Herzberg’s two factor theory and workplace satisfaction

My interest and inquisitive nature in a deeper understanding of people spurred me into studying psychology for my bachelors, and throughout my studies I have always been curious about motivational psychology and social behaviors. It wasn’t long before this curiosity led me to come across Herzberg’s two factor theory; and as all conventional and modern psychology theories related to motivation goes, it is undeniable that this theory was clearly influenced by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. And while Maslow’s theory was build on a foundation of 5 levels of needs, Herzberg went on further to add another dimension to these needs and hence giving birth to his two factor theory also known as Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory.

Among students studying psychology, it seems almost general knowledge that there are always two sets of factors that affecting any individual on any given day. External factors refer to external or things that you do not have control over, such as natural disasters, accidents or in the context of this article such as business climate and economic conditions; while internal factors refers to one’s resilience to different aptitudes among other intrinsic factors.

As mentioned earlier for his theory, Herberg divided the needs into 2 sets of factors:

- Motivators (examples of motivators are challenging work, recognition for personal or individual’s achievement, responsibilities, involvement in decision making, meaningful work and sense of importance and significance to his/her organization) are efforts that contributes to positive satisfaction but are derived directly from the intrinsic conditions and aspects of the job itself, such as acceptance, recognition, achievement, or personal growth, and

- Hygiene factors (examples of hygiene factors are status, job security, salary, fringe benefits, work conditions, good pay, paid insurance, vacations) are factors that do not give positive satisfaction or lead to higher motivation, and their absence will lead to dissatisfaction. Herzberg used the term “hygiene” in the sense that these are maintenance factors. These factors are primarily extrinsic to the work itself, and include aspects such as company policies, supervisory practices, or wages/salary. Interestingly and not without rationale, Herzberg often referred to hygiene factors as “KITA” factors, which is an acronym for “kick in the ass”, the process of providing incentives or threat of punishment to make someone do something.

According to Herzberg, discrepancies in the hygiene factors causes dissatisfaction among employees in a workplace. In order to remove dissatisfaction in a work environment, these hygiene discrepancies must be eliminated. Herzberg mentioned that there are several ways that this can be done but some of the most important/sure-fire ways to decrease dissatisfaction would be to pay reasonable wages, ensuring job security for the employees, and to create a positive culture in the workplace.

Through his studies and stronger empirical support (compared to Maslow’s theory), Herzberg considered the following hygiene factors from highest to lowest importance: company policy, supervision, employee’s relationship with their boss, work conditions, salary, and relationships with peers.

Reducing/removing dissatisfaction is only one half of the task of the two factor theory. The other half requires increasing satisfaction in the workplace. This can be done by improving on or increasing motivating factors. Motivation factors carry an imperial importance to motivate an employee to higher performance. Herzberg went on to further elaborate and classified our actions and how and why we do them, for example, if you perform a work related action because you have to then that is classed as “movement”, but if you perform a work related action because you want to then that is classed as “motivation”. In other words, the initiative taken behind an action classifies whether an action is a movement or motivation. Herzberg thought it was important to prioritize eliminating job dissatisfaction (eliminating discrepancies in the hygiene factors) before going onto creating conditions for job satisfaction simply because the efforts behind the two would work against each other.

According to Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory there are four possible combinations:

1. High Hygiene + High Motivation: The ideal situation where employees are highly motivated and have few complaints.
2. High Hygiene + Low Motivation: Employees have few complaints but are not highly motivated. The job is viewed as a form of sustenance or a paycheck.
3. Low Hygiene + High Motivation: Employees are motivated but have a lot of complaints. A situations where the job is exciting and challenging but salaries and work conditions are not up to par.
4. Low Hygiene + Low Motivation: This is the worst situation where employees are not motivated and have many complaints.

Herzberg’s theory focuses on the importance of internal job factors as motivating forces for employees. He designed it to increase job enrichment for employees. Herzberg wanted to create the opportunity for employees to take part in planning, performing, and evaluating their work. He suggested a few ways of doing this:

- Removing some of the control management has over employees and increasing the accountability and responsibility they have over their work. This would lead to an increase in employee autonomy.

- Building and creating natural work units where and when it is possible. An example would be allowing employees to create a whole unit or section instead of only allowing them to create part of it.

- Providing regular and continuous feedback on productivity and job performance directly to employees instead of through supervisors.

- Encouraging employees to take on new and challenging tasks and becoming experts at a task.

Critics:

Although Maslow and Herzberg’s theories have been significant to the humanist and motivational psychology; it has been pointed out repeatedly that there are inadequacies in the need for hierarchy and motivation-hygiene theories. The most common criticism for both of these theories is that it contains relatively explicit assumption that happy and satisfied workers produce more, even though this might not be the case; and that happier workers may not be more productive.

Another alarming criticism is that these and other statistical theories are preoccupied with explaining “average/common” behaviour, despite substantial differences between individuals that may impact one’s motivational factors. For instance, what might be a motivational factor for an individual may not be another’s motivator. An example of this is that in their pursuit of status a person might take a balanced view and strive to pursue several behavioural paths in an effort to achieve a combination of personal status objectives.

