Survey of fictitious business!

RichCRX

Hey,
As part of one of our college course's, we have to come up with an innovative idea and make it into a business. We have to see how many businesses and people would be interested in the business so if ye could take time and just leave feedback such as; its a good idea, we'd use it, constructive criticism etc...Anyway the idea is as follows;

Core Idea- An activity centre which is centred around training(team building) and developing employees of a business through professional psychologist's monitoring, assessing and reporting, with an accredited CPD cert for the 2 day event at the end.

Its a chance to assess a businesses employees in a relaxed,fun and natural environment by proffessionals. Certain activities will also be open to the public and local community after the business events i.e. evenings.

It is a 2 day event with 9 hours each day.
The activities included are;
Soccer on astro turf
Indoor Basketball
Airsofting
Canoeing
Orienteering
Yoga
Mixed Martial Arts/Self Defence
Miscellaneous activities such as blindfolding trust and board skii's
Fishing

and to be finished off by having creativity and dramaturgy sessions and also a presentation session.Max of 20 people a day monitored by 2 proffessionals and activities done through coaches.

So any feedback would be greatly appreciate.Thanks for reading.
Richard

Bandara

RichCRX wrote: »

Hey,
As part of one of our college course's, we have to come up with an innovative idea and make it into a business. We have to see how many businesses and people would be interested in the business so if ye could take time and just leave feedback such as; its a good idea, we'd use it, constructive criticism etc...Anyway the idea is as follows;

Core Idea- An activity centre which is centred around training(team building) and developing employees of a business through professional psychologist's monitoring, assessing and reporting, with an accredited CPD cert for the 2 day event at the end.

Its a chance to assess a businesses employees in a relaxed,fun and natural environment by proffessionals. Certain activities will also be open to the public and local community after the business events i.e. evenings.

It is a 2 day event with 9 hours each day.
The activities included are;
Soccer on astro turf
Indoor Basketball
Airsofting
Canoeing
Orienteering
Yoga
Mixed Martial Arts/Self Defence
Miscellaneous activities such as blindfolding trust and board skii's
Fishing

and to be finished off by having creativity and dramaturgy sessions and also a presentation session.Max of 20 people a day monitored by 2 proffessionals and activities done through coaches.

So any feedback would be greatly appreciate.Thanks for reading.
Richard

Hi Richard,

Just a quick one, which of them activities is a 45 year old, overweight office person with body confidence issues going to find fun or even agree to do?

What about medical and fitness issues?

I would suggest that your goin to have a lot of people very unwilling to participate voluntarily

Nuttzz

2 days, during the week? If so non-runner for any small business

random.stranger

My gut reaction is: that's a lot of activities to squeeze into 2 days (especially assuming people aren't proficient at them at the start of the day).

Not sure if I'd like to have a psychologist judging me & reporting to me boss either- not sure what a union would think of that one!

I suggest you have a look at what's already out there & base your proposal around something similar. Your idea sounds a lot like outdoors ireland, I suggest you read about them at:
www.outdoorsireland.com

You'll see Nathan Kingerlee is active in this forum & may be able to offer some pointers.

Best of Luck.

dermothickey

Not very keen on a psychologist assessing staff members its very invasive, seems like a company who will spy on your staff members..Maybe its the facebook age but i'm sure you would have problems in terms of staff worker's right. of course skill sharing and team building are great though sports continously for 2 days would be a non-runner for those who don't like sports.

homeOwner

RichCRX wrote: »

Hey,
As part of one of our college course's, we have to come up with an innovative idea and make it into a business.

Many companies take their staff out on team building days involving far less strenuous activities, this idea isnt exactly innovative.

And looking down through the list I dont see much of interest to a late 30s female except perhaps the Yoga and orienteering. While I like certain sports, there is no way on earth I would participate in most of those activities in front of my work collegues :eek: Believe me no one wants to see me sweating in a tracksuit. And what about the shower situation? How many of those activities can one do in a day? Dont fancy sitting around in sweaty clothes in between activities. No, no, no!

And while we are at it, looking around most of my team, many would object to being made to do this sort of physical activity for 9 hours, male and female

But it might be of more interest to schools as a day out for transition year students or something like that.

RichCRX

Thanks for all the replies from everyone greatly appreciated.I'll just tip on a few things mentioned;

These activities will not be psyically or medically challenging, they will be taken at leisure. I do believe we are catering for a wide range of people with orienteering, yoga, fishing, MMA/Self defence, trust building and perhaps canoeing. We will also allow the group to decide on whether they might want to go badminton or basketball etc...The employees do not have to undertake any activities they do not wish to but perhaps it may be a good opportunity to developing themselves by taking these challenges on even just at a leisurely pace.

We will cater for businesses needs, so a 2 day weekend can be arrange or perhaps a split in the week i.e. one day monday and another friday. We can also mix a group of 10 in with another small businesses group of 10. so as the business will always have people still to run the business.Its a 9 hour day with an hour break and we have done up an allocation of time which we believe is more than enough for all activities.

