Team building through shared experience of outdoor challenges – understanding how to replicate these successes at work

Taking teams into a new environment develops creative thinking and redefines relationships and team dynamics. We use fun and dynamic problem solving to bring the best from teams. They have to work both collaboratively and interdependently in order to succeed. These challenges highlight the tensions and inefficiencies often found when groups become set in their ways. Agile thinking and enthusiasm will find success. Group discussions about what has been seen and learned enables positive changes to be carried into the workplace. We use beautiful Canadian forests as our backdrop and we always give plenty of time for team members to just talk and socialize to get to know each other at a deeper level.

Building resilient teams that embrace challenge

The most successful teams and companies are those that are agile and adapt to new challenges. Individual and team resilience is the key to seizing opportunities and moving fast through uncertainty and volatility. When challenge and change is seen as exciting and stimulating you are well set for success. We use interventions and coaching to arm people with skills and tools to thrive, not just survive.

 Improving communication and managing conflict

High performing teams ask a lot of themselves and are demanding of others, this can create tension and sometimes damage relationships. Using an industry leading profiling system called the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI), we help individuals understand their own behaviours and to better understand and interpret others. The SDI is powerful as it moves beyond simple motivations to diagnose peoples’ predictable and repeatable behaviours during stages of conflict. This process provides teams with better self-awareness, improved ability to read others and effective strategies that can be applied to prevent and resolve conflict.

Building team identity

Without focussed attention teams and organizations end up with a culture, rather than developing a desirable one. We specialize in creating, developing and building identity and cultures in groups that create positive and productive behaviours. An understanding and acknowledgment of ‘how we do things around here’ is a very powerful way to making people feel valued, engaged and committed to supporting a great team ethos.

Developing engagement and ownership through empowering leaders at all levels

The fast paced, dynamic and demanding nature of modern business can make leaders feel that they are trying to ‘lead in a stampede’, where constant demands for decisions only begets more decisions. When things move this fast explanations and context are lost and a culture of dependency is created, with team members unwilling or unable make decisions independently. We use tried and tested methods to break the cycle and give leaders the skills they need to develop leaders at all levels, who feel empowered to make decisions and take responsibility to reach clear and defined goals.

Creating a shared vision

When people know what their organization wants to achieve, and they are clear in their contribution to the overall aim, they feel confident and empowered to do their part. We work with leaders and teams to set a clearly defined vision, and to understand what actions are needed to supported this. This enables people to make everyday decisions that keep the shared vision in mind, matching their goals with the broader organizational needs.

How we’ve helped

Working with the Operations Department of an international disaster relief charity, we successfully drew upon all our experiences of high performing teams to help them achieve their goals. The pressures on this Operations team are complex and extreme. They navigate demands from the political level, right down to the delivery of aid to communities; all against the stress of knowing lives depend on their fast and effective decision making. This is very demanding for individuals and teams alike. We worked to develop great communication skills, ensuring all interested parties have a shared understanding of information, goals, strategies, actions and expectations. We also developed the Operation team’s use of a coaching approach, to more effectively manage and support their frontline teams deployed worldwide.

‘Ross is a world class facilitator delivering world class training adapted to our needs. It really was truly inspiring and we will see real benefits for the team and the organization as a whole.’

Alf Evans, Operations Manager – ShelterBox.