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Remembering Randi and the Importance of Perspective

Posted on by David Lengyel

 

The Amazing Randi" Original Offset Lithograph Poster | Collectors Weekly

James Randi, a master of illusion and devote activist up until his death in October of 2020. In the Preferred official head-shot from James Randi Educational Foundation.jpgbeginning of his career, he was a famed magician, and by the end he was renowned skeptic on a mission to save others from the same tricks he was famous for. He was performer who sold his acts as nothing more than a good show, but what he saw growing within the country was anything but innocent. One day in his retirement, he was watching television and saw a man named Uri Gellar using what he claimed was telekinesis to move paper clips. He performed other tricks as well, such as melting a metal spoon between his fingers and sending psychic waves across the nation. The audience ate it up, while Randy sat terrified at what he witnessed. Gellar claimed his powers were real and the audience believed him without question, an audience who didn’t know what Randi knew.

Geller hadn’t just fooled his way onto a daytime talk show, he had fooled doctors, military personnel, lawyers, scientists, droves of educated and perfectly competent people to get to where he was. He claimed to be apart a government program called Project Star Gate, a secret operation tasked to investigate the psychic and telepathic ability of humans. Today the documents are declassified since by the 90s the project failed to yield any scientific merit that such abilities were possible. Regardless, Gellar toted himself as a superhuman, while Randi understood he was nothing more than a charlatan peddling parlor tricks.

Randi realized the nation’s best and brightest were just as susceptible as the common person to this foolery, and there was a heinous danger that came with it. As Gellar traveled the country showing off his fakery, Randi used his own fame to dispell the lie. Whenever Gellar aired on television, Randi would show up the next episode to expose him for the fraud he was. Sometimes he would even show up before Gellar to warn the hosts so they could expose him themselves. Day by day, show by show Randi worked to reveal the man behind the curtain. Randi renewed a carrier on this, not just by exposing Gellar, but all the others who mimicked him. Gellar was not alone; psychics have been around for thousands of years pushing the same tricks. Sooth Sayers, dowsers, mediums, breatharians, faith healers, all were guilty of exploiting the same vulnerability in people with disastrous results.

They would charge people thousands of dollars to offer meritless advice or give false solutions to serious problems. These people ruined countless lives through either delusion or sheer malice, and Randi was good enough to apply his perspective and destroy their false image. To see his work is as simple as a google search of his name, as there is a marathon of media to attest his crusade. The importance what of James Randi pointed out should never be forgotten and it reflects what we here at Venture Up preach in every one of our programs.

We always say that diversity drives everything. James Randi knew what others didn’t, and had he done nothing, untold harm would have befallen those Gellar captivated. Our programs such as Strategic Games hope to cultivate a similar ideal. The Dallas program shown above demonstrates a simple brain game, one meant to reach into everyone’s perspective to find a solution. The game acts a safe space for participants to open up and show what they know. What they learn is that they all bring something to the table, something valuable that should be shown for all to see.

Monkey Business: The Value of Teaching

Posted on by ventureup

Spear-Hunting Chimps | Animal CognitionMonkey see, monkey do … Turns out that’s about all they do. The intelligence of apes and monkeys are unmatched throughout the animal kingdom and at their pinnacle — we now as humans — reign supreme. Our closest ancestor alive today is the chimpanzee, yet despite the fact they share 98% of their DNA with us, they have yet to leave the jungles on their own, while we as humans are on our way to Mars thanks to Tesla and the scientists backing them. So, how could this happen? Why is it in the same amount of time humans and chimps have been on the planet, with all the brain power we share, why have we been the only ones to make leaps in technological development?

The truth is we are not the only animals that make technology. Chimps and other animals have been known to use and make tools for themselves, a very smart thing to do that they can’t seem to realize the full potential of.  Unlike us humans, they don’t maintain the technological thought that go into making tools. Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be ancient chimp settlements, where they see remnants of tools of their own time have been forgotten and rediscovered time and time again. Such tools are rudimentary, no more than honed rocks and sticks used to crush nuts or hunt bushbabies, but even still they become forgotten and rediscovered over and over again.

Why this happens is quite simple, chimps do not teach each other. Nova recently covered the concept in a documentary series called Ape Genius. Apes are fantastic learners; they mimic each other as much as they mimic us. They solve problems and power through adversity as we do through brain power. They communicate in languages among themselves and can even be taught sign language from us; but you will never see them teach it to another ape.

