Clear Impact Challenges and Motivates Staff with First Annual Employee Development Week and Staff Olympic Games

If you are a client or regular reader of this blog, you may already know some of the organizational values Clear Impact embodies. For one, the name of our company itself, “Results Leadership,” represents our commitment to fostering the the capacity of individuals at any level within an organization, partnership or collaboration to produce measurable results for their clients and communities. And many of us know that such capacity is fostered both through the development of individual competencies and by structuring institutions to support results-based decision-making.

Responsible leadership, results-based decision-making, measurable improvements for customers and communities, and capacity-building—these are some of the more obvious values Clear Impact helps develop externally through our products and services. But what may not be as obvious is that Clear Impact also places a high value on people-focused management (both internally and externally). People-focused management is all about ensuring that one’s team members work in an environment where they feel like they can challenge the status quo, explore new options, grow personally and professionally, feel invested in and connected to their work, feel challenged, and of course…have fun! This is what may make the difference between organizations that get results and organizations that do not.

In an effort to continue fostering Results Leadership and people-focused management in our community, Clear Impact has decided to implement an annual Employee Development Week and Staff Olympic Games competition. This year’s first week-long event was focused on continuing to develop the professional capacity and skills of our consultants and staff, aligning our team members to achieve 2015 performance targets, and renewing a sense of camaraderie and fun in our workplace. It is our hope that by reading about our positive experience during this year’s Employee Development Week, others may be inspired to do the same within their organizations.

From March 30^th to April 3^rd, 2015 Clear Impact staff members were challenged to master our core services and products, develop themselves personally and professionally, and build practical skills through a series of interactive workshops, Results-Based Accountability presentations and software demonstrations. The week also coincided with the public launch of our updated performance and accountability software, Clear Impact Scorecard 4.0, which we received a thorough training on to help provide better support to our clients.

Justin Miklas delivers a Clear Impact Scorecard skill-building demonstration.

JaNay Queen delivers a Results-Based Accountability refresher presentation.

Karen Finn delivers an MBTI and Team Dynamics workshop.

Other types of capacity-building workshops included Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Team Dynamics with Clear Impact Partner and Senior Consultant Karen Finn, Interest-Based Negotiation with Clear Impact President Phil Lee, and Meeting Preparation and Facilitation Training with Clear Impact Partner and Senior Consultant Deitre Epps.

During our Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Team Dynamics workshop, teams learned how to assess their own

Some positive personality characteristics associated with our our overall company type ENTJ (Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging).

personality types and preferences, recognized the benefits of each type, identified the impact of type on interpersonal interactions, and learned how to leverage this knowledge for improved organizational effectiveness. During one portion of the presentation, team members identified and shared one type-based strength and and one type-based weakness they wanted to work on. Another useful exercise was determining Clear Impact’s overall company personality type (ENTJ), which allowed us to identify certain useful personality characteristics that may be missing from our company. During our Interest-Based Negotiation workshop, teams played an interactive game to reveal existing skills and attitudes towards negotiation, then learned the makeup of a successful negotiation and how to avoid common errors. One skill practiced was how to clarify the interests of different parties involved in a negotiation. Finally, our Facilitation and Meeting Preparation Training prepared us to design a results-based meeting agenda and to effectively facilitate a conversation from said agenda. A useful exercise got us to plan a real company meeting based on the current work of our clients and staff.

Our Olympic Games competition, which complemented the capacity-building presentations and workshops, was split into two different parts: five competitive games and five team presentations. These games challenged staff to work together, practice strategic thinking, use skills developed during the capacity-building presentations, and most importantly, to have a bit of fun! Games included a photo scavenger hunt, a Harvest time-keeping quiz, a corn-hole tournament, a Heads-Up challenge, a basketball free-throw challenge, and a pyramid cup-stacking challenge. (For more information on any of these games, please see the attached document at the bottom of this page.

Teams race the clock to strategize and find items during the Photo Scavenger Hunt Staff Olympic Event. Teams were challenged to find a list of items in 30 minutes and return to the conference room on time in order to avoid risking disqualification. Item point values were split into two categories: “Easy” and “Rare” based on the difficulty of finding the item.

At the end of the week, each team gave a 40-minute presentation split into four parts: teaching an element of Clear Impact Scorecard, teaching an element of Results-Based Accountability, making a Turn-The-Curve Thinking presentation on a real Clear Impact performance measure, and facilitating a group conversation on a chosen topic.

Although each of our five teams performed extraordinarily well during the Olympic events and presentations, we recognized the first and second place winners of the competition with trophies. We’d like to take a moment here to congratulate team “Four Quadrants of Fury” and team “Winspiration” on their respective first and second place wins! We also recognized an MVP for the week and two different team members who tied for Most Improved Team Member of the week.

Our first place winners (team Four Quadrants of Fury) from left to right: Justin Miklas and Courtney Washington. (Karen Finn not pictured).

Our MVP for the week: Courtney Washington. Courtney was a great help in preparing the logistics for the week and making sure we were fed every day!

Our second place winners for the week from left to right: Adam Luecking, Demonta Whiting, and Michael Adrian. (Erika Bernabei not pictured).

Travis Becthold and Kayleigh Weaver tied for the most improved team members for the week!

Here, some of our staff share their valuable experiences with Employee Development Week:

“The Employee Development Week was a great opportunity to connect with the other members of Clear Impact. Since our organization is so spread out, it was a helpful way to build relationships with the people we don’t get to see everyday.”—Christopher Solomon, Contracts Coordinator

“I thought it was an excellent opportunity for staff to learn more about each other, our company, and the ways in which all of our work helps to create impact in organizations and communities.  Having a week-long staff Olympics that included opportunities to share the learning of the week and fun activities really helped to build teamwork!”–Karen Finn, Partner and Senior Consultant

“It was fantastic to learn more about my work personality type with Myers Briggs and to better understand how, as an extrovert, I can work on listening more and deciding when to talk less. A learning my clients, colleagues (and husband!) will benefit from”—Ilka Walkley, Senior Consultant

“Where a business invests its resources — time, money, effort — speaks to what the organization values most. When your employer cares enough to invest in you, the employee, that’s something worth treasuring. Employee development week was an invaluable investment in myself and my colleagues. After a few days of bonding, I walked away from the training sessions and social events closer to my cohort, more self aware with a clear understanding of our firm’s work and who we truly serve — families and communities.”–Lauren Chambers, Program Coordinator

“Employee development week was the best experience I have ever had when it comes to learning about colleagues’ personalities, their preferences and how to more effectively work with everyone the way they want to be worked with.”–Marc Stone, COO

If you are interested in hosting your own Employee Development week or Staff Olympic Games, you can download a description of our events and scoring system HERE to aide you.

Have you ever held your own Employee Development Week or similar capacity-building event? Let us know in the comments below! We would love to hear from you!