Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ben-Jamin Toy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ben-Jamin, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

The sacred cows are about to start being slaughtered. Happy hours, bowling, escape rooms, and sporting events are not team building.

The term team building has become a buzz phrase and catchall for any activity that a work team does together; and, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

For something to be built, there needs to be intention and design. Several items for “construction” need to be present.

The reason for the distinction is several fold. 1) Expectations. Team building implies something is getting created. That infers there should be an ROI on what is spent. Having drinks, or going to a sporting event is fun and allows people to leave work at work and laugh. That is powerful AND needed. But no skill is being taught. Nothing is being added to the participants so nothing is being built. 2) Results. One would expect to see behavior change amongst the team if it is being built. I’ve seen it, have you? Someone has a drink too many and the jokes or topics of conversation could lead everyone to HR’s office in the morning. That’s more like demolition. 3) Application. Legit team building is an experience that involves skill set enhancement, from industry specific topics, to leadership skills such as effective communication, collaboration, etc. The number one defining characteristic of a proper team building activity is the presence of a debrief or discussion of the activities and their application to the individuals’ lives and roles.

There are four types of team gatherings. Informing. Building. Bonding. Entertaining.

An organization that desires a good culture needs all four in varying doses.

Informing is any type of gathering that conveys information that individual contributors need to know. These can be all-company meetings, zoom sessions, board room chats, internal podcasts, conference calls, quarterly summits, newsletters, etc.

Building as described above. These should be once per quarter per functional work unit or department.

Bonding gatherings are ones that are intentionally focused on relationship fostering. Throwing co-workers in a social setting isn’t enough. Those conversations can go in many directions, and they will naturally get there after the “structured” part is over. Bonding activities involve creating experiences that enhance a certain conversation. Don’t think rapid fire ice breaker questions, rather we teach the Culture Cheat Code Connection before Content. After accomplishing some tasks, have folks partner up and share their last win. Then have the wins shared. If they aren’t comfortable sharing, that means a psychologically safe environment has not been created. Many games can be turned into bonding experiences when thought provoking, intrinsic questions are added.

Here is a quote from a client who did our flagship scavenger hunt. It was submitted four months after the event. They have since become a repeat client.

“The impact of what OPA does has gone so far beyond our summit. There are people that were teamed up who work a few desks away from one another in the same building and never really had much of a conversation. Since our Scavenger Hunt, the lines of communication and sense of camaraderie have vastly improved. This even goes for folks who work half a world away – conference calls with our peers are a bit more jovial now that we’ve had the chance to get to know one another in such a fun and dynamic way.”

That was from a scavenger hunt named, The On Purpose Wanderer. They had a blast, but you can see there was intention behind how it was created.

Entertaining. Coworkers also need to roll up their sleeves and leave work at work. They need to laugh and have unstructured connections. Just know that entertainment acts as a stress reliever, a blow off valve. Employees like gifts of things and experiences, but they only go so far. As my colleague Dr. Troy says, “it’s how you treat them, not the treats you give them that matter”.

Knowing these differences and how to use them effectively can easily translate into remarkable increases in productivity and creativity, along with reduction in turnover.

Ben-Jamin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Founding On Purpose Adventures was 20 years in the making. I grew up very entrepreneurial and loved that challenge of selling. I was often the top producer for fundraisers and had a small lawn care and snow removal business as early as 12 years old.

With no real coaching into business ownership, guidance counselors and family directed me toward engineering based on my proclivity to math and science. After attending Clemson University for engineering and working at a global auto parts manufacturer, I realized that the corporate world fraught with politics and the lack of incentives for performance, was not for me.

I helped a friend start a company that ultimately became a leader in the book publishing and authority marketing space. Making the headquarters in Charleston, SC is what brought me to the Lowcountry. After several years of getting that company off the ground, and realizing I wasn’t a cultural fit, I changed industries completely. Inside sales for a container freight trucking company was a new challenge. However, after spending two years to get my sales numbers to $350,000/month to receive commissions, management made excuses for six months as to why they could not pay me.

That was the last straw for me to rely on someone else to pay me for my productivity.

On Purpose Adventures was initially created to plan adventures for people. We planned white water rafting and camping trips, hiking trips, ATV weekends, and survival training on uninhabited islands.

Since consistent revenue was desired, the focus was directed to adventure based bachelor and bachelorette parties and corporate team building. We created scavenger hunts, beach olympics and facilitated a lot of paintball. In an effort to make the most impact possible, we focused on leadership development programming and joined forces with Dr. Troy Hall, author of the best selling title: Cohesion Culture: Proven Principles to Retain Your Top Talent to create the Cohesion Culture™ program consisting of offerings for executives, management, and individual contributors both in-person and online. Those programs fall under On Purpose Adventures’ team building (skill set enhancement) offerings, while the now app-based scavenger hunt, escape game, and gamified training options aligned under the team bonding (intentional relationship fostering) options.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I loved this question. I have actually started creating videos sharing my journey via the books I have read over the last 20 years. I pride myself on never reading a book in high school. I never wanted to go to college, but once I found myself studying engineering I was introduced to business/mindset/self-help books and have read 500+.

The book that started it all for me is The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. I had resigned myself to thinking I was going to be an engineer and my income and life would be linear and predictable. Thinking big changed that. If you aren’t a reader, simply start with chapters 2, 12, & 13. Cure Yourself of Excusitis, The Failure Disease, Use Goals to Help You Grow, How to Think Like a Leader are the titles of those chapters respectively.

The next impactful book in my story is shared with Matthew McConaughey. One of the best selling books of all time, The Greatest Salesman in the World, by Og Mandino, is a business fiction classic following Hafid a mere camel boy as he learned how being true to who he was has exponential positive results. The 10 scrolls described within, are phenomenal habit forming affirmations. Ironically, I started re-reading them yesterday (at the time of writing this). I will greet this day with love in my heart…How can than not be a great start to the day?

My third recommendation taught me how enthusiasm can impact my earnings and friendships. How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling, by Frank Bettger, is a long titled book and while it can apply to selling, the concepts can be applied to all elements of life.

I don’t want to give too much away. Either follow me on instagram @Ben_JaminToy or read the books.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

“You weren’t the biggest, fastest, or strongest, but you hustled. And that is why teams didn’t throw or run to your side often.” said my defensive backs coach 10 years after I graduated highschool.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.OnPurposeAdventures.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/onpurposeadventures
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/onpurposeadventures
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-jamin-toy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OnPurposeAdventuresCharleston
• Other: www.CohesionCultureCourse.com www.CohesionCulture.net

Image Credits
On Purpose Adventures