Leslie Manoriña and Thadz Engaling recently went to the Camotes group of islands to facilitate a team building program for NPAX Cebu Corporation, a software development company that is a subsidiary of Ng Khai Corporation.

N-Pax Cebu Corporation

Employee engagement is one of important ingredients that drives organizational success. It is through maintaining a high level of engagement among employees were workers develop trust, openness, harmony and cooperation among individual members of a working unit. On the morning of the 28th of August 2016, Sunpride Foods Inc. had their team building seminar with sixty six (66) participants held at Pacific Cebu Resort, Mactan Island, Lapulapu City, Cebu, Philippines. Their team building event was conducted by Cebu Teambuilding Facilitators Network.

Sunpride Foods Inc., is a food processing company in Cebu City. They are the company behind the production of some of most favorite meat products such as Kassel, Holiday and Good Morning. Their line of meat products range include different meat goods such as hotdogs, bacons, sausages, longaniza, and hams. Their products have been part of our daily lives in different situations from everyday eating to camping, food trips to Christmas bundles of joy donations. Even some of our Christmas hams, or breakfast sausages probably come from Sunpride.

Their team building event was held at Pacific Cebu Resort in Mactan. A resort found in Suba-basbas, Lapu-lapu City, Mactan that sports white sand beaches, water sports, scuba diving and many more. The day started where all participants had their meeting place at one of the food plants at Sunpride Foods. Participants were already excited to start the day. Breakfast was done at the site while coasters where prepped for departure to Pacific Cebu Resort. By the time everyone arrived at the venue, we were greeted with a life sized Facebook Wall post where participants can take a picture and share their team building moments with everyone.

Related reading: Pacific Cebu Resort as a Team Building Venue in Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines

The training started with some Getting-to-Know-You Activities with the participants. Although they came from the same company, most of the participants were assigned to different branches so these kinds of activities are very handy in breaking the ice and creating that friendly atmosphere for more serious activities. Participants were then divided into different groups to serve as their team for the duration of the team building. Each groups presented a unique and creative team yell to jumpstart their enthusiasm for the upcoming activities.

Moon ball

For one to succeed in today's competitive world, it has become a need to master the art of human communication. Many communication experts agree that “Communication is 80% body language, and 20% words”. Much of the message we convey goes through the body, regardless if we want to or not. So how can we use this principle to our advantage?

Oftentimes we try to persuade people. We tell them that our view is right and they would be wise to agree. We do this when we apply for a new job, try to sell our products, or even show that we can be great boyfriends (or girlfriends). However, without the proper intuition in people’s body gestures, we can easily fail in this regard. This is especially true in the Philippine culture, where we Filipinos are widely known for our indirect communication. This explains why foreigners would frequently become confused with Filipinos, wondering why some would verbally say yes to request when they really meant no.

Here are a few skills any experts in body language certainly possess:

Negative body language refer to any kind of gestures that communicate disapproval to what you are trying to communicate.

Here’s one situation where this happens with a coffee salesman:

“Hey Miss, are you interested to buy this special brand of coffee? It can benefit you in many many ways!”

“Oh that sounds interesting”, the lady says with a polite smile. But her body slowly turns away, as she slowly folds her arms.

This is a basic example of how negative communication is conveyed through the body, and if salesman does not respond accordingly, he will certainly lose the lady as a customer. In fact, there is a large number of negative gestures to look for when trying to persuade people.

Another essential part of persuasion involves ‘building rapport’. When one builds rapport, the person is creating the necessary connection for a trusting relationship to take place. No one will want to believe or buy anything from a person he/she barely knows. Consequently, the mark of a great communicator lies in how easily that person can build a connection with another.

3. Spotting lies and deception

A few people shrug this skill as the stuff of TV series and novels. However, spotting lies can be quite possible with the right knowledge and experience. The first known person to study emotions and microfacial expressions was Paul Eckman. He proposes that for every emotion we feel, it would always manifest in some way in our faces and bodies.

The truth is,  human beings are generally emotional creatures, and what we feel frequently shows in our body gestures.

4. Win respect

This is one of the less known benefits of body language. However, communicating powerful body language can aid commanding respect from peers and authorities. Have you ever wanted to win respect from your boss? Try to become aware of the body gestures you are emanating.

Of course, body language does not solely account for the respect your peers have for you, but it certainly wins you points.

Body Language Expert

One expert in nonverbal communication is none other than Justin Piñon. He is also known as the “Mental Assassin”, due to his additional talents as a performing Mentalist. Though he does not have supernatural powers, he can certainly appear that way during his shows.

Justin Piñon: The Mental Assassin

One’s attitude is everything, especially in one’s career. It determines how other people perceive you in this world and it portrays how you perceive the world. In achieving its goals, organizations must see to it that all of its members are equipped with the work values and attitudes to effectively and efficiently perform their roles.

Last March, Cebu Teambuilding Facilitators Network affiliates Thadz Engaling and Nathaniel Arong attended a Work Attitude and Values Enhancement Workshop facilitated by Coach Angel Hermentera of Stellar Performance and Training Consultancy. This time around, it was CTFN's turn to conduct a WAVE workshop for a client.

BP Waterworks Inc. had their Corporate Attitudes seminar or commonly known as Work Attitude and Values Enhancement (WAVE) Seminar last August 30, 2016. Conducted by the Cebu Teambuilding Facilitators Network, the company’s objective was to let its employees understand the nature of attitudes and how it affects their behavior as well as learn how their individual roles in the organization contribute to the overall transformation of the organization.

BP Waterworks