Hampshire companies are set to follow the trend of using team building activities to strengthen trust and co-operation between employees to get the extra 10% out of workers in order to ride out the tough times.

As the UK economy slowly recovers from recession over the coming years Hampshire firms will rely on getting the most out of their workforces, partly through team-building activities.

One advantage of Hampshire’s geographic location is the amount of stunning countryside and heath land waiting to be explored and enjoyed over the summer months, which are ideal places to organise team building activities like orienteering or perhaps a game of rounders.

The New Forest has recently been given National Park Status and is the former hunting ground of William the Conqueror - it offers excellent opportunities for team building in Hampshire and also an opportunity to witness nature very close at hand.

In addition, the Hampshire area is also famed for it’s connections with the sea and particularly with sailing, which is often singled out as being an extremely good team-building tool, with workmates facing the waves together and having to pull their weight.

Team building activities like sailing or paintballing or simply hill-walking or swimming have been identified as vitally important in helping staff shake off the shackles of their office demeanour and forge closer relationships in order to work more solidly as a team.

As a result, employees who have participated in Hampshire team building activities have enjoyed a greater sense of comradeship with their colleagues, as well as an enhanced level of trust and respect for each other.

Leap Plc, a Hampshire company specialising in corporate team building, people development, management training and business growth, is a market leader in organising such Hampshire team-building activities and provides services to some of the biggest names in British industry and commerce.

Leap provides motivational corporate events and workshops which aim to helps build teams and develop, both personally and professionally.

In addition, LEAP is now also registered as a provider for the Government's Train to Gain scheme and also boasts a healthy portfolio of clients including DIOR, Estee Lauder, The European Central Bank, Sun Microsystems, O2, Vodafone, Deutsche Bank, HBOS, some of the GBR Olympic sailing squad, professional footballers and golfers.

The firm also assisted a number of the GBR Olympic sailing team to prepare for and win medals at the 2004 Games in Greece.

Director of Leap, PJ Stevens said: "Sailing is probably the best natural team building activity available to the corporate market. If you don’t work as a team – you cannot successfully sail your yacht. You need to identify roles and goals, show appropriate leadership and communication skills, harness the power of the wind, be proactive to the feedback from the wind, sea and yacht, from each other, and work well together to use all your resources wisely and effectively.’