Archive for the ‘build-a-bike’ Category

A fun, interactive Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in Dallas, Texas was sponsored by Astellas Pharmaceuticals with the end result being 14 new bikes donated to children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas. The 7 boys and 7 girls that received the bikes enjoyed the moment along with the 90 people from Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc. The action packed, fun event had the participants working in team and the teams working together to complete the tasks necessary to complete the bikes. The children received the bikes at the end of the program and when they entered everyone was full of cheers and worked top fit the bikes to each individual child.

After program there were many great comments on the event and how it was a great team building activity, as well as a lot of fun. The fun helped to reinforce the learning, and having the children present for the final part of the event was the icing on the cake. One of the comments was that in usual team building activities the learning is the main course and you don’t really realize the importance of the material until the end. But with this event, there was fun all the way through, and the learning made the event profitable. The Build-A-Bike Team Building Event combines the learning aspect along with the fun throughout the program so at the end it has been an enjoyable and profitable experience from beginning to end.

Thanks to Astellas and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas for a great team building and leadership encounter. As one of the participants said after the event, “I’ve been in team building and leadership training fro over 20 years and this is the best I’ve ever experienced.”

The Food Services division of Sodexo cooked up an idea to include a Build-a-Bike ® team building event in their regional meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tulsa received new bicycles following the event. The regional management team set aside some time for community support in their quarterly meeting. The following video shows all the smiles that resulted.

Sodexo provides fresh, nutritious meals while working within the ethnic, cultural, and nutritional needs of their clients. They promote local, organic, and healthy ingredients grown through sustainable practices to keep their customers and their environment healthy and happy. The Build-a-Bike ® Team Building Event made some children happy as well.

The Adecco Group met in South Beach Miami, Florida for a Team Building Event to build energy and enthusiasm and bicycles for kids. The meeting was to build company momentum for sales in a tough economy. At the Build-a-Bike Team Building Event ® held after a general session they had an opportunity to demonstrate their energy. As the following video demonstrates there was plenty to go around.

The Adecco Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is the world’s leading provider of HR solutions. With over 32,000 FTE employees and more than 5,500 offices, in over 60 countries and territories around the world, Adecco Group offers a wide variety of services, connecting more than 700,000 associates with over 100,000 clients every day. The services offered fall into the broad categories of temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing, consulting and outplacement. The Adecco Group is a Fortune Global 500 company.

Heinz Supports Troops with Build-a-Bike Team Building Workshop in Orlando, Florida. Heinz took advantage of its National Sales & Marketing meeting to donate 100 bicycles to dependents of military families at a Build-a-Bike in Orlando, Florida.  Heinz recently adopted the Wounded Warrior project as its corporate charity.  At a dinner announcing their sponsorship, the company surprised the audience with a presentation of new bicycles to children with parents in the military.  The following video captures the excitement and emotion of the event.

Families from the Army, Marines, National Guard and Air Force were recipients of this generous gift. In addition a large check was presented to the Wounded Warrior Project.

FIS Global emphasized a commitment to community by having a Build-a-Bike team building event® in Orlando, Florida. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida received 46 new bicycles at the event. The following pictures shows the children doing a club cheer and then receiving their bikes.

FIS is one of the world’s top-ranked technology providers to the banking industry. With more than 30,000 experts in 100 countries. FIS delivers a comprehensive range of solutions for the broadest range of financial markets, all with a singular focus: helping their clients succeed. In Orlando they applied this focus on solutions in the community. The Build-a-Bike was conducted by The Leader’s Institute and gave FIS the opportunity to their focus a reality for the forty-six children.

Kim Hesselgrave of FIS said, “We have received some great feedback from our participants.  Thanks or a successful event!”

SunTrust Bank held a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in Atlanta which culminated with the group donating 16 bikes to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Atlanta. Over 90 people participated in the event. The group was divided into 16 smaller groups that each had to participate in several activities, problem solving, and even some math to get the parts to build the bikes. Each team had to work well together, and work together with other teams to complete their projects and get the bikes ready for the children. Once they got all the parts they could assemble the bikes and at the end of the program children from the boys and girls clubs were introduced to receive the bikes. It was a great event, with opportunities for fun and learning, and a great “feel good” ending.

The group from SunTrust came from around the Atlanta area to participate in a day of meetings which culminated in the Build-A-Bike team event. The group participated well and worked with each other showing that SunTrust Bank is a great company with great people.

During the Build-A-Bike there were many opportunities to learn great team building and leadership skills and put them into practice. It is stressed from the start of the program that it is not a competition. The idea is to support and work with one another. It is a hard concept, especially when you’re divided into groups. By dividing into groups competition is almost automatic, even if it is discouraged. The problems that needed to be solved to get the bike parts were most easily solved when working with other teams. The most effective and efficient way to solve many problems is to ask others for help, but it is a hard thing to do, especially if you view it as a competition. But divisions, different locations, branches, departments; any thing that segments one company into many parts, can create unhealthy competition that keeps them from sharing vital information with other groups. Ultimately, the 90+ from SunTrust realized that they were one team, not 16 teams, but one team- made up of 16 groups, with one goal- to build bikes for kids. They did a fantastic job and not only did the 16 children that received the bikes benefit but so did the communities they live in. Thanks SunTrust for a great event.