Maslow hierarchy of needs and Teambuilding

Resonating Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory of a person and applying it in a Team.
I have always been intrigued by theories created by the founding fathers of Psychology, and among these founding fathers, Abraham Maslow is perhaps and arguably one of the more profound ones. He stressed the importance of focusing on positive qualities in people as opposed to treating them as a “bag of symptoms”, which led him to found and create his theory best known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

His theory, namely Maslow hierarchy of needs suggests that there are 5 levels of motivation and each level has to be achieved before one can proceed to the next level. These 5 levels are namely, Physiological needs, Safety Needs, Belongingness and love needs, Esteem needs and finally self-actualization.

For the rest of this article, although profoundly abstract, this article would demonstrate how Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory can be applied into the Teambuilding framework.

First of all, the most basic level, Physiological needs refers to the physical requirements for human survival. In Maslow’s context, an individual has to first satisfy this level of needs before him or her can proceed on to the next level of needs. In the context of Teambuilding, the team must have some form of compensation or revenue for it to continue its survival.

The second level refers to safety needs; safety needs refer to absence of threats to physical safety such as war, natural disaster or violence. Safety needs also include personal security, financial security, health and well being and safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts. In the context of an organization or a team, it would refer to the trust and faith in the skill sets of the individual team members and that each team member would have the backing for one another. It could refer to competition from other competing teams and/or organizations which could threaten the source of revenue, resources or compensation. Hence the team would have to ensure that their survivability is ensured.

Next level along the hierarchy of needs would be love and belonging. Superficially, this level of needs refer to the interpersonal relationships and feelings of belongingness; that said, it is highly important for an individual to achieve love and belongingness as deficiency in this level of needs can override the need of safety as witnessed in children who cling to abusive parents resulted with negative impact to the individual’s ability to form and maintain emotionally significant relationships. In the context of a team, it would refer to the loyalty of the members towards one another and if they feel a sense of belongingness to the team and if the team’s mission and values resonate with the individual. It would be of imperial importance for the team member to resonate with the team’s mission and values or in the very least align his/her values with the organization’s/team’s.

With the previous three levels of needs satisfied, the next level of needs would be Esteem needs. Everyone has a need to feel respected which includes the need to have self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem refers to the need/desire to be recognized, accepted and value by others. Maslow identified that most people have the need for stable and consistent self-respect and self-esteem. Malsow also noted that there is a “lower version” and a higher version” of esteem needs. The lower version refers to the need for respect from others (such as fame, status, recognition and attention) and the higher version presents itself as a need for self respect (an example is that an individual may have a need for strength, competence mastery of a certain skill , self confidence and independence). Maslow noted that this higher version would take precedence over the lower version as the higher version depends on individual competence through experience and deprivation of these needs may lead to inferiority complex, weakness and helplessness.

Esteem needs for a team could most likely be referred to branding or brand establishment. The need for an established and recognized brand is almost similar to Malsow’s identification of the need for stable self-respect and self-esteem. While the lower version of esteem needs seem to resonate with the principles of having a strong and recognizable brand, the higher version of esteem needs would refer to the team members achieving strong competency levels in what they are doing, professionalism and a high standard in its industry.
Maslow also emphasized that while he originally thought that the needs of humans had strict guidelines, he came to believe that the hierarchies are interrelated rather than sharply separated and that esteem needs and the subsequent levels are not strictly separated; instead, the levels are closely related. Thus, in the context of an organization or a team, the subsequent levels or the basic needs of survival and safety are just as important as belongingness to a team or a mission and also as important as developing core competency levels with professionalism.

The next level, self-actualization refers to what a person’s full potential is and the realization of that potential of that potential. In other words, “What a man can be, he must be”; for this level, individuals may perceived or focus this need specifically, such as becoming an ideal chef or in other scenarios, it may be expressed in paintings, pictures or inventions. Maslow went on to mention that the individual must master the previous needs in order to understand this level of need.

In the context of a Team or an organization, the Team/Organization would strive to achieve what is their ideal form in terms of utilizing individual’s strengths and weaknesses to complement one another.

In his later years, Maslow discovers a further dimension of needs, namely self transcendence. Throughout this process, he criticize his own version on self-actualization; “the self only finds its actualization in giving itself to some higher goal outside oneself, in altruism and spirituality”. In other words, if a team were to reach this level, it would be giving itself a higher goal outside the Team itself. The Team/Organization would be looking at developing the industry, reshaping the industry, bringing or moving the industry as a whole. The Team would be concentrating its efforts into developing leaders and the direction of its vision as well.
With all these theories in mind, it begs the question of why would this Hierarchy of needs theory be useful in developing Teams or Individuals? Maslow theorize this theory in an effort to understand how do people improve themselves and why and what was their motivation; thus, if we know if an individual is on a certain level, what kind and type of motivation he or she or the Team requires to move up to the next level. Although there have been critics saying that this manner of understanding people is humanistic in nature rather than contesting on the facts that humans are perverse in nature, nonetheless, it is a useful theory in understanding and finding out how to motivate an individual or a Team.

