Outdoor Team Building Worth It?

Recently while searching the Internet on team building articles, I came across this blog posting by a woman who calls herself "Team Doc" who says she has been working with teams for years improving leadership. She wrote, "For identifying specific leadership traits, I think an outdoor team building activity is a poor method. I’m a strong leader and do lead in outdoor activities, but I’m not athletic and would probably not demonstrate what someone was looking for."

As the owner of the largest Team Building and Outdoor Challenge Course Company in the Washington DC Metro area, I wanted to offer my comments on this topic.
First I would like to say that outdoor team building does NOT require athletic ability. If that is her impression, she did not hire the right team builder. We have many types of individuals come to our course from those with handicaps to people in their 80's. UEI encourages everyone to participate to the degree that they can and are comfortable with (challenge by choice). We never leave anyone out or feeling they are not part of the group team experience.

The activities nor the location of being indoors or outdoors, are not the important factor in a successful team building program.

How you approach a task as a team is the most important and sometimes the right activity and a different location can enhanced that development. Getting away from your normal environment where you always perform well, (well you should because you’ve been doing it for years) and experiencing the unknown is a key way to accelerate the learning.

Secondly team building doesn’t always have to be done outdoors because that would mean I wouldn’t work very much during the winter. We like to sequence our activities, from the apparently simple tasks, to the more mentally challenging and indeed to the upper level of the challenge course. That is not to say that everyone goes to the high challenges in a day or even at all.

The apparently simple tasks need to have the goals defined as do the more complicated ones. Communication and trust with the support of the team has to develop before any ideas on the solution to the problem can even go beyond the proverbial drawing board.  Leadership will develop in due course and it may stem from different and unexpected sources. The trend is to role play within the team in a position that the individual sees themselves in. The point is that most people in our team building environment end up falling into a natural role that both suits them and the nature of the task. This role, however, is not always what is expected from themselves or their team members.

Through simple tasks we set a pattern for problem solving and getting the job done. Upward Enterprises assesses the team goals, helps the group identify resources to achieve those goals then watches as the group puts in place the best person available for a particular task ensuring the learning that goes with such a task is carried forwards outside of the team building exercise and into every day practice.  Whatever type of group you might be, youth to adult, we strive to have everyone who leaves our team building program with that “ah ha” moment where they see the synergy and the power of group dynamics.

I would like your comments and please do not hesitate if you want to discuss further.

Jerry Seinfeld vs Jay Leno zip line in New York

I watched with eager anticipation the advert during the Super Bowl for the Acura NSX.The zip line feature full access package offered by Jerry Seinfeld nearly did the trick until Jay Leno turned up with that flying suit. Ah well, I don't have a flying suit to offer but I do have zip lines that will opening again this month. Why not get ahead of the rest and book your adventure now.

Zip Line at Upward Enterprises Facility in Maryland

Holiday Inn partnership with UEI

I met with the sales team from the Holiday Inn Frederick Conference Center last week and I am really excited about the potential to work together in a partnership. They have great facilities at their Frederick site and I promised to take them to the course and run a small team of their managers through some of the activities for some team bonding of their staff. Our course is less than 10 minutes down the road from the Conference Center making this partnership a perfect match for corporate clients who book the Holiday Inn to get outside for a little while and experience the power of UEI's team building exercises.

New Personal Development and Assessment Tool for 2012

Looking for a training course for your group that improves communications, reduces conflict and builds strong leadership skills?

After nearly 10 years since my first introduction to the Strength Deployment Inventory®, we at Upward Enterprises are excited about about the introduction of this valuable tool for team building processing to our curriculum. SDI is a self assessment tool that provides an understanding of what drives or motivates you and what drives others.

Imagine how much stronger your relationships would be if you really understood what made people tick — both when things were going well and when there was conflict and opposition. SDI is a suite of psychometric tests and a practical methodology for empowering people to improve relationships and manage conflict more effectively. Leadership success depends greatly on getting along with others on one's team.

We intend to utilize this tool with great effect in our team building adventure programs for those who wish to go to the next level of understanding group dynamics. I know there are many analytical processing models, and feel free to make your comments,  but I am sure if you experience this particular model you will agree that the simplicity in the SDI method and the understanding gained along with the self evaluation, outweighs most of its counterparts.

Team Building New Year's Resolution

We will confront the problem, not each other.

What is your resolution?

Transitions to Indoor Programs

As a full time ropes course operator we are constantly looking for ways to transition to indoor facilities and to provide our services year round. We love our ropes course as a vehicle to work on group dynamics and we have a huge amount of pride in our successful program sequences but all of these successes can be transferred to an indoor facility using minimal equipment.

With an open  mind and and little creativity we can develop an equally rewarding experience to clients. We always talk about the group being able to work together towards a common goal and how that actually happens when trying to solve a particular problem. The communication that is essential in the planning stages before leadership kicks in to get the ball rolling, right through the frustration stage of early failures and then into small successes which we build on to process the good and the not so good and to carry that to the next activity. All of this can be achieved with a simple hoop or ball or indeed any other small piece of equipment that can be carried into a conference room or meeting space.

What is your favored indoor activity and how does it compare with some of the traditional outdoor ropes course activities?

My personal one is called "through the hoop".

Challenge the group to see how fast they can get all members through a simple hoop. This immediately begs the question to define what through the hoop means. I encourage the discussion to see how deep they will go with the creativity but generally come back to passing the whole body from one side of the hoop through to the other. After some time of getting individuals to step through the hoop some one will suggest getting couples and triplets to have the hoop passed over them. This can then develop into more specific actions and the success will just follow from there. I have had a group of 12 people go through the hoop in less than 5 seconds. What successes have you had?

Upward Enterprises Volunteers at the National Kidney Foundations Over the Edge event.

Its always nice when we can use our experience in the ropes course industry to help with a charitable cause.  We were contacted by the National Kidney Foundation who ask if we could help with their 'Over the Edge' event on June 18th.  The Over the Edge event, held at the Canton Crossing Tower in Baltimore, Maryland  offered  participants the opportunity to rappell down a 200ft (17 story) building to raise money for the foundation to fight kidney disease.

John

Clive, Larry, Sean and John went  to Baltimore on Friday the 17th to take part in the pre-training with the Over the Edge staff and to be shown the ropes! They all got to rappel down the building during the training, which was an added bonus that they all enjoyed.  During the training day, the event had a few VIP's come along and rappel down the building too.

On June 18th, the day of the actual event, 56 participants took part and each rappelled down the building and altogether raised an amazing $82,244.00 for the charity. 

Clive's wife Liz also took part in the event and raised $1100 before she went over the edge in memory of her Father who passed away from kidney failure in 2005.

Clive

The view from the 17th floor balcony was quite breath taking, when you first walked out onto the balcony.  Best advise was to not look down too much before you rappelled.

Each of the participants were geared up with full body harnesses and helmets and went through a brief training on how to use the various equipment before being taken to the balcony for thier rappel.  Some people were a little nervous, but everyone made it to the bottom with no problems.

Sean

We were so pleased to be part of this fun and exciting event and look forward to helping out at next year's event. For more information go the the National Kidney Foundations website. 

Larry