From company cricket tournaments to desert survival courses, teambuilding is big business, and the Middle East is emerging both as a developing market in this sector as well as a venue for challenging and different programmes.  Kathi Everden reports

Teambuilding hit the headlines recently, albeit in the sports pages of international media, when it was revealed that the venerated Tiger Woods was made to join in a singing session organised by the Ryder Cup team captain in a bid to generate fighting team spirit prior to the US/Europe golf tournament.

Unfortunately, the US failed to play in harmony and suffered yet another defeat, but the attempt to bond together a group of normally individualistic golf players signalled the value of teamwork, an area increasingly highlighted as a key to success in the corporate world.

This sector "designated teambuilding, team development, corporate bonding, and various other decidedly clunky terms "is one that is taking off in the Middle East, where potential to exploit the relatively immature nature of the corporate culture in the destination is exciting the interest of global specialists from overseas.

And, with increasing demand for new and challenging events from international clients, the region is also being targeted as a corporate playground for innovative products organised in conjunction with a conference or incentive "adding a new dimension to the MICE product on offer.

Across the world's mature markets, teambuilding continues to enjoy intrinsic value as a corporate tool but it is a sector where ROI has entered the equation, upping the ante for organisers to add in a measurement tool to justify expenditure.

According to Christophe Orgueil, director of learning and development at UK specialist Blue Hat, the events of 9/11 had a surprising impact on business:  Teambuilding used to be seen as a reward, a day out or a 'jolly', but now budgets have to be justified and there is more focus on development and bringing people together," she said.

Blue chip companies are being more careful with money and looking at the pennies in uncertain times "people have to be accountable for their investments and we have moved away from the situation where a company might just allocate a straight Ј15,000 for a good time."

Human resources and corporate strategy are the key elements in this brave new world and a business link is becoming vital for any team-building programme.

Briefs have become more specific and we now offer added value in the form of measurement tools and a post-event report with factual feedback addressing how we met the objectives of the company," said Orgueil.

We also need to suggest areas of development so we can build on what was traditionally a one-off event."

Director of Asia-based Tirian, Andrew Grant, concurs with this view of the increasing sophistication of the market. Most organisations now recognise that good teams require ongoing targeted improvement, not a one-off fix," she said.

Basic games that focus on the 'feel good' factor can be perceived as childish and are no longer as popular as programmes that are more intelligent in their approach, as companies have to justify the outcomes and see the results."

And, while fun and games has become serious business, Grant emphasised that 'teambuilding' itself is a term that now has more depth than the perceived notion of homogenising a cross section of people into a harmonious whole.

Quality teambuilding programmes should help people recognise their personal strengths and areas of challenge in the context of a team. They should also enable individuals to become more tolerant of each other and develop communication strategies vital in multi cultural regions such as Asia and the Middle East."

He stressed that teambuilding events should not simply promote 'group think' between like-minded people but instead encourage expressions of diversity while working with a common goal in mind.

But, as the science of teambuilding reaches more sophisticated levels and aspirations are on the rise, achievable results are not always matched by budgets or delivery.

According to Anne Thornley-Brown, president of Toronto-based Executive Oasis International, many companies still tend to view teambuilding as a discretionary expense.

It is a highly volatile sector and spending here is often cut in response to economic downturns and global events. There is a demand for shorter and shorter programmes except in upscale markets that are currently booming such as oil, gas and pharmaceutical companies," she said.

Companies such as ours have to be more creative in what we present and the key challenge is to differentiate yourself in the market by presenting options that focus on applications "however, clients are rarely realistic in their expectations."

Thornley-Brown said a cost per person of between US$200 and US$350 could be justified for a business related teambuilding session, dropping to US$100 for a team recreation session, but many companies allocate just US$50 and request multiple facilitators, debriefing and business applications.

One factor contributing to this 'sticker shock' is customer confusion about teambuilding versus team recreation since many organisers market activities that are strictly recreational and try to pass them off as teambuilding."

It's a trend that Tirian's Grant also robustly decries: We design programmes, we don't just run games," she said. Those DMCs that copy us have no concept of the thinking behind our events and why particular activities were set up.

We had one exercise where a team of bankers had to develop a strategy to cross a river and the whole point was they had to consider risk versus return, which is integral to their business "it was not just a matter of building a bridge, which was what outside observer would have seen," she said.

There is a need for education as the market expands as clients often don't know what to ask for, while a hotel might offer a teambuilding product that simply entails the recreation manager supervising a beach Olympics."

Orgueil has found similar trends in Europe, where teambuilding is moving away from the old image of outdoor games and bungee jumping.

Events should be based around learning and team dynamics, but it has to be a fun environment away from the office where participants can relax and have a good time away from office politics," she said.