Fundamentals of Teambuilding

As we identified ourselves as Adventure Learning facilitators whom organize and customize Teambuilding programmes on a regular basis, I came to realization that our learning curve here though steep, carries a very different model of learning. The current model of learning requires On-The-Job Trainees to experience the different elements of a programme before undergoing a deeper understanding of theoretical models and the rationale, needs and uses of these models; this begs the understanding of the general concepts developed by social scientists and how we should apply these concepts into our daily programmes, and if so, which of these concepts are more relevant to us.

Teambuilding is defined as the process of utilising various methods of interventions that are targeted at enhancing social relations and clarifying team members’ roles with the ultimate objective of increasing efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the organisation’s objectives, mission and vision.

Traditionally, these activities usually assign tasks to different members of the team to solve through collaborative means. Teambuilding activities are deliberately structured to surface interpersonal problems that affect functionality of the team and while facilitating this process could address current and potential issues; it also carries the possibility to resolve these issues as well.

Teambuilding, as according to Klein is commonly used for group development interventions in organizations today. Of all organizational interventions, team-development interventions were found to have the largest effects on financial measures of organizational performance.

Team building generally sits within the theory and practice of organizational development; it could be employed in many organisations or non-formal organisations and is applicable to sports teams, school groups, armies, flight crews and other contexts. Although past literature has raised many issues on the conceptual definition and understanding of team building, there is now, consensus and conceptual clarity about what team building is composed of. Its four components are:

• Goal setting: Aligning around goals
• Interpersonal-relationship management: Building effective working relationships
• Role clarification: Reducing team members’ role ambiguity
• Problem solving: Finding solutions to team problems

Goal setting refers to a form of intervention that emphasizes on setting objectives and developing individual and team goals. Team members become involved in action planning to identify ways to achieve goals. It is designed to strengthen team member motivation to achieve team goals and objectives. By identifying specific outcome levels, teams can determine what future resources are needed. With a clear action plan and objectives, resources would be more focus on achieving the specific objectives. Individual characteristics (e.g. team member motivation) can also be altered by use of this intervention. Successful goal settings help the teams to work towards the same outcomes and make them more task and action oriented.

The second component, role clarification refers to a form of intervention that emphasizes increasing communication among team members regarding their respective roles within the team and identifying their individual roles and possible contributions. Team members improve their understanding of their own and others’ respective roles and duties within the team. It includes an understanding of the talent that exists on the team, and how best to use it, and allows members to understand why clear roles are important. The members should also realize that they are interdependent and the failure of one team member leads to the failure of the entire team.

Problem solving is a form of intervention which emphasizes identifying major task-related problems within the team. Team members become involved in action planning, implementing solutions to problems identified, and evaluating those solutions. Problem Solving, as a form of intervention is also critical as it requires the team to self-diagnose and self reliant. If teams are good in problem-solving skills, they are less likely to need external interventions to solve their problems and in the future, much more cost efficient.

Interpersonal relations management refers to the intervention which emphasizes increasing teamwork skills (i.e. communication, open sharing and mutual understanding). This intervention is to help team members develop trust in one another and increase confidence in the team. It requires the use of a facilitator or a third party to develop mutual trust and open communication between team members. As team members achieve higher levels of trust, cooperation and team characteristics can be changed as well.

In other words, a Teambuilding session must be able to address at least 1 of these components, or in part, able to subtly suggest or surface probable underlying conflicts or in the very least, suggest propensity towards resolving situations or conflicts lying within the environment of team building.

Klein, C., Diazgranados, D., Salas, E., Le, H., Burke, C. S., Lyons, R. & Goodwin, G. F. 2009, Does Team Building work?. Small Group Research

Salas, E., Diazgranados, D., Klein, C., Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Goodwin, G. F., & Halpin, S. M. (2009, 12). Does Team Training Improve Team Performance? A Meta-Analysis. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 50(6), 903-933. doi: 10.1518/001872008X375009

To lead an orchestra, you must turn your back against the audience.

People in your organisation are not sugarcane, they are your trees. You are the gardener, while your job is to facilitate their growth while they are your biggest assets.

Team building differs from team training in a number of ways, it is not necessarily formal or systematic in nature; it does not necessarily target skill-based competencies, and is generally conducted in settings that are not in the actual environment where the team conducts its day-to-day operations.

Team building core principles

Among the 4 components, it would seem that the easiest component one can manage on his/her own to the biggest extent would be arguable interpersonal relationship management. While in a team setting, strong and positive interpersonal relationship management might not surface strong return on investment, it is more than necessary for a team to run in the long run.

In Stephen M.R. Convery’s book “The Speed of Trust”, he theorizes that trust always affect two outcomes, namely speed and cost.  economics of trust in which more trust equals to less speed and less cost.
While team building doesn’t necessarily defines as building up the individual’s competency in his/her skills set to increase the productivity of the team; it does however, requires each individual to contribute their strengths (and plausibly individual’s weakness as well) to complement the rest of the team.

