| Announcing our new online team building web resource - TeamBuildingGuru.com
As corporate team building experts since 1989, we are launching a new division of our business - TeamBuildingGuru.com. It's the online team building resource you always needed, but never knew was available. This site is a great resource as a follow-up to our programs.
Find the latest team building activities, articles, models, tips, tools and resources at your fingertips 24/7.
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Our 2005 Workshop schedule.
Contact us for more information about any of these workshops.
September 14, 2005
Self-Facilitated Team Learning
Cleveland, Ohio
Executive Edge staff will be teaching this one-day workshop. We will review our Self-Facilitated Team Learning model, and show you how to use it to enhance learning is all sizes of groups.
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September 15 & 16, 2005
Large Group Team Building, Program Design
Cleveland, Ohio
Executive Edge staff will be teaching this two-day Large Group Design workshop. We will share with you our models and methods to work with a large group of participants all at one time. This is a continuation of the models learned in the Self-Facilitated Team Learning workshop, but can also be a stand alone workshop too.
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October 18 - 20, 2005
Experience AI: Integrating Appreciative Inquiry with Experiential Learning
Cleveland, Ohio
Miriam Ricketts and Jim Willis from Executive Edge will be teaching the entire 3-day workshop. We hope to see you at our workshop.
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November 15, 2005
Branding Yourself
Cleveland, Ohio
Executive Edge staff will be teaching this one-day Branding Yourself workshop. Not only is this a great way to move your career to the next level, but it's also a great networking opportunity.
Fall 2004 Workshops we attended:
September 19 –22, 2004
Second International Conference on Appreciative Inquiry– Creating Extraordinary Organizations for Business and Society
Doral Golf Resort and Spa
Miami, Florida
We will be presenting a workshop on Monday, September 20th from 4 - 6pm on Integrating Appreciative Inquiry with Experiential Learning: Large-Group Designs That Build Critical Mass for Change. We hope to see you at our workshop and our conference booth.
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September 28 – October 2, 2004
Experiential Learning: Sustaining Global Partnerships in a Changing World
The Hyatt Regency Hotel
Miami, Florida
Executive Edge will be presenting a workshop on Friday, October 1st from 8 to 10am on Integrating Appreciative Inquiry with Experiential Learning. We hope to see you at our workshop and our conference booth.
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November 4 –7, 2004
32nd Annual AEE Conference – Anchored in Learning, Charting New Possibilities
Norfolk Waterside Marriott
Norfolk, Virginia
Executive Edge will be presenting two workshops on Friday, November 5th. Friday morning we will present on Integrating Appreciative Inquiry with Experiential Learning: Large-Group Designs that Build Critical mass for Change. Friday afternoon we will present on Self-Facilitated Team Learning™. We hope to see you at our workshops and our conference booth in the main exhibit hall.
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and Executive Edge, Inc. Prepare Future Leaders
Spring 2004 - For the third year, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and Executive Edge, Inc., cosponsored a Leadership Development Program for Outstanding High School Students in cooperation with the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland. Twenty-five local students participated in two Sunday morning seminars on leadership and team management. The program was designed to raise awareness of diabetes and the Verizon Wireless Swim for Diabetes.
"Students learned how to develop leadership skills, recognize and refine those skills, understand themselves, and promote communications with peers, and develop a sense of responsibility for others in order to truly make a difference," said Andy Powell of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.
Executive Edge Unveils New Approaches to Experiential Learning on Alexander Haig's World Business Review TV Series
Follow this link to see the WBR TV segment via streaming video.
February 2004 (Boca Raton, FL) --- Multi-Media Productions (USA), Inc. announces the appearance of Executive Edge on World Business Review, hosted by General Alexander Haig.
We head to Walt Disney World for this segment, where leading professional services firm Ernst & Young takes its top interns for an intensive week of fun, interactive learning including an experiential learning component by Executive Edge. Following the implementation of the experiential program, retention rates have soared.
“We’ve found that progressive companies are taking team building and professional growth to the next level through innovative and exciting approaches to corporate learning. We selected Executive Edge for this series because of its unique position in this space,” said Associate Producer Jane Henry.
The segment
focuses on Executive Edge's hands-on approach to corporate learning.
From the ‘alien autopsy’ to the ‘rising stars
rocket launch,’ emerging and established professionals have
fun while getting a full understanding of a company’s mission
and core values.
