In today’s competitive business world, soft skills such as communication, problem solving, flexibility, critical observation, and collaboration are absolutely essential. Unlike hard, technical skills, soft skills are hard to teach in school or within the office environment. Corporate team building events are an excellent way to develop your employees’ soft skills while fostering bonding and team unity. Here are 7 reasons why a painting class is an ideal choice.
1. Relaxed Environment
A painting class is designed to foster a relaxed, stress-free environment. Whether you join us at our studio or host the event at your facility, the class itself serves as a sort of focus task that provides common ground, rather than a high-stress project with perfection as the goal. We encourage participants to chat, bond, and get to know each other during the class.
2. Low-Stakes Risk Taking
Some of your employees may be a bit reticent to take risks. Whether due to shyness or the fear of failure, some people are just not comfortable stepping outside their comfort zone. The challenge of reproducing a painting, while well-supported by an expert instructor and secure in the knowledge that there are no winners or losers, can encourage timid employees to take small risks. This builds confidence and assertiveness, major soft skills that can dramatically improve overall work performance.
3. Listening and Communication Skills
An artist leads each painting class, walking participants step by step through recreating the featured painting. To do a good job, it is important to listen closely to the instructions and translate them into actions. In addition, participants may choose to ask questions or work in tandem with others. Clear communication is critical to success. In a fun, low-stress environment, it becomes easier to practice these skills than it is in a high-pressure office.
4. Leadership Opportunities
Some participants naturally emerge as good artists, and these are not always the same people who take a natural leadership role at work. As the group members work together to complete their paintings, those who have an affinity for the process often feel compelled to speak up and provide assistance. This can give people who have not traditionally been leaders in the work community the opportunity to practice these skills and build confidence for the future.
5. Collaboration Possibilities
Although each participant will complete his or her own painting, many people choose to work together in pairs or small groups to make their creations as perfect as possible. Collaborating on a creative project helps your employees learn to work together, breaks down walls that may have existed between different departments or job roles, and fosters bonds that tend to last.
6. Critical Observation Skills
A large part of succeeding at art is the ability to look at a whole and break it into its component base shapes. With the guidance of an expert artist, your employees will learn to do just that. The ability to look critically at incoming data and dissect it into its components is a valuable soft skill that will stick with your employees long after the class is complete.
7. Shared Novel Experience
Research has repeatedly shown that one of the best ways to create lasting bonds is to undertake a novel experience together. The simple act of trying something that is new to everyone, and successfully making their way through the process as a group, will bring your employees together in a way that is rarely possible under the constraints of a typical business relationship. If you want your team to be strong and unbreakable, shared novel experiences are a key element.
Corporate team building events are a tremendous way to foster unity and help your employees develop the valuable soft skills that can take your business to the next level. For the reasons detailed above, a painting class can be the ideal venue for a fun and highly useful corporate event.