SRIDHAR Sivaram is looking forward to the upcoming Microsoft Corporate Challenge (MCC). Nowadays, it?s the treadmill monitor?not the Sensex monitor?that holds his attention as he sweats it out in the run-up to this year?s challenge. ?It?s a great way to test your physical and mental abilities. It not only helps you bond with your colleagues, but also offers an opportunity to network with other companies,? he says.
Last year, the MCC saw 40 companies vying for the champion?s title. This year is expected to see even more participants with the event being held in Thailand. But what entices them to spend time, energy and personnel on such events? Explains Microsoft COO Doug Hauger: ?This event is a great platform for demonstrating and inspiring people to translate their potential into achieving real goals. It exemplifies the importance of people and teamwork.?
Indeed, offsite programmes are a favourite with HR managers to nurture corporate values like team spirit, employee bonding and leadership skills. Inter-corporate events, golf tournaments, team-building sessions, leadership programmes, employee volunteer programmes, rewards and incentive programmes now draw all manner of companies from new-age start-ups to established conglomerates. These sessions not only recognise employees for their contribution, and reward them accordingly, but also provide them the necessary environment to foster fresh energy for future activities, believe experts. ?In Infogain we have Toastmasters International Club that enables its members to develop effective public speaking and leadership skills. There are guests from other corporate too who come and share their experiences. All this encourages cultural exchange, allows cross learning and employees get acknowledgement of self-potential,? says a company official. Points out Mona Gupta, HR manager, Cincom Systems India, ?Taking people out of a formal environment like office and enabling them to interact in an informal environment helps bring employees closer to each other and also towards the organisation.?
Sandeep Banerjee of Accor Services agrees. Through its Accentive division, Accor Services develops strategies, reward solutions and technologies to help clients create sustainable relationships with their employees to improve performance and enhance productivity. It handles the incentive and loyalty programmes for various financial services clients like ICICI and Citibank. ?Motivating and retaining human capital has become very important today. These programmes provide an ideal solution for employee incentives.?
Fun and games fit right into the strategy. Impetus Technologies, for instance, recently organised an intra-company cricket tournament. It has an in-house cultural cell called Spice that organises internal events like picnics, parties, sports competitions and movie screenings. The idea is to nurture the extracurricular skills of employees and provide opportunities to showcase their talents–be it in sport, music, dance, art or other fields. ?We often participate in inter-corporate competitions like quizzes, sports or cultural competitions. This gives our employees a chance to socialise with peers from other corporates and exchange thoughts and ideas in an informal setting. Such events also help inculcate qualities like leadership, trust, team spirit and cooperation within the employees,? says Ambrish Kanungo, senior manager, HR, Impetus Technologies.
At Henkel, specific team or department meetings, sales and marketing conferences, and employee retreats are almost always held in exotic locales. ?The informal setting gives employees an opportunity to interact freely with each other, and share an experience they can later discuss. Sharing best practices across regions happens best in settings such as these,? says Ashok Namboodiri, country manager, Schwarzkopf Professional, Henkel India Limited.
Early this year, the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon brought top executives from India Inc running the 42-km full marathon course. Though it may seem like an individual event, many participants run in groups constantly challenging and pushing each other to complete the entire distance. Remembers Kumar Anand from Standard Chartered, who has participated in several such team events, ?I was part of one such event held in Singapore that required bonding with colleagues from different continents. In random teams, we were required to accomplish multifarious tasks and play to the best of the team?s strengths.?
Team dynamics is the watchword here. Strategic thinking, playing best on one?s team strengths and knowing how best to shield the team?s weakness is key to winning such professionally designed events. Those are the same values at work in the corporate world. ?The MCC requires a competitive bent with spot decision-making under uncertain and trying circumstances. Winning the MCC in 2006 has truly been an exemplary team-effort and gives immense satisfaction and a sense of achievement to all of us. It shows that Standard Chartered?s philosophy of teamwork and quick thinking extends beyond board-rooms to battlegrounds,? says Anand.
To be sure, at many companies, employees spend so much time staring at computer screens they don?t have enough time to interact with others. Says Sameer Walia, MD of KPO The Smart Cube: ?We have to be deliberately encouraged to talk to each other on a frequent basis. Such interaction is important as it forms the basis for creativity, innovation and, hence, competitive advantage. It is from this perspective that, at The Smart Cube, we lay a lot of stress on conducting regular corporate events and activities.?
The Smart Cube conducts outbound training programmes, quarterly intra-corporate meets and intra-company competitions, aimed at poking staff into dropping their guard and displaying their talent. ?Imagine the flow of thoughts on a beach compared to that in a four-walled conference room! Moreover, such activities provide the opportunity to notice and reward employees, leading to improvement in employee morale, employee relationships and the atmosphere at workplace ? all that goes into building a valuable, healthy culture,? adds Walia.
While the benefits of such activities for a company?improved morale, greater cohesion and team playing?are obvious, what?s in it for the individual? Says Sivaram, ?These events teach you to think strategically, and react in a calmer manner after weighing the pros and cons. I am a funds manager and it has taught me to think through things before arriving at a decision.? Clearly, all work and no play is no longer the motto in India Inc.