There has never been a recorded incident where a chimp sat down another chimp with the explicit intent of teaching them. A mother may smash nuts with a rock while her baby hangs on her back and the baby will learn by seeing, but she’s not trying to teach them. A group of hunters may shriek in excitement when they’ve cornered a macaque, but they don’t tell each other how to approach it. They may figure out how to make tools and weapons to solve the difficulty they’re having, but others doing the same comes from the observers own actions. They either figured out how to make the tool themselves or saw another make it. Unlike us, we they do not explicitly pass ideas from one another.

It is a strange and unusual nuance most never consider, especially when it comes to our own interests in business and team building. Everyone wants the strongest, smartest, most capable person to be a part of their team, but the value of communicating ideas too often falls to the wayside. A team of the best individuals means nothing if ideas aren’t reaching one another, and no team can hope to develop and grow if they don’t take the time to sit each other down to teach what does work and what doesn’t work.

At Venture Up, our Strategic Games ensure this niche aspect is satisfied. While Strategic Games as a whole cover the value of teaching within teams, The Maze game we offer presses the most focus on it (Seen in play by a Houston group below). The group is split into smaller teams and each are tasked with the same goal, to construct the maze as soon as possible and come up with the best strategy for doing so. Naturally, all succeed in making the maze, but where teams differ is how it is constructed. The message to be learned in it, is that teams’ representatives will be allowed to observe other teams and share what they learned to their own team. Through this dynamic, they not only learn the value of diverse thought, but more importantly, the value of conveying what they learned to others.

It is our willingness to teach others what we have learned that allowed us humans to become advanced enough to span the globe while the chimps have been stuck where they’ve always been for millennia. It’s not because they’re stupid and humans are smart, we can send a chimpanzee into space and he’ll come back in one piece of his own accord, but because they never consider teaching others, they do not grow as species. The same can be said for people, as we ourselves are often victim to the same pitfall. We assume the other of us knows what we know and so neglect them. One person may have a solution they are hesitant to share for fear of ridicule. Some of us may be sitting on the best solution for a problem and simply don’t think its worth sharing. The truth is communicating ideas is everything, so at the next meeting, sit each other down and say what you have to say.

Diversity and History: A Look Back at the Roman Dodecahedron

Posted on by David Lengyel

The year was 1739, when archaeologists uncovered a strange bronze artifact from a Roman treasure trove. It was a hollow dodecahedron with round knobs at each of its corners and circles of various sizes cut into its pentagonal planes. The first discovered was dated around the 2nd or 3rd century, but since then, hundreds more have been found all within the borders of what was once the Roman Empire.

Since their discovery, their purpose has been a mystery. There are no surviving records to describe their use, yet they were valuable enough to be included in treasure troves, and plentiful enough to merit it as a common tool. Their neat geometric shapes gave rise to the idea they were some sort of range finder for military commanders, or perhaps were used to calculate the grades of roads or buildings. They have been found in battle camps and in civic areas, but these theories seem unlikely, as there is a library worth of records that describe military and engineering practices, and nowhere are these devices mentioned. There are no graduations anywhere on the dodecahedrons, and their sizes vary between 1.6 and 4.3 inches in diameter, without standards, any measurements would be very difficult to make.

Mathematicians who saw the device speculated it could be used to predict celestial events, and after several mind-numbing calculations they found they could do just that, but there was a problem. Nowhere in their use of the device did they find the knobs on the corners necessary, and holes they looked through were not always present. Some could be used to measure the sky, but that didn’t mean that’s what they were meant to do. Many more theories came about of even less likely uses.

When wax was discovered in them it was thought to be a candlestick holder or a vase, though it could’ve just been a remnant of the casting process used to make them. Were they the head of a mace? Too flimsy. A child’s toy? Too complex and valuable. A religious relic, a fletcher’s gauge, a dowsing lens, the top of a scepter, Dice? No one could figure it out, but then, after hundreds of years of historians, astronomers and mathematicians beating their heads against the slate, a man from this past decade may have it figured it out.

A man named Martin Hallet had a theory when he learned these devices were found in colder areas of the empire. This man was not a historian, nor a mathematician, he was a hobbyist, a knitter and it took a knitter to recognize a knitter’s tool. This YouTube video from 2014 demonstrates how the 3D artifact works and brings history back to life.

