I came upon a segment online featuring Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Webb) who you may recall was for many years Britain’s answer to Elvis. One of his greatest hits was, “We Don’t Talk Anymore.” He is still very popular with three generations and you may have seen him performing at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations over the summer.
So, what’s Cliff Richard’s song, “We Don’t Talk Anymore” got to do with business building? Everything.
In many organizations, employees are so caught up in their expanding roles and schedules that they don’t spend much time together. There are office parties and picnics but those are intended to rightly shift the focus to fun, as opposed to any meaningful collective dialogue on how they can participate further in growing the business.
Much employee communication is in cyberspace during the workday and interaction among colleagues is often fleeting or fully work focused.
A lunch and learn was once an institution at many businesses. However, as workloads increase, travel schedules intensify and time grows tight all around, some managers came to see them as time consuming and inefficient information delivery or motivational sessions. Not everyone showed up, munching and learning conflicted and the messaging was often generic and even a little dull if the topic didn’t match a participant’s job description.
But as managers see the need for more interaction among employees, the bite in the lunch and learn is back. Many managers make them fun and informative while offering great team building opportunities.
One reason for the resurgence of the lunch and learn is that participants are often invited to shape the agenda in advance by submitting their questions and ideas to an outside expert on the topic in advance. It has become about them and their challenges and ideas.
Loaded with great motivational and nutritional content
Your lunch and learn can be cheap and cheerful, and loaded with great motivational and nutritional content and requires little (if any) work up front.
The managers set the topic, such as, “How to manager your time more effectively” or, “How to network in social settings.” Or they can canvas their teams by asking them to identify topics of interest under the large umbrella of business building strategies. The possibilities are practically endless.
The manager emails the team in advance in which he or she describes the chosen topic and introduces the guest expert. The guest should be an experienced speaker and facilitator who understands your industry and can draw out the attendees in a comfortable, natural way.
Employees then submit their questions to the presenter and manager by return email. The result is a fast-paced, 90-minute session where the guest expert responds to the questions he or she has had time to carefully consider. Participants pose their questions anonymously or in person during the lunch and they get answered.
The guest facilitator (a fresh face with no assumptions about the organization or any politics within) keeps everyone focused and can pose questions or share strategies to avoid lulls in the action.
Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
