What Others Are Saying
I coordinate a youth leadership group in Simpson County, MS. This group is compiled of 30 Juniors from our local schools. This group is required to meet many qualifications to be a part of this program. We hire Rob to spend a weekend with our kids to kick off each year of a new program. The results have been amazing. Rob is very talented and he makes the weekend very productive. He shows them confidence, teamwork, and most importantly, he shows them how to be good people. From all of us invoved in this program, Thank you Rob!
Chris Dunn, Simpson County Youth Leadership
Building the Team Culture
The Building the Team Culture Workshop enables a team to define and establish the culture needed for top performance and rewarding relationships. Through a carefully sequenced series of unique team challenges and focused, facilitated discussions, the team confronts and addresses opportunities for increased
- Goal Setting
- Planning
- Communication
- Cooperation
- (Appropriate) Risk Taking
- Shared Leadership
- Trust
- Feedback
- Continuous Improvement
Based on their experience, the team creates and commits to a set of Shared Values and Commitments to Action that serve as a touchstone for future relationships and behaviors and provide the basis for peak performance back in the workplace.
Benefits
Teams who experience the Building the Team Culture workshop work in a more focused and coordinated manner on achieving their work goals, precisely because they have already clarified how they will work together, how they will communicate, how they will each influence decisions, and how they will support one another. Team members trust one another more, releasing more energy towards the task at hand.
More about Building the Team Culture
What makes the workshop so effective?
- Team members experience each other outside of the traditional work
setting; they discover new strengths that aid understanding and improved
communication back on the job.
- Initial ropes course challenges clearly highlight the team's current dynamics; they provide a starting place for participants to meaningfully discuss what is working (or not), what is needed, and strategies for improvement.
- Subsequent challenges focus on those aspects of teamwork (e.g., trust, communication, leadership, etc.) that your particular team needs to address in a non-threatening, supportive process; participants have the opportunity to practice new skills and behaviors with feedback from those who matter most (i.e., the other team members).
- Team members utilize, troubleshoot, practice and improve in the same key processes that they utilize in the workplace, including Meeting Management, Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, and Continuous Improvement.
- Team members freely discuss and negotiate agreements which will govern their team back on the job; based on their mutual, shared experience, they commit to the roles and behaviors which will make their team succeed.
The Building a Team Culture Workshop is typically conducted at a Challenge Course (see below). Other venues may be arranged as needed; this workshop can also be conducted at your site.
More about Challenge Courses
A Challenge Course is a series of obstacles constructed of wood, rope, wire cable, trees, and utility poles and sequenced so as to promote increasing levels of group awareness, involvement, and cohesion.
The Challenge Course (a.k.a., Ropes Course, Team Course, Confidence Course, Adventure Course, etc.) has been an effective tool for promoting team development, improved communication and problem-solving, and individual initiative and self-esteem for several decades. Originally introduced in the USA as a component of Outward Bound's 30-day wilderness programs in 1963, it reached a broader audience, mostly schools and therapeutic programs, through the work of Karl Rohnke and Project Adventure in the early '70s.
Since the mid-1980s, the Challenge Course has been used increasingly with other clientele, including Corporate groups. Progressive companies now regularly incorporate Challenge Course training as a tool to promote increased team performance.
Preview the First Steps Challenge Course here.
Contact FSTD to learn more about the Building a Team Culture workshop
Team Challenges
