirely new concept. Nearly two and a half thousand years ago in ancient Greece Plato said: “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”

So if an alcohol-fuelled office Christmas Party isn’t on the cards this year perhaps an afternoon making toys would be more worthwhile.

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Notes To The Editor:
Should you have any further queries about this story in particular or about Fresh Tracks in general, please do not hesitate to visit http://www.freshtracks.co.uk or contact Fresh Tracks directly on 01920 822 220 at any time.

Fresh Tracks were established in 1991 - and are one of the most established companies within their sector - offer bespoke team building programmes, motivational activities and event and conference management solutions.

Recent clients include T-Mobile, Coco Cola, AXA, The British Embassy and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.