IHG topped off their annual Greater China Leaders’ Meeting with an afternoon of fun interactive team building activities to assist in reinforcing the conference's key messages - Team Collaboration, Communication, New Ways of Working, Customer Service Focus. Held at the Crowne Plaza Suzhou, teams of Vice Presidents, Regional Directors, Regional and Area General Managers participated in Bean around the World as a reinforcement of key learning in this fun experiential business game.
The first session of the afternoon consisted of the high energy, collaborative icebreaker called Knowing Me, Knowing You. Delegates were encouraged to meet as many colleagues as possible, discovering things that they have in common. Numbers of people met were then tallied up resulting in winning teams and individuals.
Bean Around the World
During the Bean Around the World activity, teams worked as coffee syndicates, buying and selling coffee beans for the highest profit. After receiving specific instructions and market information, the room was abuzz with energy as teams discussed the best strategy, negotiating and trading with other teams.
At one point during the game, a change element was introduced, forcing teams to quickly adapt their strategy, resulting in more frenzied negotiations. A suspenseful auction was fought out between two teams to grab the last supply of precious coffee beans.
Competitive or Collaborative??
What had seemed like a purely competitive activity at the beginning, revealed itself to be an exercise of a unified vision and competitive collaboration as the syndicates’ money and coffee were tallied, and the syndicate with the highest value winning the exercise.
“Team Building Asia took the time to fully understand what we were trying to achieve so they could build a program that would fulfil our aim. Their experience with IHG ensured that the activities were customized to our mission and values. The delegates had a good time networking and practising new ways of working together towards one vision. The facilitation was excellent, which ensured the afternoon to be enjoyable and memorable for all. We're really pleased with the results and look forward to building our relationship with TBA in the future.”
Winnie Ng, Vice President, Human Resources, Greater China, IHG
