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When times are tough, team-building is more important than ever

Joe DeRing spends his days taking business people flying through the treetops, over zip lines, across sky bridges to eight platforms suspended high in the trees. Traveling sometimes at more than ten miles per hour, this is anything but another day at the office for the corporate types he's training. The impression he leaves them with will, however, go back to the office.

In kindergarten children are taught to play nicely with others. In middle school, teachers give students "group projects," telling them they'll have to work with all sorts of people in life, so they need to get used to pulling one another's weight now. Now, in adulthood, we have experts on corporate team-building throwing around acronyms like "Team means 'Together Everyone Achieves More.'"

DeRing is owner and general manager of Empower Leadership & Sports Adventure Center in Middletown. He runs team training programs for companies that focus on decision-making, relationship-building, trust and taking positive risks. His experience is not from corporate leadership, but from the eight years he spent in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer.

"I spent eight years leading soldiers and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq," he explains. "I've led small tactical units in combat and I've led large strategic planning operation units. I worked for General David Petraeus, who is an absolute genius. I've worked with numerous leaders where leadership works - and if it doesn't work, we will die.

"That is my philosophy behind every program that we run here," DeRing adds. "It's real-time, honest, straight feedback, and we are able to foster a level of comfort and trust among not only the team members - because they work together every day - but also with the facilitators, so that we can build this day around being honest and leaving here with results."

So, harnassed riders soar for up to two hours on five zip lines. Two adventure sky bridges and eight tree-platforms up to 70 feet high are also encountered along the course. Skilled Empower guides accompany and assist each group from start to finish.

DeRing addresses safety concerns with each group: "We give them all of the safety statistics. Our harness holds up to 5,000 pounds. The tether rope holds 5,000 pounds. We help them make that rational connection in their brain that it may seem a little crazy riding down this cable suspended in air."

He says the most important thing someone will walk away from his program with is empowerment.

"We want them to at least get out of their comfort zone," DeRing explains. "If that means climbing the ladder and getting on top of the first platform and that's all they could do, at least they tried and got that far. If they're at least trying and giving an effort, nobody can fault them for that.

"The transformation that takes place in the teams who come out is really amazing. When they get here, it's very quiet. They don't know what to expect. Some people are scared, some are rolling their eyes, like, 'Here we go again.'

"We sit down and ask each business, 'What do you want to get out of the program? What's going to make you feel satisfied and good about your day as you're walking out of here?' Most importantly, he wants people to have fun.

Jim Rochford, owner of RochfordCoach Business Coaching in Guilford typically doesn't go for the team-building activities, but he strongly believes that everything works better when members of an organization are pulling together for a common goal.

"When you get that feeling of everyone being in synch, that's kind of what organizations want," Rochford says. "They want people to understand that there is a common purpose and also what role they play in it. There's a strong belief that results are much better when this happens."

He encourages his clients to focus on their deliverables and responsibilities.

"If you have everyone understand and buy into the goal, everything is easier," explains Rochford. "You need a good mix of individuals - skills and personalities."

He cites the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni as a good source for managers. In the introduction to his book, Lencioni writes: "Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare."

The fictional book focuses on the absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and loss of focus on results as the biggest dysfunctions of a team.

"Build consensus through group discussion to deal with conflicting opinions. If there are more than one alternative or option to be discussed, go through a group exercise to evaluate the pros and cons the option," Rochford advises. "Sometimes consensus isn't always the way to go. Sometimes you have to say, 'Okay, these are good ideas and I hear all the arguments, but we need to make a choice. I hear you, but we're going to do it my way.'

"It's about results," he adds. "Teams get caught up in the process and forget what they're trying to achieve. The team that stays focused on goals and deliverables and actually achieves them is a great team. You can be a great bunch of people having a great time with each other, but if you don't get the job done, it's a waste."

Of course, having fun while learning to work as a team doesn't hurt. So it's no coincidence that many of team-building activities and programs take place outdoors.

According to Nancy Stamler of Lady Katherine Cruises: "The cruises on the Connecticut River separate the company from the real world - it's almost as if you're on an island for a little while. Nobody can get off if they're uncomfortable. The unusual setting and lack of familiarity puts everyone involved on the same playing field."