Trust and its importance in the process of Team building

4 components, of which, the most xxxxx is : Interpersonal – relationship management

There are 2 types of trust in a work place: Namely, trust in your competency and trust in your character. Cost of trust is xxxxx, and interpersonal relationship is built on this trust.

Prove that social emotional learning will help interpersonal –relationship management.

These team-development interventions have proven to have positive effects on cognitive and effective processes and performance team outcomes.

While team building doesn’t necessarily defines as building up the individual’s competency in his/her skills set to increase the productivity of the team; it does however, requires each individual to contribute their strengths (and plausibly individual’s weakness as well) to complement the rest of the team. More importantly, it requires each individual to be socially aware of their personal and team mates’ strengths and weakness. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (www.casel.org), Social and Emotional Learning core competencies are made up of five interrelated sets of cognitive and behavioral competencies; namely, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.

Self awareness refers to the ability to recognize and detect one’s emotions and thoughts and their influence on behaviour while accurately assessing his/her strengths and limitations and possessing a well grounded sense of confidence and optimism.

Self-management refers to the ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts and behaviours effectively in different situations; including managing one’s stress, impulses and motivation while working towards his/her goal.

Social Awareness refers to the ability to empathise with other’s perspective while understanding the social and ethical norms of behaviours of other cultures.

Relationship skills refer to the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals including a strong ability to communicate clearly and negotiate constructively and seeking and offering help when needed.

Responsible decision making refers to the ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behaviour and social interactions under the consideration of ethical standards, societal norms, well-being of others and consequences.

Increasing the key domains of Social and emotional skills would increase interpersonal-relationship management.

There are five interrelated sets of cognitive, affective and behavioural competencies in SEL and they are clustered as five key domains of social and emotional skills.

Key Domains of Social and Emotional Skills	Description
Self Awareness	Identifying and recognising emotions
	Accurate self-perception
	Recognising strengths, needs and values
	Self-efficacy
	Spirituality
Social Awareness	Perspective taking
	Empathy
	Appreciating diversity
	Respect for others
Self Management	Impulse control and stress management
	Self-motivation and discipline
	Goal setting and organisational skills
Relationship Management	Communication, social engagement and building relationships
	Working cooperatively
	Negotiation, refusal and conflict management
	Seeking and providing help
Responsible Decision Making	Problem identification and situation analysis
	Problem solving
	Evaluation and reflection
	Personal, moral and ethical responsibility

Team building was originally a group process intervention aimed at improving interpersonal relations and social interactions. Over time, this activity has developed to address best practices for achieving results, meeting goals and accomplishing tasks. It refers to the activities in which teams can engage to change their context, composition or team competencies to improve performance. It is distinct from team training, which is also a team-development intervention that is designed to improve team functioning and effectiveness.
Team building differs from team training in a number of ways. Team building is not necessarily formal or systematic in nature, does not target skill-based competencies, and is typically done in settings that are not in the actual environment where the team works on the task.

Team building generally sits within the theory and practice of organizational development, but can also be applied to sports teams, school groups, armies, flight crews and other contexts. There have been many issues in past literature about the conceptual definition of team building. However, now there is consensus and conceptual clarity about what team building constitutes. Its four components are:

• - Goal setting: Aligning around goals
• - Interpersonal-relationship management: Building effective working relationships
• - Role clarification: Reducing team members’ role ambiguity
• - Problem solving: Finding solutions to team problems

These team-development interventions have proven to have positive effects on cognitive and effective processes and performance team outcomes. Team building has seen the strongest effect on effective and process outcomes. According to Klein et al. (2009), team building is one of the most widely used group development interventions in organizations today. Of all organizational interventions, team-development interventions were found to have the largest effects on financial measures of organizational performance.Recent meta-analyses show that team development activities, including team building and team training, improve both a team’s objective performance and supervisory subjective ratings on performance.

• 1 The four approaches
• 2 Effectiveness
• 3 Effects on performance
• 4 Challenges to Team Building
• 5 Application of team building
  • 5.1 Intervention in schools
  • 5.2 Team building in organizations
  • 5.3 Interventions in sports
• 6 See also
• 7 References

The four approaches

The following are a summary of the four approaches as described by Salas and his team:
- Goal setting: this intervention emphasizes setting objectives and developing individual and team goals. Team members become involved in action planning to identify ways to achieve goals. It is designed to strengthen team member motivation to achieve team goals and objectives. By identifying specific outcome levels, teams can determine what future resources are needed. Individual characteristics (e.g. team member motivation) can also be altered by use of this intervention. Many organizations insist on teams negotiating a team charter between the team and responsible managers (and union leaders) to empower the team to accomplish things on behalf of the organization. Successful goal settings help the teams to work towards the same outcomes and make them more task and action oriented.