The assessors will also be getting involved in the activites, so its not a simple pen and paper monitoring style, its up close where they can truely assess the employee without jepradising the element of fun as they do are getting involved. We will also be looking for a cert to be accredidated by the CPD for the course and we believe this will act as an incentive to do it and also a good personal reward. Business can also send the teams back and see are they improving so there will be certain levels of certs each time. The more the better obviously.

Its not a full sports activity and we are also not gonna be like an extreme sports centre. Its gonna be relax and fun, tell jokes while canoeing etc...It would beat sitting in an office staring at a computer screen imo!

In terms of competitors, yes their is plenty of team building places such as delphi, however what makes us innovative is that we provide an accredidated cert and a development report by professional psychologists. We get involved in more areas than just team building. We also look at the individual aspect.

Yes we would take on student trips and have new activites...but in future.Starting out,we need to keep costs low so we are limited.

Thanks,
Richard

Bandara

Accredited = official = it's not going to be "fun day out"

and as much as you say it's not physical etc it is

my 62 year old mother works in an office, there is not one single thing on that list she would do. Not yoga, not orienteering, not basketball, definitely not football, and as for Mixed Martial Arts!!!!

Also 2 day weekend? I can't really say I'd be thrilled to inform my staff that I am taking up their weekends on an compulsory course, the Monday and Friday idea is even harder to manage than 2 weekdays off in succession!

It's a weak idea IMO.

It would never work in the format you are suggesting. You'd be better off doing something that is fun for everyone and non physical, and would hold their interest.

How about throwing in a few curve balls instead of the normal boring teambuilding cliches?

Get a teppanki chef in to get everyone cooking along with him in japanese cuisine lesson, everyone cooks something and at the end it's all eaten by the group win each person introducing the dish they cooked. Winner gets a prize etc, far more fun than a five-a-side footy game, and bonds the teams without any negative competitive element.

Just a random suggestion.

RichCRX

Thanks for your comment.

As for official...why can't it be fun?After all you are developing yourself and the best way to do so is in a fun environment.

The business will more than likely not send out well established people in the business if they do not wish to do so...more the new to the business younger generation.We need on average 150 businesses a year and I believe we can easily achieve this. Like I said we would cater to the business needs so if they want it on the weekend then we cater for it but otherwise we are going for weekday events! I know of businesses making employees go to motivational talks on weekends so 2 days of more fun activities is just something an employee should do for their business.For bigger businesses a 2 day succession during the week is not hard and as I mentioned they can maybe only send 10 people along side another 10 from another business.

Thats a good suggestion and is noted,thanks.

dermothickey

Still not very keen on the psychological assessment aspect. TBH if My boss had offered me it I know what I'd tell him.I'd half wonder if it could be considered illegal!!

Sonnenblumen

OP - of course you are going to get different feedback from different people, and do not be put down by the overly negative feedback. The important thing is that you have to qualify the feedback, and unfortunately soliciting blind feedback online is far from reliable, and who knows if respondents are target audience?

For example, if somebody expresses criticism and a concern with the psychological testing, the legality etc. Similar testing is routine for positions within large companies, sometimes referred to as psychometric testing. Physical testing and strenuous activities are proven methods within team building, personal development, leadership training etc

A sit at home overweight etc etc may not be suitable, nor too would an underqualified candidate would also be unsuitable for a particular position.

As with interviewing and indeed market research, you need to focus on those people which are relevant, ie part of the target audience and ignore feedback which is not relevant. The latter might help you reconsider how you gather data and in doing so perhaps more importantly how you determine and analyse whether your proposition has any merit.

Good Luck

homeOwner

RichCRX wrote: »

The assessors will also be getting involved in the activites, so its not a simple pen and paper monitoring style, its up close where they can truely assess the employee without jepradising the element of fun as they do are getting involved. We will also be looking for a cert to be accredidated by the CPD for the course and we believe this will act as an incentive to do it and also a good personal reward. Business can also send the teams back and see are they improving so there will be certain levels of certs each time. The more the better obviously.

...... we provide an accredidated cert and a development report by professional psychologists. We get involved in more areas than just team building. We also look at the individual aspect.

Ok so leaving aside the activities what is the point of the cert and development report? What is it certifying? That you completed the activities? That you are suitable for your current role in work? That you are management material? That you are a team player? And why go back and try for improvement next year? Whats the point?

I dont see how you could possibly assess someone without understanding their role and what they do and how they currently perform - all info that would have to be supplied to you beforehand by the company (breaching employee privacy??) and then your assessors who would have to be trained presumably if the cert is to be worth anything, would have to sift through all this data beforehand and come up with a set of questions or criteria for each individual taking part. And what do you expect the company to do with the assessment? Make decisions about that person's future? Its just not credible or feasible. If a company was to go that route, all employees would have to take part to make it fair. You cannot have some employees picked for this type of assessment and not others, especially if decisions are to be made on the back of it.

Otherwise its just an employee day out with activities and the "cert" part is irrelevant and where is your niche?

I am not trying to be negative, I am just not getting the concept and the company I work for would absolutely be one your business model would be targeting - a large US multinational with the budget for this type of thing.

