Elementary, My Dear Watson
It's an air-tight case: Staging business-related mystery events proves positive!
There was no mystery about Michael Gordon's motives for
gathering Angelo Gordon & Co.'s employees together. The New
York City investment firm's co-owner and COO wanted to give his
40 employees an evening of socializing, relationship-building and
fun. The time and date were set. The place: a New York City
restaurant. Which left only one question--who done it?
Five years ago, Gordon, now 54, held a corporate mystery event.
Over dinner, his employees were challenged to solve a make-believe
murder staged by hired actors as part of an exercise in
team-building, problem-solving and icebreaking. "It was very
good," reports Gordon. "Everyone got involved, and it was
a fun, relaxing night."
It turns out plenty of other corporate types have been sleuthing
in the name of management. Companies such as Dell Computer, Samsung
Semiconductor and Hershey Chocolate are just a few of the
name-brand firms that have hired one of the burgeoning number of
theatrical companies that mix mystery with business goals. And the
idea works just as well for entrepreneurial firms.
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The combination is a legitimate one, says Austin, Texas,
communications consultant Lynn Segall. Although sleuthing might
seem far removed from everyday management practices, placing
employees in the middle of a pseudo-mystery is, if nothing else, a
great way to engage their attention while imparting a bottom-line
business message. And, Segall notes, "The amount of
information you [need to dispense these days] is so overwhelming,
any chance to plug entertainment into training is a plus."
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