- Role clarification: this intervention emphasizes increasing communication among team members regarding their respective roles within the team. Team members improve their understanding of their own and others’ respective roles and duties within the team. This intervention defines the team as comprising a set of overlapping roles. These overlapping roles are characterized as the behaviors that are expected of each individual team member. It can be used to improve team and individual characteristics (i.e. by reducing role ambiguity) and work structure by negotiating, defining, and adjusting team member roles. It includes an understanding of the talent that exists on the team, and how best to use it, and allows members to understand why clear roles are important. The members should also realize that they are interdependent and the failure of one team member leads to the failure of the entire team.

- Problem solving: this intervention emphasizes identifying major task-related problems within the team. Team members become involved in action planning, implementing solutions to problems identified, and evaluating those solutions. They practice setting goals, developing interpersonal relations, clarifying team roles, and working to improve organizational characteristics through problem-solving tasks. This can have the added benefit of enhancing critical-thinking skills. If teams are good in problem-solving skills, they are less likely to need external interventions to solve their problems.

- Interpersonal relations management: this intervention emphasizes increasing teamwork skills (i.e. mutual supportiveness, communication and sharing of feelings). Team members develop trust in one another and confidence in the team. This is based on the assumption that teams with fewer interpersonal conflicts function more effectively than teams with greater numbers of interpersonal conflicts. It requires the use of a facilitator to develop mutual trust and open communication between team members. As team members achieve higher levels of trust, cooperation and team characteristics can be changed as well.

Walk for Our Children 2015

On 6^th September 2015, Singapore Children’s Society organised its annual 3km walkathon and carnival, “Walk for our Children” at Palawan Beach, Sentosa. Through this signature fund-raising event, Children Society aimed not only to encourage family bonding and fun, the spirit of charity was to be promoted as well.

Together with 20 organizations, FOCUS Adventure, CAMP CHALLENGE and Outdoor Adventures set up a carnival booth to raise funds for the beneficiaries under Singapore Children’s Society. A team of 8 staff across the 3 sister companies set up and managed “The Finger Blaster Challenge!” booth which attracted all walks of life. Despite the sweltering heat, the staff preserved till the end of the carnival.

The experience gained from this carnival was valuable as we do look forward to being involved and contribute in future like-minded events!

The Sailing Challenge!

 

Finally we’ve set off sails on our two new beautiful Sailboats called Maybritt and L’attitude. On our second sailing programme we brought both Maybritt and L’attitude to sail from Raffles Marina (Tuas) all the way to Sentosa’s One Degree 15; a 10-hour exciting journey down south!

The Sailing started in the afternoon with participants arriving at Raffles Marina to change up and to board the sail boats. With a little quick safety briefing from our very own two skippers, we quickly went onboard and did a quick understanding of the boats, terminologies and roles responsibilities.

Within 15 mintues we were off the ropes and started motoring our way out of the marina. Once we were out, the first 20 mintues was covered up with trainings on wind direction, how the boat works and terminologies. The participants were real quick to pick up the skills, and we did our tack trainings! Tacking is the action done for the boats to go on a “zick-zack” path to cut the wind on a thirty degree angle towards wind to go on a smooth sailing.

When a boat is tacked, not only should the skipper move the wheels for the rudder, but the entire sail will move from one end to another. This means the entire team has to release the ropes on one end and to tighten the other; this comes with coordination and communication. With much practice, the teams started to tack faster and faster. The timing was brilliant and the speed of the boat did not drop too much after every tack. The hardest part was to furl the genoa (front sail) in to bring it over to the other side. Now the rope used to furl is comparatively small with the others, therefore takes more strengths, and sometimes, more people!

Two gentlemen trying to furl the genoa in! 

With someone furling the genoa, another few had to pull in the genoa towards the other direction, and with the strong winds, it was almost impossible if it was not for the team’s enthusiasm and efforts put together! 

Three gentlemen trying their all to pull the genoa as close to the centre of the deck as possible!

Of course that was not the end of the task, since it is The Sailing Challenge! Teams were tasked to open up the second sail which was at the back called the Mizzen. As we were sailing and getting good at the tacks, teams wanted to move faster, therefore the call was given from the skipper to open up our Mizzen. Now, the sail had to be brought up while still traveling and this required loads of effort, balance and communication. As the sail sheets were pulled higher, wind started to catch the sail and it became heavier and heavier. With enough manpower, the sail eventually went all the way to the top!

Finally all three sail were up; the boat started to pick up phase, and traveled at an average of 6 knots. This was not the end as, there was a new challenge awaiting the team. It was seemed as though; every moment they overcame a challenge a new one popped up. This time round, the daylight was going down and the teams had to move faster to get closer to Sentosa before it became too dark out in the sea. Eventually the teams made it straight out and reached Onedegree15 at 2200 hrs. Everyone still had energy to jump off board and to give each other a hi-5! What was the most exciting part of the programme was asked, and everyone without fail shouted “Sailing!”

 

Our Sail is up, and ready for the next challenge!
Sign up now and try this new and exciting experience with your own team today!
Get ready to furl Sail is up, and ready for the next challenge!