With budgets slashed, what we have found is that the market wants a two-hour session that fits in with a conference or seminar perhaps, or a marketing plan launch in the morning tied in with a related teambuilding session in the afternoon."

While there is market for longer away-day retreats and survivor-type exercises, Tirian sees a great deal of growth in the conference-related sector.

By taking the intellectual content of the morning conference and building on this with a team session, participants can apply what they have heard about and it becomes a three-dimensional exercise from learning through to facilitation."

In response to this demand, those companies specialising in team development have become more cerebral in their product offerings, moving on from simple song and dance between-speech sessions to intricate games and events.

Blue Hat, for example, offers 39 different products ranging from a hunt for the Elixir of Life based loosely on the Da Vinci Code "a product that took 18 months to develop "to energisers such as Human Bingo and Cocktail Making.

Tirian has space, Antarctic, mystery and golf themes, while Executive Oasis offers a programme developed around the TV programme The Apprentice as well as desert survival and the building of an 'oil rig' Dubai or Oman.

Mickey MICE games?

One of the leading specialists in teambuilding, Catalyst, has its signature 'BeatsWork' samba percussion product, as well as '15 Famous Minutes' with delegates shooting a well-known film cut down to 15 minutes. There is also 'Corporate Body Building' requiring the team to spell out the company logo using themselves as raw material, and the 'Last Great Picture Show' photographic challenge.

In a bid to further distinguish its product range, local Middle East franchise Biz-Events has taken standard products and added a local element to tie in venue to agenda.

According to managing director, Hazel Jackson, when the company introduces into the region one of Catalyst's internationally licensed products from the UK, her team first try it out on themselves to familiarise themselves with its potential in the local market.

We are investing in 'Middle East' flavoured team events to offer companies a unique experience that will add value to their programmes in the Gulf; it's a perfect product for the inbound market," she said.

For participants, this can mean an Arabic music and drum session, a negotiation game based around a souk scenario, time out in Dubai to visit and photo designated sights such as mosques or markets, or a castaway programme on a deserted island.

While inbound business constitutes around one-third of Biz-Events' activities, with local corporate events making up the rest, Jackson sees huge growth on the horizon.

We envisage inbound market will become far more active in 2008 once hotel availability improves for larger groups," she said. International organisers are looking at Dubai now, although many currently just ship materials out from Europe (without being based here)."

Again, in line with global trends, small or not so small DMCs are getting in on the act offering up teambuilding as one of their products, without relevant expertise in the scientific delivery side of the business.

There is always the danger that these local companies think they can deliver teambuilding "and perhaps they can at smaller events with up to 20 delegates," stressed Jackson. However, the real power of Biz-Events is our ability to handle larger groups of 70, 150 or 500 plus, and keep everyone involved so companies feel they have achieved their objectives."

With five years in the market in Dubai, as well as the opening of a new office in Bahrain to develop business there as well as in Saudi Arabia, Biz-Events can claim sector leadership, but newer entrants such as UK-based MVM have found the region an equally profitable ground for teambuilding "and management there share Jackson's doubts about 'cowboy' operators.

Heading up MVM's Dubai office since its launch a year ago, Kate Bowery said, What I have found is a lot of companies who say they can do everything "PR organisations offering teambuilding, for instance."

Demand from the UK for instance is over whelming, but there is a lack of professionalism as operators here are no longer hungry for business, while the shortage of hotel rooms and high rates are another challenge."

As an alternative, Bowery said she does invite some groups to look at Muscat where, although flights are not so plentiful, practicalities on the ground are easier to deal with and local DMCs are willing to 'go the extra mile' to win business.

Despite operational difficulties, it is significant that MVM's regional operation is only its second overseas move after the opening of a Sydney office and the company sees a significant role for the Middle East as a midpoint conference venue.

Events here are accessible to clients both in Asia and Europe, and there is a huge variety of demand for event organisation from one-day desert treasure hunts to short-motivational sessions before a company's celebration dinner for instance."

Teambuilding is currently a smaller percentage of total business than in the UK and Australian offices, but Bowery expects the local element to rise as the region develops.

From our experience so far, local companies do a lot to bring their staff together, but more on a social basis for events such as family fun days "there is a higher demand for this type of event here than in the UK for example," she said.

As far as inbound conferences are concerned, adding in a teambuilding element can add a differential to the Dubai product, and those who have been here before and done the dhow and the dune dinner options, can look at something very different."

This type of progression is one that has been tried and tested by Tirian, which started out by developing in-conference programmes in Bali.

Hotels came to us as they could see companies coming in for a conference once or twice, but then having done all the tours and culture, needing something extra to bring them back again," said Andrew Grant.

We designed special events that had a Bali theme but offered more than the average tour, and the company has developed that there "but we still tailor make all our programmes."

