March 2009 Archives

By Karin Kapsidelis

Published: March 3, 2009

The bags of plastic parts and shiny screws might have been many things: something you wear on your head, one student guessed. A pen holder, said another.

But the sum of the parts was more than a classroom puzzle for Virginia Commonwealth University graduate students.

"You're going to build eight hands that will go on eight different people and change their families," said Todd Demorest, who oversaw a recent team-building lesson for students in the VCU School of Business' fast-track executive program for a master's in information systems.

The prosthetic hands will help children maimed by land mines -- about 2,000 accidents occur each month from the estimated 100 million devices planted in 60 countries.

The idea to help children who have lost hands to land mines came from industrial engineer Ernie Meadows and his wife, Marj, whose daughter Ellen was killed in a car accident. Meadows designed the prosthetic hand as a memorial for his daughter and has turned the project over to Rotary International.

Rotary works with Odyssey Teams Inc., a California-based company that offers philanthropic team-building exercises for businesses.

Demorest, a facilitator with Odyssey, said that by creating value for others, these workshops develop teamwork and leadership skills in a way that the typical ropes courses and beach volleyball games can't.

"This is real," he said. "It's not like a metaphor anymore."

The Helping Hands workshop showed the business students that their goals should be "something bigger than just building a product and making a buck," said John Testement, whose Glen Allen-based RoadMaps Consulting helped coordinate the VCU event.

He said the workshop also illustrated the need to avoid what can happen within a company when employees get "siloed" working on their own projects and "never look over the cubicle wall to see if they can help others."

That was a focus of the workshop. Students were divided into teams, but it wasn't a race to see which one could assemble the hand first. Team members were encouraged to stop and help other groups.

"Were we not able to collaborate with others, we would not have been able to put it together correctly," said student Kimion Walker, whose team discovered it was missing a piece.

At the start of the event, the teams didn't know their goal, although one student did guess they were building a mechanical hand.

When their work was done, the students saw of video of children receiving prosthetic hands. An artificial limb would cost about $3,000, according to Odyssey, but these hands are given to the children for free.

The VCU students decorated wooden boxes that will hold the hands they made and posed for pictures that will be given to the children.

It was the first time VCU has offered the Helping Hands workshop, said Jean B. Gasen, an associate professor and faculty adviser in the VCU information-systems department.

Students have told her the exercise put the challenges they face into a much different perspective, she said, and that the world would be a better place "if people could treat one another with the compassion that they felt on that day."

The workshop was part of the orientation for students in the 14-month master's program, and its lesson struck a chord with Walker.

"The key to effective leadership is to serve," she said.

The current economic crisis shows the need for leaders with a strong sense of values, she added, noting that in the Wall Street meltdown, the nation is seeing how "capability without integrity can be dangerous."

Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804-) 649-6119 or kkapsidelis@timesdispatch.com .

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) seems to be competing with "Green" on the business magazine covers and newspaper headlines. There are many interpretations of CSR, and the intent behind the actions taken and publicized by the organizations─most often either pro or con.

Opportunities abound for CSR events that are positive for all involved. An important consideration is what events will be selected. Often, employees have a very limited view of what their companies do in the CSR arena. They may be aware, for example, of a United Way campaign or a Wells for Water type fundraiser. Unless employees make the time to look on the company's internal website, they may not really understand the complexity or generosity of the company and the difference it makes around the world -- beyond its normal goods and services.

In these tumultuous times, organizations are facing a multitude of challenges, such as keeping the people in the company energized, ambitious, connected to their work, and in a positive mood; in other words, the ideal employee. It is hard to do anything exceptional on top of a lousy mood. The proper choice of CSR events can increase cross-functional networks, decrease communication silos, foster solution-based thinking and raise mood levels, and thus, productivity.

With the challenge (and scrutiny) of being in a "fishbowl" where the decisions of investments and cuts are critical and viewed and felt by many, a one-time tested choice is to allocate funds to the people. This allocation, with a specific ROI in mind, and with a process, tool, and/or service that is highly recommended can be a "brass ring" that is reachable and deemed worthy by all involved.

By investing CSR funds and time in the employees, they will feel included, taken care of, worthwhile and appreciated. They will also learn new skills and/or competencies that are essential to the game of business as their roles evolve. There is a belief that if a company--and the individuals in the company--treat their internal customers as well as their external customers, more often than not everything else will work out, even better than expected at all levels of the business.

Today, more and more companies are turning to a melding of CSR/philanthropy and team building events for their employees. Companies can no longer afford to have team building just for fun or entertainment. Employees will rarely stay on one team. It is imperative that resources spent on building a team will create the capacity for individuals to make powerful choices and blend more easily as they move from team to team.

These hybrid team building events are a fabulous place to bring corporate values and/or targeted points to life. Participants have an opportunity to connect with their co-workers as they participate in altruistic activities (i.e., prosthetic hands for land mine victims, bicycles for less fortunate youth, playhouses for children hospitals, etc.). These programs provide a visceral experience that anchors the learning points with emotion, which lasts longer than a PowerPoint presentation or a team photo. In addition, the employee has a "face" to the people affected by the company's CSR initiatives and/or the benefits of where the company contributes. And perhaps more important, they, too, will feel as if they are being corporate socially responsible with all the pride, gratitude and humility that comes with it.

The cynicism that often goes along with team building events is diminished in these highly developed and relevant training events. The value is discovered at the outset and continues beyond the classroom walls. Those who are cynics have progressed to becoming skeptics; the skeptics to "on the bus"; the others to full-blown players on the team full of ambition. This ambition is fueled by their connection to who they work with; the work they do; and the impact they make internally and externally in this world that needs a little CSR everywhere.

When in a conversation that is aimed at team building, target a program that can provide a wide ROI for the employees, their teams, and the internal and external aspects of the business; offer them the opportunity to put their thumbprint on something that touches near and far. Philanthropic team building is a sure way to hit the CSR mark at many levels.

About the Author
Todd Demorest is the lead facilitator with Odyssey Teams, Inc, a Chico, California-based firm that helps business leaders keep their eye on the prize by building a stronger organization through processes designed to promote team building, innovation, enhanced customer service and greater profitability. Todd can be reached at todd@odysseyteams.com.