A Little Bit of Team Building, Science and Engineering

This advertisement for Coke has all the elements of a great team building exercise. What amazing fun! I see that same sense of excitement and accomplishment in the eyes of the people at our ropes course.

Where do kids get inspiration from these days?

I watched Felix Baumgartner parachute to the earth from inner space the other day and wondered if the youth of today would be inspired by this huge feat of adventure. 24 miles above the earth's surface wearing a space suit. Truly inspirational!

It got me to thinking about where the youth of today really do get their inspiration from. As a team builder I work a lot with youth of all ages and with my adventure ropes course. Many of these youth have sporting heroes for inspiration but events in recent times have left them wanting.  Drug enhanced performances in the cycling world and baseball and poor moral judgement from top athletes in golf and basketball to name just a few.

How does this effect the the youth that idolizes these heroes?

I know I felt flattened and disappointed when the results of an athletic achievement I thought I witnessed, now all have to be erased from the history books because of cheating. And the players I inspired to live up to, are now socially outcast because of their indiscretions.

I realized that coaches and teachers are not without fault and even religious organizations have had bad reports in recent years. I guess it all comes back to the parents who must step up to the mark and be all they can be for the kids that they are responsible for to the best of their abilities. I will become a father again in the new year and my inspiration will be to do just that. It is my responsibility to inspire not only my own children, but all children, by doing my utmost best to ensure that I do not let them down. If I can help other kids through my work and adventure then maybe I can sleep well at night.

Leaf Peeping Ziplining Through the Trees

What a beautiful fall day out on the Upward Enterprises team building ropes course. The leaves are a golden shade of yellow and burnt red. We wish we could have everyone come out and share with us the amazing colors.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has a wonderful website giving you a guide to find fall foliage. The leaves might have peaked in Western Frederick County but we have plenty of them to see. Book an event at our course before the last leaf falls. 301-834-6140

Getting our Adventure on with FiNDiT Frederick

Back about a month ago, Upward Enterprises had the pleasure of having the staff of FiNDiT Frederick come out to our ropes course in Buckeystown for an afternoon of team building. Melissa Howes-Vitek of the magazine wrote a great follow-up article for the magazine. Many of the people who come out to my course are hesitant to participate because they are afraid they will fail or the activities will be too scary. Melissa and her group are great proof that coming out to the team building course and tackling those fears can change your life. Melissa, we here at Upward Enterprises are inspired by you. Please, if you have the time, check out her story and video below.

 

Is There an "I" in Team?

A new book came out this July entitled, "There Is an I in Team: What Elite Athletes and Coaches Really Know About High Performance."

Written by Mark de Rond, a Professor at the University of Cambridge's Judge Business School, this book explores the opposite of the oft heard saying "there's no I in team" which is defined as individual achievement is not superior to the good/results of the team. In writing his book he used social and psychological research he gathered from high performance sports teams and individual athletes to support his hypothesis that you should harness the talent of individuals in creating a productive team.

I agree with his statement that there is an "I" in team, but so as not to be contentious, I will explain my thoughts and interpretation of the assertion. Each team must be able to recognize its strengths and weaknesses, in addition to the perceived weaknesses of the individuals within the team.

Each individual has a pattern of behavior when working with team members, and that pattern can be assessed by the team and its leaders to obtain the best effort from the individual.  This pattern can change depending upon the situation an individual finds themselves in, and in relation to the amount of stress or conflict that may ensue. I like a processing tool called The Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) to analyze individual’s behavior during normal situations, and how they react during conflict.
 
The whole subject is fascinating and somewhat lengthy to explain but if you are interested in finding out more then go to the SDI web page or email me for more information on how SDI can be used help understand your team.

High School Teen Mentors Benefit from Day of Team Building

I was happy to welcome a group of 12 students from St John's Catholic Prep of Frederick Maryland who were being prepared as mentors to incoming freshmen this semester. Their teachers and counselors had set goals for the day and the students, I am sure, had some goals of their own. Even though the school is very close to the Upward Enterprises ropes course, this was the first time the school had ever come for team building. After the day’s successful outcome, I am hopeful they come back with more students.  

It was easy to see right from the start that this group was going to be receptive to the education that I was about to introduce to them. We started with the formal introductions and got straight into what team building meant.

One of the team building activities I set up for them was to get the team through a hoop in the fastest possible time. They had most of the "Cliché" answers but could they put the theory into action? Immediately they had questions about what through the hoop meant and if there were any rules or boundaries. As I watched the group work together, they came up with the following strategy virtually by themselves.

1. Defined the goal and confirmed exactly what “through the hoop meant”.
2. Set the standards to which they all agreed to work by.
3. Confirmed the start and finish lines.
4. Tested their theory several times to collect data and changed their strategy as more ideas were gathered.
5. Completed the task in 9.2 seconds before they showed no further improvement.
6. Processed the whole experience so as to learn what and where the new found skill and group dynamic could be used in the future.

 All this in one activity! Whew…

After that we moved on to the cable traverse, affectionately know as the Mohawk Walk. This is a series of 4 cables that have various elements one can to use on the crossing to the given destination. Here the group was tested. The students had some great ideas which worked right off the bat. However other ideas created consequences to be paid. They quickly learned that consequences can immediately slow things down putting the entire process in jeopardy. Strengths and challenges of the group as a whole were taken into consideration and the group started to work around them. This synergy lead to a major break-through idea that then set the path. The end was now in sight. Time was running out to finish the exercise, adding more pressure, but with that came focus and determination.

The whole task was completed to rapturous applause and celebration. It was amazing to watch this group learn and grow as a team right before my eyes. As a reward, the St. John students got to ride the zip line at the ropes course. But what has riding a zip line got to do with team building I asked? Of course I got all the right answers.

The students gained a rewarding learning day that they can carry with them throughout their lives. The teachers went away with a little more knowledge and pride in their students and a mountain of metaphors to use in the future when the time arises.

I went away with another gratifying day in my outdoor classroom knowing that I contributed to the future of the next generation in America.