For Tirian, the Middle East is seen as a natural expansion out of Asia, helped by the peripatetic nature of management executives who gravitate from one region to the other.

There are many people moving from Asia to the Middle East and this gives rise to cross cultural issues which we are used to dealing with "the latter region is probably unique in that 90 percent of the workforce is expatriate and companies need to address teamwork probably more than in other parts of the world."

Banks, hotels and oil companies in the Gulf have already employed Tirian's services and Grant is keen to capitalise on this momentum with the establishment of a franchise operation.

We are looking at running public seminars in Saudi Arabia in tandem with a consultancy there, and also have work in Oman and Qatar pending," she said. 

One major coup for the company was a casebook programme run at an Omani oil company in which a Chinese group had invested in a 40 percent share, sending over its nationals to join the primarily local workforce.

There was a great deal of tension between the two nationalities and the HR director brought us in to look at the problem "we interviewed 40 key personnel and as a result of information gleaned from this, organised a one-day programme at the Muscat InterContinental,"said Grant.

The focus was on collaboration and we demonstrated the stupidity of individualism at any price. What started as two hostile nationality groups ended up with them all sitting together and laughing and joking by the end of the day."

Equally beneficial was a teambuilding programme for the top nine executives of the Four Seasons Doha, where general manager Simon Casson called on Tirian's experience to galvanise his colleagues after the opening phase of the hotel.

Hotels are generally operationally focused but I am a strong fan of the whole process of executive development and team dynamics, and engaged Tirian to act as an outside facilitator," she said.

 The company had worked with Four Seasons in Singapore and were then engaged on a project with a bank in Doha, so I brought them in "the first task was to explain our company promise of 'intuitive personal service' and then agree on ways to develop this in delivery terms."

Two daylong sessions took place in the hotel's top suite, a far cry from the image of strenuous team development events, but for Casson, the results have set the management team on the right track to boost breakthrough performance in a competitive environment.

And, Grant sounds a warning against injecting too much of a competitive edge in teambuilding programmes: There is a value in adventure based activities but outdoor learning can alienate some people who like air-conditioned comforts, and it adds pressure to perform.

If people want to get out of the conference hall, we can take over a ballroom and turn it into Antarctica or outer space, for example."

In the UAE, the leading specialist in the great outdoors "Desert Rangers "is an obvious advocate of the value of reality-based events, emphasising the fun element as well as the opportunity to venture out in to the great outdoors.

However, general manager Mark Miller is strongly aware of the need to tailor activities to each individual group.  One size does not fit all and we talk through objectives, the group profile in terms of age, fitness, and the range of activity required with each prospective client," he said.

We can put in various levels of competitiveness and adapt our product to suit a family get together, a reward or a teambuilding exercise "putting in a facilitator to enhance the value of the physical activities we offer."

Taking groups out of their comfort zone can entail mountaineering and abseiling, kayaking and raft-building, dune buggy trails and camel riding, or, in a different way, holding a conference in an air-conditioned tent on an isolated mountain.

We are now moving in to more creative events such as UAE treasure hunts utilising GPS technology that showcase the variety of natural attractions in the country, and there is big interest from the local corporates as well as event organisers themselves, to whom we offer a net rate."

The appeal is evident from Desert Rangers' client list that ranges from British Telecom (self-drive safari programme) to Shell (two-day motivation conference on a desert island themed around Climb Every Mountain and culminating in a mountain trek).

Companies here have tended to address teambuilding by bringing in a motivational speaker to address a conference, but our aim is to get a group away from the crowds, to challenge them and promote social interaction."

One satisfied client has been the Austrade, the Australian trade commission that has 15 offices located through out the Middle East and North Africa, the largest of which is in Dubai.

According to Consul Commercial, James Wyndham, the objective was to bring in the offices once a year to look at ways of boosting trade to the region and of working together, as well as inviting representatives from other state government organisations to build a 'Team Australia' approach.

"We want to give an update on the latest developments throughout the Middle East, discuss industry sectors and build harmony so that if one office gets word of an export opportunity, they will spread this to other relevant offices - it' all about communication and the challenges we face, as well as a chance to meet and socialise."

Desert driving, trivial pursuits, teambuilding activities, barbecue and ad lib karaoke were on the agenda, and the whole day was rated a success by the participants: "By taking the annual team gathering off site for part of the time, it breaks up the event and avoids death by power point," said Wyndham, who emphasised that the day was organised with a serious business focus.

And, for the team-building sector as a whole, the Middle East is becoming an inviting business proposition, both as a source market and a venue.

Because of the multicultural nature of teams and the pace of growth, this region needs sophistication (in teambuilding programmes) as it is critical for companies to start performing very quickly "and teambuilding can be a fundamental driver to success," concluded Hazel Jackson.

Executive Oasis International
Desert Rangers