He found that these dodecahedrons were best suited to making gloves. The hollow space in the center is used to hold the yarn, the knobs on the corners are where the where the yarn is wrapped to form a lattice and the holes are there to gauge the sizes of fingers. With little effort, the man makes a glove, just as the romans did almost a thousand years ago.

Since the discovery, the device has gained a cult following, but what’s most important, is understanding the value of a different perspective. The reason it took so long to figure out what it did had nothing to do with intelligence, there were plenty of smart people who worked on it, each competent in their respective fields. What it took was someone with a different background to see the problem differently. It is a phenomenon Venture Up knows all too well.

People when presented a problem play into what they know. Engineers tend to be very analytical, using numbers and formulae to get through their problems. Social workers are often more team conscious while people working in construction are more tactile in their reasoning. Different professions use different strategies, just as intellectuals do. The Escape Case we offer embodies many modes of thought participants must contend with, and as such serves as a diagnostic tool.

Critical thinking, spacial reasoning, creativity, linguistics, are all incorporated in the game, and what’s fascinating, is different teams of the same company often get hung up on the same obstacle. A team full of only engineers may get hung up on a problem that takes simple trial and error, as seen with this Houston group. Social workers and construction workers struggle with math, and salesmen are seldom thorough when searching the whole box. It’s not because they’re dumb, they are perfectly competent people. It’s the lack of different perspectives that get them hung up.

Whether it’s a centuries old knitting ball, team building games or obstacles of the workplace, a differed perspective can make solving a problem easy. Hundreds of years of same minded people went nowhere despite their education and wouldn’t solved until one guy happened to see the artifact and applied what he knew. He wasn’t any smarter or dumber, he just equipped with the right background, and showed diversity of thought goes a long way towards solving problems.

How the Coronavirus Has Forever Changed the Way We Work

Posted on by ventureup

The pandemic has forever changed the way we work and live. Those of us who survived the changes forced upon us, causing the most consequential shift in human history, are likely better prepared to face any threat that lies ahead. In the business of creating challenges to mimic real-life experiences, Venture Up has itself shifted to a new era of doing business. No matter where they hail from, all of our team members share one common experience — surviving the pandemic, says Mason Lengyel, program director.

During the outbreak Venture Up was already on the cusp of developing its virtual team building programs and the business continued to thrive. “At one point during the pandemic we thought we’d be limited to virtual team building for good,” says Lengyel. ” Remote team building is booming, but the recent upsurge of in-person events has exceeded our expectations,” he said.

“Since April, we have had two to three times as many requests for in-person team building than before the pandemic hit.”

Keeping it fun is one thing that has not changed with Venture Up. Programs are designed to stimulate creativity, explore communication styles, and exercise flexible leadership. In some activities, participants are blindfolded to limit the resources they generally take for granted; thus forcing them to approach obstacles differently and tune into team members’ advice.

In the world of human resources and corporate training it is often said that we need to “think outside the box”, “Truth be told, there is no box,” says Lengyel. Boxes are boundaries and we humans have none. Boxes are for cats.”


Looking back on 2020 and where we are today in 2021, we’ve noticed a correlation between the
obstacles presented by the pandemic and the team building activities we offer. A year after
everything was shut down and businesses found themselves struggling to adapt, we now view
the last year as a crucial experiential challenge for companies large and small.

To continue to do business, companies have faced a real-life team building challenge that they
had to overcome. Today, we want to take a moment to highlight all of the ways that the
coronavirus has changed the way we work. Further, we’ll discuss what businesses must make a
conscious effort to continue doing after COVID restrictions are ended to ensure they keep
operating at their best.

The Changes Brought On By the Coronavirus Pandemic

With the abrupt closure of many offices and workplaces this past year, a new era of remote
work began for millions of employed Americans. With businesses worldwide having to adapt to
a “new normal” that saw the entirety of their workforce suddenly working from home, we now
expect a significant shift in the way that a large segment of America’s workforce will operate in
the future.

According to Pew Research, with only 1 in 5 workers stating that they worked from home pre-
pandemic, 71 percent of those employees are now working from home all or most of the time.
Further, more than half say that they would want to continue working from home even after the
pandemic if given a choice.

While the transition to remote work wasn’t easy for everyone, most of the American workforce
was able to rise to the occasion without much of a gap in operation. About three-quarters or
more say it has been easy to have the equipment and technology needed to do their job from
home. Most also say that it has been easy for them to meet deadlines and complete projects on
time, all while staying motivated.

