Latest News from Matfen Hall Hotel

Building your teams through Art and Well Being

Motivational training and team building can take many forms. Some companies build their bridges and teams on golf courses or off roads, and others on rivers and rafts. Matfen Hall, however, are building their bridges on easels and mirrors. As a result of the increasing number of female executives, Matfen Hall has launched two new and innovative corporate team building packages, aimed at this market.

They are "Team Building through Art" and "Team Building through Well Being". Both of these courses help to achieve the goals businesses trying to improve a small group, focus on, namely:

• Establishing ownership of common objectives
• Developing understanding of different team roles and personalities
• Improving relationships between people
• Creating synergy between individuals.

The Art of Art
This half day course is an extremely cost effective form of team building with extremely high impact. Run by Jeannie Blaxall, an artist of many years standing, the Art Course is an exercise which both inspires people to work together as a team and shows delegates what they can achieve individually.

It involves each course member being given sheets of black and white paper to colour using 3 different shades. Whatever their competence, each person is encouraged to use their own individual style, shading and brush strokes. \r\n

Team Building
The Sales department at Matfen Hall trialled this course, each person coloured their squares. They had no idea what they were painting and Allison Cuthbertson, Reservationist at Matfen Hall was amazed.

"I knew that we were completing an afternoon of team building; however I had no idea that we were all painting part of the same picture. When the squares were placed together we had painted a picture of the owners of Sir Hugh and Lady Blackett. We came away on a real high and with a huge sense of achievement. None of us are artists and together we created this amazing picture. Whatever skills you have, it is astounding what can be achieved as a team. \r\nIf anyone had not completed their section, there would have been a missing piece and no picture."

This course really does teach you how to work as a team and shows that everyone is part of the business and an important cog in the wheel. \r\nIn Business we tend to look at right or wrong, and this exercise shows, through the variations of the art, that it is not always a case of right or wrong.

The Art of Well Being
Well Being is a full day team building programme which incorporates a half day of pampering and a half day participating in a wellbeing workshop. Available for up to 24 delegates, 12 spend the first half of the day in the spa, using the extensive facilities and where treatments can be arranged. The other delegates participate in a wellbeing workshop which enables the team to develop their skills and knowledge in looking after themselves and their skin, showing how to cleanse, care for and make the most of their skin. Each delegate sits in front of an individual mirror and is shown the tricks of the trade by one of Matfen\'s highly experienced skin therapists.

The feedback from clients that have already completed this team building day was fantastic and in all instances the aims and objectives of each of the companies were more than achieved.

Team Building
One definition of team building "Is a group of people working together towards a common goal" and Matfen Hall know, through trialling and testing these packages, that they very definitely help ensure that groups of people are doing just that.

"In addition" says David Hunter, Director and General Manger of Matfen Hall, "The other benefit of inspirational courses like these, is that they help individuals to relax and relieve stress, which is an increasing problem in the workplace".

Full details about these team building and motivational courses are available on a request basis from Mariza Ampaza in the Conference office of Matfen Hall telephone ? 01661 886500.