Lady Katherine Cruises sail from Charter Oak Landing in Hartford. If a company doesn't have its own program, Lady Katherine Cruises can provide a presenter for team building activities. The yacht accommodates 250 people.

"These creative exercises help people feel like they're working in the same direction," Stamler says.

In the Litchfield County community of Lakeville, Interlaken Resort & Conference Center began to offer "in-house" team building activities in 2008. The programs are customizable to run for a specific duration of time, making it easy to integrate into an existing meeting itinerary.
Kristy Barto, Interlaken's corporate sales manager, created the program in response to meeting planners' need for effective team building, while allowing the rest of the meeting's agenda to remain intact. "We're sensitive to the fact that our clients are holding offsite meetings less frequently, and they have to pack a lot into their agenda" Barto explains. "We've found a way to provide some structured excitement in even the most crowded itinerary."

Interlaken's offers four discrete team-building exercises, including the "Radical Race," "Team Olympics," "Culinary Challenge" and the "Raft Expedition." Each activity utilizes the resort's extensive campus, lakes and wooded areas to create exciting and challenging scenarios. Activities can be tailored for groups ranging from ten to 100 people.

Barto says the Radical Race is most popular during warmer weather and the Culinary Challenge is the biggest hit during winter months.

"It's interactive - the executive chef comes out for it and all of the foodies really enjoy it," she explains.

The Team Olympics program is for large groups who are hands-on and competitive.

Each program was designed to fit into a busy meeting agenda. Each activity takes about two hours and can easily fit within a day-long schedule.

"[Participants] leave with a renewed sense of camaraderie and that we are all good at something," explains Barto. "Someone may be better at canoeing and someone may be better at the blind wine-tasting. It helps them learn more about each other's skills in addition to what they see at the workplace. It's fun and they get to interact at a new level."

Barto says that a certain level of anxiety and trepidation is to be expected among program attendees.

"They come in - especially when we're planning it - and they're worried about the people who may not be able to do certain tasks. Some are just not competitive, and when I design these programs, I keep everyone in mind," she says.

"They start out wondering what they got themselves into, but end up having fun and relaxing," Barto adds. "It's coming out of your comfort zone for a lot of people. They have to realize they're all in it together."

If you've considered zip lines, cocktail cruises, an Olympic event and even a cook-off, but they still don't appeal to you, there's one more choice: scavenger hunts held by Watson Adventures on the Yale campus or at a local museum.

According to Carly Blatt, Watson's communications director, it's a fun way to get out of the office and get together while learning a lot about the people you work with.

The Bulldog Blitz Scavenger Hunt tours the historic heart of the Yale campus, while revealing the hidden aspects of strange gargoyles on Gothic towers, tricky traditions connected with sober statues, silly figures in stained-glass windows, and the footpaths of famous Yale students in days of yore.

Teams of five or six are assembled and a list of questions to answer is provided. One example is: Outside Davenport Hall, what might remind students to be thankful - or just make them salivate? (Answer: A stone relief of a roasted turkey is above the kitchen entrance.)

The Yale Art Attack Scavenger Hunt takes place in the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art. No knowledge of art is required - you just need comfortable shoes and effective teamwork.

"We'll do teams of about six people and hand them lists of different clues of things they'll have to find in the museum or on the Yale campus and we find that different people show different strengths," Blatt explains. "One person is a good navigator. One may be the first person to understand a joke in a clue or something with wordplay. You end up finding that people have different strengths and then work together to get to the answers."

It's not a race, so there's no pressure finish first. The winner is the team that gets the most correct answers. At the end, everyone submits answers and a master of ceremonies grades results and presents them back at office or at a central location such as the Yale campus or at museum.

"It's an even playing ground and everyone starts in the same place," Blatt says. "Even an expert on art won't benefit from their expertise."

Every hunt highlights the importance of teamwork and the value of each team member's contribution, as well as aspects of group dynamics and problem-solving. To emphasize the lessons of the hunt so that the participants bring them back to the office and apply them to their bottom line, Watson Adventures holds a workshop led by Wise Solutions.

According to Blatt: "Team-building allows individuals to retain their value in the organization during periods of growth and change as well as improve customer service by teaching how to effectively operate as a cohesive team. It serves to encourage the development of innovative products and services by leveraging team members' value, resulting in increased value overall to the organization."

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