Ambassador Rehab used a Build-a-Bike^® Team Building Event to focus on the community by donating new bicycles to The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida.  Ambassador Rehabilitative Services provides services in 61 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.  Their Mission is to, ” provide exemplary rehabilitation services to our residents and community. We foster an environment based on our core values of Compassion, Honesty, Integrity, Respect and Passion.”

At their annual meeting therapy program managers, senior management team, directors and support staff came together for an information-intense three days.  They chose to begin the workshop with a Build-a-Bike^® team building activity to help participants build camaraderie and break down barriers.  The video below shows how successful the plan was.

Proctor and Gamble’s international marketing guru’s came together to share cutting edge ideas, and build a stronger team in Lyon, one of France’s most historic cities.  This group was truly international.  Sounds of Turkish, German, Polish, Spanish, Erdu and Russian hung in the air as the group participated in the Build-A-Bike Team Building Event.  The common language was English and the common sentiment was philanthropy and beauty.  Lyon is dappled with history, and is rich in culture.  Just a few blocks away, however, many neighborhoods are unfortunately rich in poverty.  Unemployment in some pockets of the city is more than 40%.  Yes, nearly half of its people in many neighborhoods have little to do but worry.

For parents of young children, it is a struggle just to put soup on the table.  So, while building a better team through teamwork exercises, Build-A-Bike^® brought Proctor and Gamble and Venissieux Restos du Coeur (a charitable organization) together.  The goal was to make the lives of some kids a whole lot better.  They need food for the tummy and food for the soul.  With a bike firmly in hand, these kids, and their families, were smiling for the first time in a while.  Parents thanked us profusely.  I even got my hand kissed by a couple of adorable eight-year-old boys.  Oh, the French have such classe.

This team’s director, Pawel Krzysztofik, said, “This event brought his team together and set them on a solid path of doing more for others.”  Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor & Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

Travel and Transport, a travel and transport management company, help a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale AZ. The event was a time of fun and learning that ultimately resulted in 12 brand new bicycles being given to children from the local boys and girls clubs. It was an energetic event that kept the participants active and interactive as they participated in team building activities and built bikes. The group of over 70 expressed enjoyment with every part of the program, with the highlight being the children coming in to receive the newly assembled bikes.

During the event there was a lot of laughter and smiles. The people gathered from across the US really enjoyed being together, working on the projects, and completing the activities together. There were several lessons on team work that could be learned, but one of the most important was clearly in place with this special group. They have already learned to enjoy one another and make the workplace something other than drudgery and mundane. It was clear during the activities that this group enjoys their jobs and each other, as well as the responsibilities and service they perform. From the positive attitude of the leadership, to the smiles and warmth evident in all the people participating, this is great and progressive team.

The activity was great and the feeling afterwards was very, very positive. The activity was great, but it started with a great team. Congratulations to Travel and Transport on having a winning Build-A-Bike event, and for having a great company with great individuals and great leadership.

Falconstor Software held a Build-A-Bike Team Building Workshop in Las Vegas, Nevada, that ended with 12 new bicycles being donated to deserving children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. The event had over 60 participants that worked together, had fun, and learned valuable leadership and team building skills. The ultimate goal was to gather the parts to build the 12 bicycles so that the 12 children, 6 girls and 6 boys, could have their very own bicycle. It was touching moment when the children were introduced; over half had never had their very own bicycle. A couple of the children had never ridden a bike and so the wonderful Falconstor people took time to try and help them learn. They also provided funds so that the Boys and Girls Club can buy some training wheels to help out.

It would have been easy to build the bikes, given them to charity and gone on with life. But the Falconstor people showed particular compassion when several unanticipated problems occurred. The first problem was that one bike’s pedals didn’t fit. They were the wrong size and there was no way to make them work. The builders were very concerned for the child who wouldn’t receive a complete bike. The next was a bike whose back tire tube was damaged and wouldn’t hold air. Then there were the kids who received bikes but didn’t know how to ride them. The Falconstor people showed compassion and care to all the kids and especially comforted one child who didn’t have a complete bike. The pedals from the bike with the bad tire were transferred so there was only on bike that was not usable. Then they were concerned as to how the bike would be taken care of, along with the fact that several children needed training wheels. A $100.00 Wal Mart gift card was given to the Clubhouse Director who was very appreciative of the concern and gift to fix the bike and provide the training wheels.

The Build-A-Bike Team Building Event was a great success for the Falconstor people, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. The Falconstor people showed a great level of teamwork and leadership not just by what they learned and displayed during the teambuilding, but by showing their concern for the team of children that received the bikes. An important lesson of leadership and teamwork is being a cheerleader and encourager to others around you. Falconstor showed this in several ways throughout the program, the least of which was the great display of generosity to the boys and girls.