David Simpson
Leading experts in experiential learning and team building events, Team Building Asia, went online for lockdown. They brought their 18 years of physical event experience to play in the digital environment, orchestrating events that maximised positive group dynamics.
David Simpson, Co-Founder and Director of Learning and Development, Team Building Asia, says, “I have a made a life long study of how groups interact. During lockdown it has been fascinating to observe the dynamics playing out online and how personalities are displayed in a digital setting. While of course being online is very different from a traditional setting we made every effort to incorporate elements that we know encourage productive group engagement.”.
Different personalities thrive in different habitats, so Team Building Asia created a variety of online environments where every participant personality type could excel.
Simpson continues, “Some people with really valuable contributions to make may be more comfortable speaking up in smaller groups. In a physical setting we would have facilitated this by having break out groups, so we made that happen online too. Zoom is a great platform for this.
“There are other people who are natural networkers. If we were in a conference centre I’d expect to see them handing out and collecting business cards, so online we encouraged participants to share their LinkedIn profiles in the chat channel.”.
Matthew Gollop, Managing Director, ConnectedGroup has participated in the series. He says, “The Leaders in Lockdown sessions have been exceptional in terms of tone, content and structure and have managed to maintain high levels of energy and engagement – something that can be difficult in a digital setting.”
Team Building Asia have hosted 1000s of events around the region in the past two decades and note that while clients are often drawn to attend because of the subject matter, engaging and exchanging ideas with other participants gives equal benefit. An unexpected advantage of meeting online was that a broader group of attendees could join, as companies did not have to consider travel costs and the time to attend was reduced. Many firms that would traditionally choose one or two staff members to attend events encouraged multiple people to attend.
Simpson studied the behaviour of the participants online. He says, “People’s need for other people was particularly evident in lockdown. Many of our participants commented on how much they enjoyed the opportunity to meet with their peers, empathise with their challenges and share ideas. Most of our clients are great individual idea generators, but when you combine them, ideas accelerate much more quickly.”.
Another participant was Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, Secretary General, Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), Founder and CEO, Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE). He says, “I enjoyed joining other leaders and prime movers of public, private and the non-profit sectors to avail of these practical learning and networking events. Kudos and keep up the great work Team Building Asia!”.
The four month series of Leaders in Lockdown events will in total cover New Strategies for Leading Growth, How to Increase Innovation and Engagement, How to Sell When Nobody is Buying and Engaging Teams and Customers Through Creative Video Communications. Each event has been hosted by a global subject matter expert. For many of the presenters, leading an online session was a new experience, but all have been surprised by the positive engagement.
Andrea Edwards, The Digital Conversationalist, hosted the third event How to Sell When Nobody is Buying. She says, “I’m more digital addict than digital native so for me presenting online is a natural move. It’s exciting to see traditional business people moving into the non traditional digital world. At this time in history we are really seeing the power of social media and connecting digitally. From feminist activist campaigns in Australia causing advertiser withdrawals from major media platforms to the huge black lives matter protests around the globe, the power of digital and social leadership is clear.”.
The last Leaders in Lockdown event will take place on Friday June 19, Engaging Teams and Customers Through Creative Video Communications with speaker Tay Guan Hin, Founder of TGH Collective.