Sonnenblumen

Come on guys, rather than picking holes, how about fewer Qs and more direct feedback to the OP to help he/she develop and improve the proposition.

Why is Ireland so focussed on finding problems/issues/ legal or otherwise, no wonder little gets done?

At the rate we're going we will be subsumed in a form of 'HSE business paralysis'

NathanKingerlee

What's the point of assessing them? What will be done with that information? Two days is ideal for effective results, but are employers going to pay for Hotel B&B plus evening meals?

I think you want to be offering an intensive and fun training program, not an assessment program. I would agree with some of the above comments, some of the activities are too young/physical/irrelevent, such as basketball and the other field sports - it's not a summer camp you're running.

Unique activities, open to anyone from a young eager employee to a middle-aged overweight body-concious employee need to be adopted. Cookery, hiking, night orienteering, team building projects, communication task...

Especially at the moment, and going forwards, I don't think employers want to send their staff away for an assessment report; but may send their staff away if those staff can return to them with some definite new or improved skills.

the_syco

RichCRX wrote: »

Core Idea- An activity centre which is centred around training(team building) and developing employees of a business through professional psychologist's monitoring, assessing and reporting, with an accredited CPD cert for the 2 day event at the end.

If I knew that there was professional psychologist's at a team building thing, I'd be on here asking was it legal.

random.stranger

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

OP - of course you are going to get different feedback from different people, and do not be put down by the overly negative feedback. The important thing is that you have to qualify the feedback, and unfortunately soliciting blind feedback online is far from reliable, and who knows if respondents are target audience?

For example, if somebody expresses criticism and a concern with the psychological testing, the legality etc. Similar testing is routine for positions within large companies, sometimes referred to as psychometric testing. Physical testing and strenuous activities are proven methods within team building, personal development, leadership training etc

A sit at home overweight etc etc may not be suitable, nor too would an underqualified candidate would also be unsuitable for a particular position.

As with interviewing and indeed market research, you need to focus on those people which are relevant, ie part of the target audience and ignore feedback which is not relevant. The latter might help you reconsider how you gather data and in doing so perhaps more importantly how you determine and analyse whether your proposition has any merit.

Good Luck

Hi Sonnenblumen,
For the record, I did qualify my remarks by stating I was looking at the psychological testing aspect from an employee's perspective.

Regarding your comment about focussing on the people who are relevant; I would say the opinions of both the employer and the employees are relevant. If the employees do not trust the people that are running this programme, they will not buy into it & nobody will benefit from it. Without results in productivity & teamwork, I would not foresee much repeat business. I can't imagine any amount of certification changing this.

I am familiar with psychometric testing, I have taken these tests in the past & to be honest; I am in complete agreement with them. I think they are a great way to filter out the blaggers before they get into an organisation. I think it is a different matter entirely when you start doing these tests on existing employees & they may break down trust.

Apologies if I come across as overcritical, I was just pointing out a few areas where I felt the op could improve.

PS
I have no connection with NathanKingerlee other than I attended an event run by him in the past, which had team building as an element. He knows what he's talking about.

RichCRX

We recently had a lecture from Micheal Breathnach on creativity and he says creativity is dead in every single one of us because rules,codes and guildlines of society have beaten it out of us and he's completely right. In order to be creative you have to change the space around which you work and most importantly yourself.

The business is here to do that.We want people to change and develop themselves. Can I ask ye a question...How much does the business you work for,actually know about yourself?Do they know your a good team member?Do they know your creative and innovative?Do they know are you an introvert or an extrovert?Do they know that you like silence or noise?Do they know you like subtle recognition or massive praise?All these things as wild as they may seem,all contribute to who you are,how you are motivated, how you work etc...

The business is not like psychometric testing...we do not want tick the boxes or computers where you know your being tested and the answers are really not what you are, rather they are "what you thing the business most wants".The business is all about personal development and helping you strengthen your skills and bring about change. The cert is the answers to what the proffessionals,after two days of monitoring you in a natural environment, know about you.It determines what type of person you are such as a team player, a leader, a motivator etc... and it tells this back to the business in order for your employer to know you better and what you are capable of and how to make the best of these things.

By sending the group back the following year would be to see are their employees strengthening their skills, are they eliminating their weakenesses are they now even better, where can they improve more, have they got worse?

The assessment is on you as a person...NOT on your job role!!!!As said before these activities will be taken at appropriate pace determined by our qualified coaches. Those who are not willing to take part could be said to be unwilling to change, like the norm etc... and then this would show the business that if they were ever to consider to expand or restructure then they will have to put in place good procedures of knowledge to the employees for the necessary change.

There are no right or wrong answers to this!Its a simple you develop yourself as a person and your employer gets to know what type of person you are and what items he may need to deal with to improve his business its efficiency and productivity.The cert acts as a profile gatherer as such which proves it has been done by trained proffessionals and not a computer program.

dermothickey

was it sigmund freud who said of the Irish...they are the only people on earth you cant do a psychoanalysis of!!