Unfortunately, some unwelcome changes have come with the transition to remote work brought
on by the coronavirus. While working from home has invited a series of benefits to America’s
businesses, including flexibility, cost savings, and an improved work-life balance, there have also been hardships. Some of these challenges have included gaps in communication among
staff, feelings of social isolation, and management challenges.

When working from home, many employees in the country have reported feeling a lack of
connection with their co-workers. Rather than feeling like they’re part of a well-oiled machine,
they feel isolated and cut off from effective communication with their team. As those of us at
Venture Up know, when businesses experience difficulties with effective communication, the
organization as a whole suffers in their everyday operations.

In this way, one of the biggest challenges faced by businesses during the coronavirus pandemic
was how to continue working as a team despite separation due to COVID restrictions.
Fortunately, many companies rose to meet this new challenge head-on. The result? A silver
lining to the pandemic that none of us expected.

The Silver Lining None of Us Expected

So what is that silver lining that businesses have uncovered thanks to the changes the
coronavirus presented? Put simply, the pandemic has acted as one of the most significant team
building exercises the world has ever known.

Something we’ve discussed with clients over and over again here at Venture Up in the wake of
the pandemic has been what rising above challenges will mean for their business in the future.
After all, if our clients can learn to be successful and effective in the wake of COVID restrictions,
how much more successful and effective will they be once the restrictions have passed?

As we’ve said, the pandemic has offered a new opportunity for corporate teams to rise above
great adversity. To overcome feelings of isolation, businesses had to get creative. To work
effectively outside of the traditional office space, companies had to adapt. To work effectively as
a team despite separation, employees had to exercise their problem-solving skills.

We’ve witnessed our clients using team building strategies on an everyday basis since the start
of the pandemic. In this way, communication, trust, and productivity among their staff have
reached heights they never thought possible. The coronavirus has been the ultimate team
building exercise in that way.

Why Companies Must Prioritize Team Building Post-COVID

Although the pandemic has changed the way we work forever, and many have risen to the
occasion, a whole new challenge is about to present itself. Put simply, the challenge that is just
over the horizon for America’s workforce is maintaining the effectiveness they’ve learned during
COVID restrictions long after such restrictions have passed.

Here at Venture Up, we commonly use a team building exercise with our clients known as a
“trust dive”. In this exercise, a team member will volunteer to off of an elevated platform, trusting their team to catch them. Believe it or not, we’re always more concerned that a smaller and
lighter-weight woman will be dropped and injured during the exercise than, say, a 300-pound
man. Why? Well, when a 300-pound man takes his turn with the trust dive, all of his team
members get focused, prepared, and ready. After all, they know that they’ll have to work
effectively as a team to overcome what is perceived as a big challenge.

However, when a smaller woman takes her turn, the team tends to think, “this will be easy; she
weighs so little,” and they aren’t as focused. Without emphasizing effectiveness in this situation,
the team is more likely to make a mistake as a collective. As a result, they’re more likely to drop
the smaller woman during the trust dive. As we come closer and closer to a lift of COVID
restrictions and a potential return to “normal,” it is vital that we keep the lessons that the trust
dive exercise teaches us in mind.

When restrictions pass, it will be easy to take for granted the lessons we learned about
effectiveness during the pandemic. Once we no longer have to worry about keeping our teams
feeling connected or how to communicate effectively despite separation, we’re likely to place
our focus elsewhere. This is when mistakes will happen, communication will worsen, and
productivity will decline. For this reason, we must prioritize team building post-COVID. While the
immediate challenges we face now may pass, we can’t allow ourselves to forget everything we
learned during this period.

 

Venture Up For All Your Team Building Needs

Now that you understand the importance of prioritizing team building even once things return to
“normal,” it’s crucial that you plan now for the sake of your team. At Venture Up, we provide
team building exercises designed to keep your team sharp. There are so many benefits of team
building exercises for your team. Our team building activities and games boost communication,
improve trust, and encourage versatility. Workplace communication, trust, and productivity are
like muscles- they have to be exercised to stay strong. Prioritize your team, and you can expect
your business to run like a well-oiled machine.

You’ve proven that you can overcome and outlast in the face of adversity during the
coronavirus. Don’t let the return to normal weaken your team’s effectiveness. Learn more about
Venture Up’s team building activities and games today! We’ve served clients worldwide, and we
want to make you our next happy client. Call us 24/7 at (888) 305-1065 or
send us an email at info@ventureup.com.