Soar High with MINDS

This time round, FOCUS Adventure decided to conduct an indoor programme for the students at MINDS Towner Garden School to maximise our interaction with the students. On 11th July 2015, 19 students from MINDS Towner Garden School participated in our Angry Bird Trebuchet Challenge! Supported by 8 staff from both FOCUS Adventure and CAMP Challenge and tapping on our sister company’s expertise on managing children, it provided a more experiential development process for the students.

Working in small groups, the activity requires the students to construct their own trebuchet through the use of PVC pipes and twines. The students who are in Scouts displayed excellent tying and lashing skills. The second segment was the creation of the angry birds (i.e. projectiles) with the use of jumping clay. It allowed us to witness the creativity side of the students. The highlight of the activity was the successful launching of their projectiles by their very own trebuchet which destroyed their designated castle! A great sense of accomplishment was achieved when their projectiles successfully hit the castles!

It was yet another fulfilling day with the students, with much being learnt and shared amongst our staff and the students. Definitely looking forward to the next programme with the students!

Testimonial:
The activity was very interactive and the Facilitators were very enthusiastic in mingling with the students. Although most of the students had trouble with the knots, the Facilitators involved the students in ways they can contribute, like cutting the tape or holding the poles together. The students had the most fun kneading the angry birds out of plasticine and attacking the castle using the trebuchet. Thank you for bringing so much joy and laughter to our students!!!
- Ms Michelle Yeo, Job Coach

The activity was very interesting as it involved teamwork & problem solving skills whereby the students together with the volunteer & teacher had to figure out how it worked. The kneading of the angry birds was fun and the students enjoy the outcome of their creations. The volunteers were very helpful and committed in their way they carried out the activity with our students. Overall it was a very well planned programme. Good job FOCUS Adventure Team! Thanks for organising it. Both students & teachers enjoyed the activity.
- Ms Adeline Ong, Teacher

Celebrate SG50 with FOCUS Adventure

We are deeply grateful to all Corporate Partners and Clients who have supported FOCUS Adventure over the years. FOCUS Adventure will pay it forward by contributing SGD50 to a “Youth Development Fund” for every successful programme delivered in 2015. FOCUS Adventure delivers on average of 650 programmes each year, together with its sister companies (Outdoor Adventures and CAMP CHALLENGE) we hope to contribute the targeted amount of SGD 50,000 by end of the year. Thank you again for your support and celebrating SG50 with FOCUS Adventure!

Certified Competent Facilitator (CCF)

Our Facilitator Joey is the first person in Singapore to attain the status of a Certified Competent Facilitator (CCF). This certification is awarded by the International Institute of Facilitation (INIFAC).

The requirements to attain CCF status requires applicant to submit a list of seven varied facilitation experiences, a set of written responses to showcase knowledge in facilitation and a simulated (videotaped) facilitated session to demonstrate facilitation practices. A team of Master Facilitators will then assess and grade the CCF applicant in these three areas. Only when the applicant achieved a certain knowledge and performance standard would he be awarded the CCF status.

The seven facilitation experiences Joey submitted are:
1. Committee handover session for a pharmaceutical MNC.
2. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) for National Volunteer and Philanthropy Center.
3. Work-plan discussion for a consumer goods electronics MNC.
4. Brainstorming session for an agency from the civil service.
5. Work-plan discussion for a pharmaceutical MNC.
6. Strategic planning and review for National Volunteer and Philanthropy Center.
7. Visioning workshop for a local medical facilities.

The attainment of the CCF status by one of our Facilitators further demonstrates the effectiveness of the process facilitation services provided by FOCUS Consulting.

FOCUS Adventure’s Challenge Technology and Skills (FACTS) on 15 – 17 June 2015

The FACTS workshop allows us to gain in depth understanding of FOCUS Adventure unique approaches and practices used in Adventure Learning that differentiate us from the other market
players. The FACTS workshop gives us the opportunities to experience great real life examples of the learning concepts through the activities and with that, we are able to translate them into learning/debrief points. As an individual with the company, we are able to understand how our Facilitators facilitate and deliver effective and engaging learning programme for our clients. We also learn how we can customise our programmes to best meet various clients’ designed learning outcome.

Feedback from Participants:

•  Great course and Facilitator. Thanks Joey and Totok!
•  Awesome programme. Just wish we could stay longer and set another round of dry-run practice in. Awesome. Thanks!
•  Very experience Facilitator who brought the course to life and shared many important aspects of Adventure Learning.
•  Joey is professional and knowledgeable in his facilitation. He is dedicated and sincere in his training and sharing. He is a great and valuable asset to FOCUS Adventure. Keep it up.
 

Basic Officer Course 23 (BOC)

The Basic Facilitator Course is now being replaced and upgraded to Basic Officer Course (BOC).