Executive Edge's President and Chief Visionary Officer, Jim Willis,
along with Dan Black, Ernst & Young’s Regional Manager
– Recruiting for the Americas, will take a closer look at
experiential learning and the impact it’s had on their practice.
“Experiential learning is the most effective adult learning tool for workplace learning. Vis-à-vis traditional learning, where content is delivered through lectures or presentations. Experiential learning is engaging. It takes place in purposefully constructed ‘micro-worlds’ in which content is delivered and potentials are discovered while the learners are immersed within the context and community in which the learning will be applied,” said Willis.
“Executive Edge offers a creative and innovative approach to team building. They provide knowledgeable, friendly staff. Working with the people at Executive Edge was one of the most reassuring and rewarding experiences in dealing with our event. Fun, energetic, super experience!” said Black.
Follow this link to see the WBR TV segment via streaming video.
Northern Ohio Live Honors our own Elissa Katz
Our Executive Producer and second year MBA student at Baldwin Wallace College, Elissa Katz, was selected as a Rainmaker of Tomorrow by Northern Ohio Live. On November 19, 2003 Elissa was recognized at the 6th Annual Rainmakers Breakfast, which honors Northern Ohio female leaders who "make it rain dollars" for their organizations. Follow this link to learn more, http://www.bw.edu/academics/bus/nl/march2004/a6/index.html.
Drum Sessions Protect Employees from Burnout
Do you or your employees feel stressed out or suffer from job burnout? If you encounter high stress situations at work, perhaps this money saving approach can help. Our newest team building program package, rhythmworks, will come right onsite, anyplace, anytime. The protocol is 1 hour, and needs about 15-50 people to create a great experience.
Please read the article below for more information about how a rhythmworks session can help your organization.
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Drum sessions Protect Employees from Burnout
Thu Feb 19, 5:24 PM ET
By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Participating in drumming sessions may help people defend themselves from the stress and burnout that can cause them to leave their jobs, according to the findings of a new study.
In Yahoo! Health
All study participants were employees at a nursing home, an industry with an unusually high turnover rate. When staffers at one Pennsylvania facility participated in six drumming sessions with their coworkers, however, they experienced nearly a 50-percent improvement in mood, including a decrease in feelings of fatigue, anxiety and depression.
Moreover, during the year following the drumming sessions, 49 fewer employees resigned than had the previous year, saving the facility nearly $400,000 in costs associated with training new hires.
These findings suggest that incorporating drumming circles into the lives of employees can be a cost-effective means of helping workers and reducing turnover, both in long-term care and other industries, study author Dr. Barry Bittman said.
"We're not just talking about long-term care," said Bittman, who is based at the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pennsylvania. "There's no reason this wouldn't work" in other contexts, as well, he noted.
Workers in long-term care typically exhibit a turnover rate estimated at between 40- and 100-percent per year, which research shows is largely a result of emotional factors, such as burnout.
During the study, Bittman and his colleagues asked 112 employees at the Wesbury United Methodist Retirement Community to participate in drumming circles for one hour per week for six weeks. Before and after the six-week sessions, participants completed questionnaires designed to assess their mood.
Participants came from all parts of the facility, and included nurses, dietary workers, accountants, administrators and housekeepers.
In the drumming sessions, participants performed a series of exercises, including beating the drum to the rhythm of their own name, copying the rhythm of others' names, representing their feelings via drumbeats, playing along to music, and discussing ongoing stresses with the group, if they so chose.
Immediately after the sessions were completed, people showed a 46-percent improvement in mood. Six weeks after the sessions ended, the same people showed a more than 62-percent improvement in mood, suggesting that emotional boost can continue long after the music has ended.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Margaret Bailey of the Mind-Body Wellness Center, who facilitated most of the drumming sessions, said she suspected the exercise helps people because hearing the rhythm of others' names introduced coworkers, and playing together "creates a connectiveness and energy within the group."
This connectiveness, in turn, enables people to feel supported by others, talk about their problems and cope with them before a situation escalates into something that makes workers want to leave their jobs, Bailey noted.
According to Bittman, making music may bring people together better than other group activities, such as group retreats or team sports, because it is more cost-effective and accessible to people of all physical abilities. Furthermore, music may inspire more openness to others by asking people to adopt "a level of communication (they) weren't accustomed to," he noted.
Bittman added that he uses similar techniques with patients living in long-term facilities and their families, as well as those with cancer and other chronic illnesses.
The study, funded by Yamaha, appears in the journal Advances in Mind-Body Medicine. Bittman and his colleagues discussed the results Thursday during a press conference in New York.