Why We Game, a Theory of Practice, Risk, and Fun

Posted on by ventureup

It is a strange thing, gaming, anywhere on the planet you find people, those people will likely have a game to play, but why? For most, the answer why is simply, “for fun,” and while that is true, there’s more to it than that. Like most innate or universal behaviors, the answer lies in pragmatism. Games in many respects are exercises, they allow those who play them an enjoyable means to get good at something.

Games like hide and seek and tag have been played by children for thousands of years, both of which would hone skills in evading threats. Boys often play-fight or wrestle while girls gravitate to nurturing activities or dress up, each would serve as practice for roles later in life. As they grew up, games would become more advanced or change to suit the situation. Drinking games lubricated social interaction, board games built critical thinking and when team sports arose so too did the foundation for team building.

The predecessors to games like soccer, baseball, and hockey all have roots going back to Rome and Ancient Egypt. The games that required teams to play in turn require teamwork, and leaders of the time were keen of the benefits. Being able to act as a team boosts the effectiveness of a group, regardless of what the job is. Roman soldiers were encouraged to play games not only for the sake of fun or physical prowess, but because generals knew they boosted moral, camaraderie, and the overall effectiveness of their soldiers. This is because teams require trust and communication to operate, and when a military operation is at stake, any opportunity to practice had to be taken.

Many historians today believe Caesar’s claim to power was in large part due to his investment in providing games for the masses and his own men. It entertained those who watched, gave opportunity for contenders to gain clout amongst their peers, but above all else, the games they played provided an environment to rely on each other with limited the risk. It allowed them to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and would serve to build compassion and trust without real consequence.

This principle is what we press in every one of our programs. The question “what’s the point of this game?” comes up often and we are quick to answer.  It’s obvious that passing a ball around a circle or jumping through hoops or answering trivial questions alone are just that, but it’s not about the game it’s about the people playing it. Many of the clients we work with bear responsibilities too risky to pass over, where the consequences of another person’s mistake can cost someone their job or worse. That’s why Venture Up offers games like Focus Tubes, as seen in the Houston photo below, where a consequence is allowed to happen with miscommunication, but that consequence is nothing compared to the real world, plus it’s fun.

Perhaps the greatest merit gaming has is that it’s fun. Through tag and hide and seek children learn to protect themselves and still have fun. Board games that force critical thinking can be fun. Sports that require lots of physical exercise and insist on relying on your fellow man are fun.

The most important thing about Venture Up games are they are fun. They are lessons disguised as games, and because they are enjoyable, groups are more confident to take those lessons to heart and are encouraged them to lean on each other whatever, for whatever lies ahead. Is your team ready? Give us a call at 888.305-1065.

The Power of Virtual Team Building for Remote Teams

Posted on by ventureup

In the year that was 2020, many organizations ranging from small businesses to large corporations have experienced a transition towards remote work. With many teams becoming strictly virtual, the coronavirus has entirely reshaped how we collaborate, communicate, and operate. While there are many benefits of virtual teams in the workplace, ranging from cost-effectiveness to healthier work-life balances, there are also many challenges associated with remote work. Venture Up believes that virtual team building is essential for remote teams to succeed even beyond 2020.

Today, we’ll be exploring the power of virtual team building for remote teams. Suppose you are a business owner who has felt the impact of fragmented communication during the transition to remote work. In that case, virtual team building has the power to reinforce the effectiveness of your employees. As the nation’s top team building events consultant, we understand the impact that virtual team building can have on various industries. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits you can expect.

What is Virtual Team Building?

Virtual team building is the ongoing process of bringing remote teams together despite the distance between employees. Effective virtual team building activities bridge the communication gap, helping your team achieve deeper bonds by creating a collaborative environment similar to an in-office setting.

The physical distance of remote work can quickly turn into an emotional distance that leads to feelings of isolation among your employees. When your employees feel isolated, they can soon become uncomfortable working collaboratively with their team members. As the old adage states, “If you don’t use it, you lose it,” and nothing could be more true when it comes to effective communication and collaborative efforts in a workplace. To truly strengthen the power of communication in your team, it must be regularly exercised and built upon- similarly to how you have to exercise to become stronger.

Virtual team building efforts consist of several carefully designed strategies, including games and activities, that are meant to bring more significant human interaction to the remote workplace. These activities help your team connect with each other on a different level- making them feel like they’re a part of a community despite working from home.