The BOC is a selection and induction programme for the intake of all Officers level; from Assistant Managers all the way to CEO. Officers of the various units (Logistics, Safety, R&D, Business Development, SeaOPS etc.) hold leadership and management positions with the company. It is the start of the journey of a career that will take you to “places you have never been before”; the beginning of an exciting and meaningful career that will Challenge and Stretch your own limits to a whole new level.

Officers are selected based on educational qualification of minimum a Bachelor Degree (exceptions are given to Diploma holders who are pursuing a Degree) and individuals who possess the H.AI.R. Qualities (You may find out more about the H.A.I.R. Qualities on FOCUS Adventure’s website).

Besides FOCUS Adventure, potential Officers are also recruited through our sister companies,
Outdoor Adventures and CAMP CHALLENGE based on Vocations and put through this 7 days central training, selection and induction process. During the 7 days programme, potential candidates are constantly challenged at a mental, physical and emotional level. Candidates must demonstrate Leadership, Teamwork and the ability to Adapt and Innovate and make sound decisions on the ground. Candidates who are deemed not suitable will drop out of the course with no strings attached. Those who successfully finished the 7 days will be put through further training and development in the OJT phase depending on Vocations.

Individuals can also join the various companies as an Associate Officer if he/she possess specialist skills such as sailing or mountaineering and wants to be part of this Adventure on associate basis. However, passing the BOC is mandatory as the Associate Officers will carry the same leadership and responsibilities based on rank as the full time counterpart.

Here’s what our BOC graduates have to say about their experience:

Name: Gladys TAN
BOC 23 was indeed an experience for me. I was never afraid of heights however when I was attempting the High Elements as well as the Team Challenge Pyramid I realized the feeling was totally different. The element of fear was present because there was no support given, the only two support I relied on was my team members who were there to ensure my safety as well as the safety gears provided. I’ve learnt to trust my team members more and also the safety equipment provided. It was through constant encouragement and support from them which allowed me to push myself to complete the obstacles. Through this course, I am able to experience and understand what participants are going through when they attempt to complete the challenges. It was really sweet to see how everyone was kind to one another and how some of us have bonded really well after this course.

I definitely do not regret attending this course in fact I really appreciate how this course has allowed me to better understand my strengths and weaknesses. BOC 23 has given another perspective to FOCUS Programmes; it is impactful and meaningful. Lastly, I am thankful for having great team members as well as a great facilitator conducting the entire course, it is truly a wonderful experience!

Name: Jeff TAN
It is definitely interesting and at the same time fulfilling experience for me as I have been looking forward to attending this program. Going through the different activities ranging from the energizers, mobile adventure programs and low elements not only allow me to learn the important points of conducting and debriefing the activities, it also provided me the opportunity to feel how the clients feels. This allows me to better pace the experience of the clients during the facilitation. As it does to the client’s company, it too built the relationship between me and my fellow colleagues.

The high elements pushed me to challenge myself while the 25 metres Team Challenge Pyramid got me to understand more about my-self being a leader. The self-discovery of how encouraging I am towards my team mates, how determine I am to challenge my-self and how much patience I have while leading got me to reflect on areas of improvements for my-self. There’s a saying, how you play your game is a reflection of life. In a team, it’s never about one person and an individual can never be a leader when there is no one to lead.
In overall, I enjoyed the self-discovery and the moments where all of us got to seat down, chat and laugh about the common moments over a meal.

Name: Liping NAH
It’s truly an unforgettable lifetime experience that I have gained from BOC 23!  By going through the High Element and Team Challenge Pyramid (TCP), I have taken a step further to understand the importance of TEAMWORK.

The Pamper’s Pole left me with the deepest impression throughout the 2 days course! I can only hear endless words of encouragement from all my fellow colleagues when I’m up on the Pamper’s Pole.
Personally, I felt that BOC has given us opportunity to indentify our individual strength and weakness which we simply ignore on our daily life.

Overall experience in two words “Epically Awesome”

Name: Dianne TAN
BOC 23 was truly an experience! I had previous experience doing High Elements, (although it was years ago) but I thought that would be a walk in the park for me. However, the moment I stood on the ‘Balancing Beam’ and looked down to my team mates, I felt the real terror of the High Elements – 15m in height! And I am glad I made it through.

Team Challenge Pyramid was something I always looked forward to complete and I was given the chance to do so in BOC 23. Although we took a slightly longer time to complete as compared to the other time, I was glad that my team made it through together and none of us gave up no matter how much tears was shed!
BOC 23 was certainly memorable and I appreciate that the course had all of us bonded. The course also made me realised my strengths and how perceived fears will always be there, but if we take that one step, to inch forward, we will definitely overcome and achieve the ultimate goal!

“The True Test Of A Champion Is Not Whether He Can Triumph, But Whether He Can Overcome Obstacles!”

Name: Yongjun FOO
The Basic Officer Course (BOC) was definitely a great experience for me, being given the chance to stand in a participant’s perspective and actively participate in the wide variety of programs and activities conducted for us.

