Team Building Challenges
When people come to a challenge course they participate in a series of different challenges. These could be introducing yourself to a complete stranger, playing a goofy tag game, passing someone through a web of rope or catching a teammate on a trust fall. If the facilitator is good, the participants feel like they are just playing a bunch of fun games. In order to correctly team build the group must stop and reflect on what they just did. But why?
A group can just go through the day and complete as many challenges as they can and at the end of the day go, “Hey that was fun.” and possibly build a little group morale through participation; however if the group takes a couple of minutes and talks about what they just did or reflects as a group, the group can grow and become stronger in limitless ways.
At first when a team reflects, they think about the now. How they did in the present, and not just “it was fun” or “we did good”. The idea is to talk about the process of how you started the event all the way through to the very end.
- Did you have a plan?
- Did everyone give input or was it one person?
- Did everyone understand the plan?
- When navigating the event did you stick to the plan or did you have to adapt to unforeseen or unaccounted obstacles?
- Was there a clear leader?
- Did everyone understand their role?
- How does this exercise relate to what happens at work, school or home?
The list could go on and on and on about appropriate questions to start helping your group think more about one another. The important question to ask at the end is “how can we take this back to help us with what our team does.” Each answer will be different and unique to their group. A group of teachers is going to be much different than a soccer team which will be different than a group of salesmen. This is the question to really elaborate and spend time on talking because now you are talking about your teams future.
Problem Solving
Some other questions worth asking involve having the team look inward at each member such as “Did anyone take the time to ask _____ (the quiet person) what s/he thought?” From what I have seen the quiet person usually see’s a unique way to solve the problem or the easiest way to solve it. “Why is ______ always stepping up to take charge?” Just because this person is loud doesn’t mean they are the best leader. Again these questions could go on and on the idea is to get the team to stop and think and maybe now they have some stronger links and resources than they thought. It’s just no-one took the time to discover them.
At Terrapin Adventures that’s exactly what we do. We take the time to discover as many strengths in the individuals of your team as well as your team as a whole. Click here to learn more about improving your team through guided group reflection or send an inquiry form.
Jason Ruby
Operations Manager, Facilitator
Great Team Building Events with Terrapin Adventures
Terrapin Adventures is conveniently located in Howard County, Maryland, between Baltimore and Washington DC. We offer both custom onsite and offsite team building solutions. Presented in a fun and creative way, team building exercises challenge your team members to step out of their comfort zones and force them to work together to solve certain tasks.
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Get in touch with a Guest Relations Specialist today and ask about how we can help you plan your team building event. Please call Terrapin Adventures at 301.725.1313, or email us at info@terrapinadventures.com. You can also follow Terrapin Adventures on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, and Pinterest for up-to-date information on events, trends, and other fun and exciting outdoor activities.