According to Bit.AI, “97% of employees and executives believe lack of alignment within a team impacts the outcome of a task or project.” As you can see from this statistic, working together as a team to produce greater results for an organization is crucial, and it’s certainly more critical than ever with so much of the nation’s workforce working remotely. So what can you expect from virtual team building for your remote team?

The Benefits of Virtual Team Building Activities

Whether your team is partially remote or fully remote, virtual team building is essential in building a solid team foundation for your company. A study by the ADP Research Institute states that only 8 percent of employees say they’re fully engaged at work. This means, unfortunately, that a lot of companies are failing to introduce practical strategies that can make their employees feel more empowered and engaged. By introducing team building strategies, such companies could see massive benefits. So what are those benefits? Here are a few things that our team at Venture Up has noticed through our team building efforts.

1. Boost Workplace Morale

Regardless of your industry, you likely recognize the importance of pushing your team to operate at its best, meeting deadlines, and delivering quality work. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to burnout and disengagement for your employees. For this reason, the ideal team leader must find a way to encourage their team to function cohesively. Virtual team building activities such as group discussions, brainstorming sessions, and online meetings can allow for more positive feelings among staff.

Virtual team building activities leave your team feeling empowered and motivated due to positive reinforcement and emphasis on the value of their everyday efforts. A happy workplace is a productive workplace. By boosting workplace morale through virtual team building activities, you’re likely to see a considerable increase in productivity. What’s not to like about that?

2. Promotes Collaboration

Without a collaborative team effort, projects demanding coordination between resources simply can’t be effective. While team collaboration is more manageable in an in-office setting, the separation of remote work can make this a less natural thing for your employees. With employees working virtually, aligning your team with the project’s progress can be challenging. This is due to significant discrepancies in communication.

Virtual team building activities are beneficial as they help employees work collaboratively with their coworkers. At Venture Up, we offer a virtual team building activity known as the Cyberthon Virtual Challenge that sends your remote teams on a Global Amazing Race through Cyberspace. This activity requires that your team work collaboratively by connecting your employees from remote locations with fun problem-solving experiences and strategic energizers.

Virtual team building studies show that activities, such as our Cyberthon Virtual Challenge, allow participants to grow more extroverted and open-minded as members learn to be more vocal and expressive to reach a common goal. Additionally, collaboration is further promoted by these types of activities as they make your employees more aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This enables your team to coordinate effectively to complete tasks per their competencies. These are valuable practices that are sure to extend to the way your team collaborates in the workplace.

3. Increases Productivity

With your employees working remotely, the chances are that they don’t always feel as though they have a clear work direction. Without a clear work direction, your employees become less productive over time. However, virtual team building activities allow team leaders to exercise their ability to communicate organizational goals with clarity. This gives your employees a greater sense of purpose that will guide them in their everyday operations. With a renewed sense of motivation, your employees will work with all of their might to reach your company’s goals. By working with this mindset, your team is much less likely to experience burnout while increasing productivity.

4. Encouraging Versatility

With many organizations now requiring a versatile workforce to keep up with the ever-changing demands of their industry, virtual team building activities are valuable. By organizing a virtual team building event for your team, you can effectively enhance resource skills and expertise across various disciplines. These activities also present a unique opportunity for employees to try new tasks and make mistakes while learning, all without the fear of repercussions. There aren’t many opportunities for this type of learning experience within the workplace. In this way, virtual team building activities offer skill-building that your employees simply won’t experience in their job role- especially when working individually from home.

5. Supporting Greater Innovation

When it comes to gaining a business advantage that propels your company to new heights, innovation is vital in competitive industries. Virtual team building offers the opportunity for your employees to engage with each other despite physical distance, promoting creativity, brainstorming, and innovation. The activities and games offered here at Venture Up are cleverly designed to consider the multiple perspectives of your team, which has led to breakthrough innovations for our clients more times than we can count.

Empower Your Team on a Company-Wide Scale With Venture Up

Although 2020 was a stressful year that flung us into entirely unfamiliar territory regarding the way we live and work, virtual team building has offered new opportunities for workplace collaboration. Who would have thought that the transition to remote work would introduce so many to a new way of collaborating that empowers rather than isolates?

