More than
two dozen children from the Boys & Girls Club of Philadelphia received
brand new bikes last week thanks to the efforts of 130 high-level executives
from Axalta Coating Systems and the Odyssey Teams Life Cycles team-building
program. The event used a bike-building exercise conducted by Odyssey to show
Axalta participants how to work as a team and continually improve the customer
experience. The completed bikes were then donated to a deserving group of
children who participate in an after school enrichment program conducted by the
Boys & Girls Club of Philadelphia.
Neither the
company participants in the program nor the children receiving the bikes had
any idea of the outcome, but partnerships like this have managed to put more
than 12,000 bikes into the hands of children worldwide.
“Odyssey has
provided a great opportunity to partner with the non-profit sector and the
community during our global leadership meeting,” said Charlie Shaver, Axalta
chairman and CEO. “Axalta benefits from the team building that goes into
putting the bicycles together. The kids get to keep the bicycles we’ve built.
Everyone wins.”
Added Lain
Hensley, co-founder and COO of Odyssey, “We use bike building to provide global
executives with a hands-on opportunity to improve their teamwork. The exercise
transcends culture and language as well as the day-to-day roles that
participants have in their organizations. The surprise donation at the end of
the session then converts a company exercise into a gift for the community and
a memory that participants keep for years to come.”