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In episode 58 of “The JoyPowered™ Workspace Podcast,” JoDee and Susan discuss team building experiences with Deseri Garcia of Vida Aventura. Topics include team strengthening processes and tools, experience-based team building, and the keys to building a high-performance team.

Organizations have asked JoDee and Susan with team building help countless times, but it’s important to remember that team building is an ongoing process, and doing a two hour workshop once a year isn’t going to provide real, lasting results. They discuss several different exercises like Meyers Briggs, DiSC, Clifton Strengths, and All My Colleagues. Whichever program you choose, it’s crucial to stay with it, as each has its own language, and switching back and forth too often can confuse everyone involved.

Deseri Garcia founded Vida Aventura after a powerful experience during a team building exercise on a ropes course. Vida Aventura helps organizations achieve a higher level of engagement, discretionary effort, and unprecedented results. Deseri cites trust as one of the most important components to help achieve these outcomes, as a lack of trust can prevent collaboration and increase workplace tension. The group discusses how powerful physical or visual activities can be, whether it be a trust fall or an exercise with LEGO™. After discussing Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Deseri lays out her own theory about the five levels of commitment. Later on, Deseri talks about how often she encounters people that are resistant to team building exercises, including a story about a physician who she won over by the end of the day.

JoDee and Susan sift through a list of team building activities and pick nine of their favorites. Whether it’s a board game night, community service projects, or participating in an intramural sports league, team building activities are only limited by your creativity! A listener is having trouble with a new hire who won’t take notes and keeps asking how to do the same tasks over and over, and Susan offers some advice on how to facilitate her getting up to speed.

For this episode’s best practices segment, JoDee and Susan go over listener submitted answers for the question “What is the one thing your manager does that drives you nuts?” Suffice to say, if you find yourself sending emails on the weekend or stuck on the phrase “at the end of the day,” you might be causing some distress on your team. Finally, our hosts cover a newly proposed bill that could affect how we handle overtime.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Purple Ink
• Susan Tinder White Consulting
• JoyPowered™: Intentionally Creating an Inspired Workspace by JoDee Curtis
• The JoyPowered™ Family by JoDee Curtis and Denise McGonigal
• The JoyPowered™ Team by Erin Brothers, JoDee Curtis, Peggy Hogan, Denise McGonigal, Laura North, Susan Tinder White, and Liz Zirkelbach
• CliftonStrengths®
• Myers Briggs
• DiSC
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• Vida Aventura
• Deseri’s 5 Ways to Build a High Performance Team Guide
• “23 Team Building Activities That Don’t Suck”

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