If you’re interested in experiencing the benefits of virtual team building for your remote team, look no further than Venture Up, a company with a popular range of team building activities, such as strategic games, bike building, Escape Case, and many more. Venture Up services various industries both nationally and internationally, providing exceptional service that you won’t find elsewhere. Since its founding in 1983, the company has served over 250,000 clients and is looking forward to helping thousands more in the coming years.

Ready to talk about your team? Contact us today at (888) 305-1065 or info@ventureup.com.

 

Stirling’s Engine, the Comeback of the Century

Posted on by ventureup

In the yonder years of the Industrial Revolution machines of monstrous proportion dwarfed man in both means of production and thirst of power. The demand for energy was unlike anything called upon before, but inventors of the time powered through to usher in the modern age. It boiled down to two types of generators, the beloved steam engine immortalized in all thermal based energy plants, and the lesser-known Stirling Engine. The Stirling Engine was a fierce competitor against steam power, at least on paper. It was safer, quieter but was also heavier and did not match the power output of steam.

Amazon.com: DjuiinoStar Low Temperature Stirling Engine: Toys & GamesLTD Stirling Engine, The LTD stands for Low Temperature Differential

It saw limited use in its time, and the Stirling Engine faded in the wake of less efficient successors, but today, with our newfound energy crisis, its relevance is scathing. Solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear, all have their place in combating climate change, but few have heard of the Stirling Engine. It only requires a temperature differential to operate and thus has found its niche in harnessing wasted heat. It doesn’t matter where the gradient comes from; car exhaust, smelting vents, a warm room, a hot cup of tea, anywhere an interior is warmer than and exterior, or vice versa, this generator can hack it. Today it has made a comeback in everything from powering homes to military submarines!

So, what took so long? Why did it take more than 200 years since its conception to catch on? As with most things, there is no one answer, but to put it metaphorically, it wasn’t loud enough. Robert Stirling made two models of the device by 1816, where the sole survivor of which sat abandoned in a dark room until it was dusted off by none other than William Kelvin (inventor of the Kelvin temperature units) in 1847. It served well as a teaching aid for the principles of thermodynamics, but the device wouldn’t amount to much until the 21st century.  Its potential just wasn’t seen for its efficiency because the voices of those who attested to it were too meek.

Exxon Execs Escape Game Houston Team Building Venture Up

Our facilitators know this problem all too well, though with smaller consequences. Activities like the Escape Case, pictured to the right out of Houston, or Cyberthon require teams to communicate as well as debate. Those loud and in control of the team aren’t always the ones to come up with the best solution. In our programs it is often the soft spoken who see the problem differently that find the solution. Facilitators hear them call it out, but they get talked over and become too timid to repeat themselves for fear of embarrassment. It causes the game to drag, yet they stay quiet until a louder participant calls out the same solution.

This phenomenon happens more often than it should, and with significant consequences. Those reading this might think this about the tragic late bloom of the Stirling Engine, but no, that tragedy is an ant to an anteater compared to the steam engine which was invented almost 2000 years prior! Like Kelvin finding the forgotten Sterling in a dark closet, the Aeolipile was a steam engine tucked away in some What Is Heron's Aeoliple? | The History of the Steam Enginedark corner of the library of Alexandria. It came out of the first century AD, simple, yet robust enough to open doors according to record. It is difficult to imagine what today would look like if they realized its potential all those years ago. Chances are, other revolutionary technologies may be dormant today for the same reason, engines weren’t the only idea to be underappreciated.

Germ theory had been proposed since before the Black Death of 1350 but would be trumped by the ludicrous miasmic theory until 1880, when a German had to prove it using by Anthrax on sheep. Plate tectonics were laughed at and ridiculed just as Darwinism was and would not be accepted until a century after they were proposed. In our programs we stress corporate examples of this as a reminder that many great ideas were not appreciated in their time. So please, be loud, let no good idea be silent. You may be wrong, but that’s nothing compared to unrealized potential.

If you’d like to learn more about Venture Up’s creative team programs, please call 888.305.1065 or email info@ventureup.com

The Value of Compassion to Resolve Conflict

Posted on by Cojomax99

You don’t need a lesson in Buddhism to know the value of compassion in solving problems in the workplace. When facing stress on the job, an employee oftentimes holds their emotions in for a long time before coming forward. When the flood gates open, be prepared to understand how they feel; realize the fear that kept them quiet for so long.

Here are a few tips on turning down the volume and forging an agreeable, quick solution.

