How to Do It. Organise a Team Challenge

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1 How to Do It Organise a Team Challenge

2 Introduction Page 3 Step 1 Plan for your challenge Page 4 Step 2 Find a Challenge Page 5 Step 3 Liaise with the charity Page 6 Step 4 Getting the team involved Page 7 Step 5 The Health & Safety Bits Page 8 Step 6 Before the day, final checks Page 9 Step 7 On the day Page 10 Step 8 After the event Page 11 Contact Page 12

3 A team challenge is a one-off practical task completed by a group of employees over a short period, often on one day. Challenges are great team building events, and offer staff a day away from the office where they can develop new skills and go home with a real sense of achievement. They can also be good ways to work directly with a charity s beneficiaries and find out what life is like for people who may be disadvantaged in some way. Examples include: decorating a social centre, clearing a riverbank, creating a children s playground, or organising a Christmas party or other outing or helping with an event. This Guide is written by Swindon companies with experience of organising successful team challenges to help you plan and manage challenges that run smoothly and benefit the community, your employees and your company. Page 3

4 Understand your objectives and what you want to get out of the event to ensure you find something that meets your needs. Are you looking for an indoor or an outdoor event? Some activities are better suited to certain times of the year such as large scale environmental conservation work that is better undertaken during the winter. Do you want something hands on & practical or something more social like organising a coffee morning for older people? Hints & Tips Be flexible with what you re looking for there s more than just gardening & decorating Think ahead! Allow enough time to organise, 2 months is a good timescale Be realistic about what you can achieve Do you want something during the week or at weekends? What skills has your team got? How many people are there? Smaller teams are easier to accommodate so you may need to split your group up. Page 4

5 Your local Volunteer Centre may be able to help you find a suitable project or some larger charities offer team volunteering days. Good charities to contact could be environmental conservation charities, animal rescue centres, hospices and care homes, local sports clubs, scout & guide groups, community centres or primary schools. Charities working with the long term unemployed or young people could be good choices as well if you can offer help with employability skills. Hints & Tips Google it! Search words like employee volunteering, corporate team building, charity could work Don t forget to add your location You should expect to make some kind of contribution to the team challenge, either financial or tools & materials Helping with events is another good choice as there s always plenty to do. Just keep in mind that most events take place at weekends so you re likely to be volunteering on a Saturday or Sunday. Page 5

6 Once you have found a project, visit the site as soon as possible so you can plan exactly what is required and what resources are needed. It s at this point that you should agree with the charity exactly what you aim to achieve on the day. Be realistic about timings so you can be sure that you ll finish on the day; not forgetting time to clear up at the end of the day. You will probably need to complete a Health & Safety risk assessment, see our guide about this or contact your employer s H&S team who should be able to advise you. Agree a date for completing the challenge being aware that the charity will also be making arrangements to accommodate your team so try not to cancel or postpone the event. Hints & Tips Use our challenge checklist to help you plan the event Identify a regular contact at the charity Useful Resources Team Challenge Checklist Don t forget to agree who s going to pay for materials & resources. Page 6

7 It can really help to get the whole team involved to make the day a success. Break the project down into small chunks to share the work out fairly. Play to your teams strengths use their skills. Make sure the size of your team and resources match the size of the challenge. Hints & Tips Have a clear project leader Assign roles for the day make someone the official photographer, chief cook, H&S guru Less is more when it comes to team size; about 10 is ideal for most projects Keep it real, be honest about what you can achieve. Page 7

8 An employer s duty of care extends to their employees when they are volunteering in an employer supported volunteering project. Make sure your employer s liability insurance policy covers employees volunteering outside their place of work. You ll need to complete a risk assessment, check with your employer about any procedures for this. Our risk assessment template is a useful starting point. Don t do anything that is outside of your team s technical or physical capability. For example, office workers shouldn t do re-wiring or plumbing for which they re not officially qualified. Also, if you re making or handling food, there are guidelines to consider. Hints & Tips Brush up on safe usage & storage of tools Not all risks are obvious, use our guidance to help you identify them Useful Resources Risk assessment template Guide to identifying risks Food preparation guidelines Food handling guidelines Page 8

9 Have you checked transport & parking availability at the site? Where possible, try and car share. Does your team know where to go? Will the charity staff be there to open up? Who s going to bring the equipment? What washing & toilet facilities are there? Hints & Tips If you re going to a pub for lunch, preorder your meals to save time Can you arrange to eat lunch with service users? This builds awareness of the work of the charity Support a social enterprise order your lunch from a community café What are you going to do about refreshments & lunch make sure this is planned. How are you going to get rid of waste materials? What publicity have you arranged? Page 9

10 Hold a briefing at the start of the day to remind people about the activity & what you re hoping to achieve. Don t forget about all the H&S bits about safe usage and storage of tools and manual handling. Give people the option to withdraw if they re not physically fit for the task. Ask the charity to tell participants about the work they do and how the team challenge is going to make a difference. Keep checking things are running to time to make sure that you can finish the work & clear up as well. Take photos before, during & after, including a group shot. And of course, don t forget to say thank you at the end of the day to both your volunteers and the charity and their service users, if there are any. Page 10

11 Think about how you can build on the enthusiasm from the day the charity may have other ways for your team to get involved if you want to build a longer term relationship. Ask them how else you could support or get involved. Share your experiences with your colleagues to inspire them. Get feedback from participants and share this with the charity and your employer. Useful Resources Feedback form Page 11

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