For their annual meeting, customer service managers from over a hundred bank branches were looking for a motivational speaker to present at the program. We met with the VP for a good long while, gathering information about her “motivational” goals and what they hoped to accomplish.
The theme of the meeting was “Striving for Excellence,” a tough sell in these understaffed days when everyone is stretched to the max.
Sense of Delight suggested that we take the theme of 'striving for excellence' and create an Olympic Toy-Building event, focusing on all the areas the bank was looking to 'be excellent in.' We started by hanging Olympian photos around the room, all with a theme of red white and blue. Next we added fun touches such as bribe boxes on each table for the judges, and passports for each employee with a funny team name on it (ie. Wee Clean Money laundry.) When the managers arrived in the morning for the event, they were greeted by two representatives from the Olympic Recruiting committee, who solicited them for teams. Each manager was given a passport and told to hold on to it till late morning, when they’d receive further instructions. This set a wonderful sense of intrigue for the event. After the break, we stamped their passports (checking for illegal substance abuse) and had them go to their tables, and opened the games with the Olympic anthem and a runner with the Olympic torch. The teams’ task was to build a “creation,” and present it to the group. Their presentations would include a 'take home value,' something creative that everyone could use back at their bank. We provided costumes for their use, and there was a DJ on hand to key up any music they might want to use. Teams judged each other on risk taking, take home presentation value, and creativity. (You haven't lived until you have seen the 3rd in command of a major Bank, dressed as Elvis Presley, doing a rendition of Love me Tender!)
In the end, we had an Olympic medal ceremony and played an Olympic trivia contest over lunch.
Instead of being “talked to” and “motivated”, the bank received:
• Interactive participation and brainstorming of ideas
• Shared creative ideas to take home to their branches
• A breaking down of bank hierarchy
• Teamwork and renewed team spirit and camaraderie amongst the branches |
Case Histories