SOURCE: Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, Fall/Winter 2003.
Executive Edge will be presenting a workshop at the 2nd Annual International Conference on Appreciative Inquiry: Creating Extraordinary Organizations for Business and Society at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Florida September 19–22, 2004.
Jim Willis
and Miriam Ricketts along with one of their clients, will present
a case study of an integrated Appreciative Inquiry,
Experiential Learning program. For more information about the
conference visit http://www.aiconsulting.org/conference2004/index.htm .
Executive Edge will be presenting a workshop at the ABSEL conference in Las Vegas, Nevada March 24-26, 2004.
Jim Willis and Miriam Ricketts will present a workshop on the topic, Appreciative Team Building. For more information about the conference visit www.absel.org.
Executive Edge presented a workshop at the 2004 International Challenge Course Symposium and Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.
Jim Willis and Jason Klein will presented a workshop on the topic, Experience AI: Integrating Appreciative Inquiry and Experiential Learning on Friday, January 23rd. For more information about the conference visit www.acctinfo.org/conference.
A New Addition to our Program Packages and Experience AI Workshop:
RhythmWorks is a group of people fully collaborating and having fun while playing a chorus of tuned drums and percussion.
Our newest workshop:
Three-days of community-building and interactive learning experiences with Dolphins in the Florida Keys!
"It is through understanding the patterns in nature that we will discover our best opportunities for building collaborative communities." -Margaret Wheatly
For the fifth year in a row, Executive Edge presented at the Annual AEE International Conference. The conference was held in Vancouver, British Columbia.
On Friday, November 7, 2003 we presented...
Experiencing Appreciative Inquiry: Integrating AI with Experiential Learning
Miriam Ricketts, Jim Willis
This highly interactive workshop explored how Corporate Experiential Learning (CEL) models, equipment and initiatives heighten and intensify the AI process - increasing spontaneity and depth of learning, and providing immediate opportunities to practice "change" behaviors in safe "micro-world" environments. Workshop participants will left with (1) a general understanding of integrated AI/CEL process, (2) sources for experiential initiative and equipment, and (3) proven AI/CEL designs that address OD topics such as change leadership, bridging siloed organizations, building cross-functional and cross-cultural relationships, growing leadership culture and aligning organization vision.
(The mission of the Association for Experiential Education is to develop and promote experiential education. The Association is committed to support professional development, theoretical advancement, and evaluation of experiential education worldwide.)
Our book:
Experience AI: A Practitioner's Guide to Integrating Appreciative Inquiry with Experiential Learning
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The book was recently completed by Miriam Ricketts and Jim Willis as an addition to the Taos Institute's Focus Book Series on Appreciative Inquiry (AI).
The book describes the value of integrating AI with Experiential Learning (EL) for inspiring people to reach their greatest potential together.
In the book, Jim and Miriam describe the process for integrating AI with EL, provide case studies of programs where AI and EL were successfully integrated and invite you to continue a conversation for future application and development of the concepts.
To order your copy go to The Taos Institute or Amazon websites.
BOOK REVIEW:
“I should tell you that the book has been unbelievably useful to me - I have used it for at least six separate client team building processes so far this fall, and it constantly provides me with benchmarks and ways of looking at the process that is ROCK SOLID - both the continuous learning cycle, and the 4-D approach.”
Celes Davar
Earth Rhythms
To read an excerpt from the book, follow this link.
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Executive Edge, Inc. was a sponsor and workshop presenter for The First International Conference on Appreciative Inquiry: Accelerating Positive Change, October 2001.
This premier event brought together the foremost practitioners and scholars of Appreciative Inquiry with bold innovators who wanted to harness the power of positive change in their organizations to:
Discover the best of what this innovative process offers
Dream of the new skills that will enable you to manage change more effectively
Design your plan for implementing new ideas, tools, and methods
Destiny create your own future!
Executive Edge, workshop was titled: Make the Change Come Alive: Integrating AI with Experiential Learning
We've been voted into the Lake-Geauga FastTrack 50 for the second straight year!
What is the FastTrack 50?
The Lake-Geauga FastTrack 50 encourages and promotes economic development in Northeastern Ohio. Founded in 1993, the FastTrack 50 identifies and celebrates the 50 fastest-growing companies in Lake and Geauga counties.
Stay tuned... we will be in an upcoming special edition section in The News-Herald.
To receive additional information e-mail us at info@executiveedgeinc.com or call us at 800.632.3343.
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