  1. Pause. Let them speak. Information is power.
  2. Allow emotions to release. If they are ranting, allow it for a few minutes. Let them purge the pain. Stop them when they begin repeating the same point.
  3. Get the facts. Focus on the facts only. Avoid letting the employee revert to emotion. We’re at the problem-solving stage now.
  4. Assess the facts. How serious is the problem? Do you need a specialist? An investigation?
  5. Hire outside professionals to investigate any cases of sexual harassment, bullying, racism or LGBQT bigotry.
  6. Resolve inhouse if the matter involves people not getting along, lack of cooperation, dysfunction between departments. These issues can be resolved quickly if you can get all parties talking. When they are face to face with the manager, in a relaxed environment (outdoors if the weather is good). You can isolate the problem, encourage staff to interact with their ideas to solve it. Keep quiet as much as you can. A pregnant pause gives birth to chatter.  If ideas come from them, as opposed to an HR authoritarian directive, it is more authentic and they get the credit for solving it. They feel empowered. You just opened the door.
  7. Learn from conflict. When the employees involved also show compassion toward one another, it triggers cooperation of among all parties.

What if you are the problem?

  1. Listen. Acknowledge the feedback. If you are silent, people often keep talking.
  2. Be Switzerland. Stay neutral. This is not a family criticism where you can be defensive, get mad and your partner still loves you later. You have one shot to get this right. Keep your emotional distance. Think before you speak.
  3. Do not take it personally. Do not hold a grudge. The best outcome is a positive solution that satisfies everyone.
  4. Ask them what they would do if they were you.
  5. Assure them you will assess the information they’ve given and you will rejoin them in no more than 1 week to discuss an equitable solution. Don’t ignore it or you’ll break their trust and alienate them forever.
  6. Follow-up the next week to see how the plan is going.
  7. Encourage them to be kind to themselves and speak up earlier rather than hold frustration in. Let them know that you are there for them. You are rooting for their success.
  8. Assure them there should be no fear of consequences for speaking up. Every problem has a solution.

By empowering staff to solve problems with a little guidance from you, you are building mutual trust and facilitating a culture of openness and freedom of expression. When you infuse fun team training games into the mix, authenticity flourishes. Fun breaks the tension and people can be their true selves.

For more information on gamification methods to assist in conflict resolution and building relationships, please call 888.305.1065 or email info@ventureup.com

 

Are your employees screaming on the inside?

Posted on by ventureup

Crushing Workplace Fear in 2021

What makes life at work even more stressful these days is the need to appear sane and happy when the entire world is being turned upside. One thing to keep in mind is to understand that almost everyone else feels pretty much the same way. Who hasn’t lost someone to Covid, substance abuse or suicide in the last year? How many homebound kids are depressed? How many parents can focus at work when they know they’ve got “homework” until midnight, helping their children with online learning? How many of us don’t have a job at all?

All the world’s a stage. In the working world, it seems we’re in a contest to see who adapts the best or who best can hide the nagging anxiety. Understanding that we all are having a common experience is in itself healing and unifying. Talking about it is even better (so long as you keep the politics out of it). If ever there was a better opportunity for a manager to create a more relaxing and fun workplace, it’s right now. Many of us have forgotten how to have fun. It’s up to leadership at all levels support a compassionate corporate culture, perhaps offering group sessions for sharing personal pandemic experiences. Nobody survived the past year unscathed, including the stiff upper lips in top management.

Cyberthon Virtual Team Building
Remote teams reignite relationships with office staff with fun virtual games having little to do with the workplace.

Remote teams are really in the same boat as office staff, even more so if they live alone. While they have freedom and flexibility, working in your pajamas can be downright depressing. Being social animals, we all get lonely in isolation, even when we are not physically, but emotionally isolated. Getting out of the emotional slump means getting social — the entire team — either face to face or by teleconferencing.

If absence makes the employee’s heart grow fonder, then a team reunion in cyberspace or at the office can reignite relationships that have been in hibernation for a year.

Escape Room in a Case

At Venture Up, we’ve been able to keep up the pace during isolation working on Cyberthon virtual team games that turned out to be a big hit.

Cyberthon is probably the most addictive (in a fun way) set of games we have offered since we began in 1983. During the last six months alone, Southern Company,  CSG and USDA Puerto Rico have run repeat programs.

Next in line for popularity is the Escape the Case conference room team building game, a top seller since 2019. Are you ready for fun at work? Please call 888.305.1065 or send us an email at info@ventureup.com.