The most memorable activity for me has to be the Team Challenge Pyramid (TCP) located in Bintan, where it pushed my limits as well as put the team’s camaraderie to test. Standing 25m above the ground, the first thing I had to do was to control my own fear and brush away all the worried looks on my face, so that it can be a form of confidence booster and assurance for the rest of my team. Saying that, it was not an easy feat for me either, even though I love rock climbing and did bungee jumping before, my legs were trembling a little while going through certain parts of the course!
The skies were turning dark and I think the fact that the whole team is dependent on an individual’s performance helped to push us on. At the end of it, I am very heartened that the whole team managed to complete it together.

In overall, the whole course was truly enjoyable and fruitful for everyone.

Dragon Boat Expedition to Lazarus and St.John Island

 Overwhelmed by the cosmopolitan city life? Yearning for an island getaway but don’t have the luxury of time? Now you can paddle your way to the Southern Islands of Singapore! Why take a ferry there when you can team up with your colleagues and get to Lazarus Island, St. John Island or Kusu Island on a Dragon Boat?  Uncover the mysteries of the Southern Islands of Singapore and make your island getaway a unique and thrilling experience like no others!


As a competitive sport, Dragon Boating is considered one of the toughest sport as it is not only physically demanding but mentally challenging too. It is the only sport that requires the teamwork of 10 people practising the same paddling actions simultaneously! While it may be challenging competitively, it can also be a leisurely row of the boat at your own pace. At the same time, your fellow paddlers will learn to work together to make the boat move most efficiently! What can be better than having fun while fostering bonds at the same time?

Dragon Boating is also one of the oldest sports around. It has its roots in ancient China where it was once used for religious purposes as a way of appeasing the rain gods. Dragon Boat Races came about to commemorate an ancient warrior and poet name Qu Yuan. It has a history of over 2000 years!

Dragon Boat Sprints Regatta in celebration of World Water Day

On the 21st March 2015, Saturday, Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) organised the 100m Dragon Boat Sprints Regatta in celebration of World Water Day. World Water Day is an annual event to promote awareness on the importance of water and energy.

With a team of 14 people that included staff from FOCUS Adventure and her sister company, CAMP CHALLENGE, we competed in our first ever Dragon Boat race in both mixed and opens category.

Despite our hectic work schedule and unforeseen circumstances, we managed to clock our record timing of 0.36.819secs in the mixed category.  With room for improvement in timing, it will spur us on towards a better performance for our next race!

” Being the first race for the young dragonboat team, the effort and willingness to sacrifice the time and effort on Saturdays despite the Hectic schedule is commendable. “
- Jeff Tan, Assistant Manager, R&D

” Being able to participate in an actual dragonboat race was definitely a humble and an enriching experience for all of us! Our results were truly commendable and I believe that the whole team benefitted greatly from the whole experience. Looking forward to more races! “
- Foo YongJun, Facilitator

” The event brought the team closer and showed us our potential. Even though we did not make it first, but for a first race we performed quite well. Now with more trainings, I look forward to our next race! “
- Sasi, Manager, SeaOPS

FOCUS Adventure’s Challenge Technology and Skills ( FACTS )

The effectiveness of training programmes largely depend on the qualities of the trainer and facilitator. Thus, it is important for trainers and facilitators to upgrade their skill sets and knowledge. FACTS is a 3-day Train-the-Trainer Course for participants to learn more about FOCUS Adventure’s methods, techniques and processes in facilitating Adventure Learning Programmes. Through this course,  participants will learn how to design, customize and conduct Adventure Learning Programmes as well as ways to integrate Adventure Learning techniques into other forms of learning methods, such as classroom based training or coaching. This course is ideal for trainers and facilitators who are looking for new ideas and techniques to increase participants engagement.

Learning Outcomes
- Learn about FOCUS Adventure’s techniques and approaches
- Learn how to design and conduct effective Adventure Learning Programmes
- Learn how to customize activities to meet different learning objectives
- Learn how to apply Adventure Learning concepts into other forms of learning methods

Course Delivery Format
-  Indoors and outdoors activities
- Group discussion and activities
- Practice and feedback

Course is for
- Trainers, Educators, Coaches, Instructors and Facilitators
- HRM, HRD and L&D personnel interested to learn more about Adventure Learning
- Anyone in the people development sector

Course Date
- 1 run on the 15th to 17th June 2015
- Customised In-house training is available

Course Fee
- $1500 excluding GST
- Inclusive of 3 meals per day
- 10% Early Bird Discount (payment received 4 week before course commencement)
- Group Discount of 5% for two or more individuals from the same organization

Christmas Gift Exchange @ HomeSweetHome

Christmas is the season of giving and this year, we decided to give back to the society.

On the 22nd of December 2015, FOCUS Adventure visited HomeSweetHome@Admiralty with gifts gathered from us and the staff of our sister company, CAMP CHALLENGE. The purpose of this donation was to put a more fulfilling spin on our annual Christmas gift exchange and to share the joy of gifts with the children in this festive season.

We are honored to have such an opportunity to contribute to the Home and hope to continue making the festivities special for the needy around us!