There are things that plead for attention and then there are those that demand it. Just like there are things that we only we give a glance to, there are some that grab our attention and won’t allow us to take it away.
When it comes to team building exercises, there’s a similar difference between those that are conventional and perhaps considered boring and those that are adventurous and fun.
The Visible Difference
Now, if it were up to you, what would you be an audience to? A group taking part in scavenger hunts, sack races and trust falls? Or a caravan of ATVs splashing mud and drifting around corners? The former may be safe but you know the latter is far more fun.
Have you ever seen a group being subjected to a run-of-the-mill team bonding exercise? You’ll see that their eyes are simply engaged at all times, which is a miracle in itself at a corporate activity day.
The difference is not just clearly visible but also quite audible. If you put your ears to a group engaged in some mundane team building activity, you’ll realise how very little laughter and excitement is evoked. Adventure, on the other hand, can give a group what it has been missing in previous corporate bonding days.
Challenges
It’s good to be a child at heart. But let’s reserve bobbing about in a sack for the school sports days we all were subjected to many years ago. It’s almost cute when it is put up against holding a rifle in hand and shooting rounds at clay. And we haven’t even compared it against our awesome off roading experience.
The thing with conventional team building exercises is that they can be quite unimaginative. Now consider a group which is about to do a trust fall, even the one standing next to you knows what you will be doing and there’s no scope for anybody to do anything different.
But if this group went paintballing, there is a little more mystery. Who is going to run where or who is going to shoot whom? When you introduce adventure into the picture, you also bring suspense. Can an activity really be fun when you know all along what’s going to happen at the end?
You’re Forging a Team and You Don’t Even Know It
Set a bunch of individuals loose with some excitement and they will come back as a team. You can make many conscious efforts to bring your team closer but when you leave them alone to have some fun, that’s when the magic happens.
If your team has two sworn enemies, blindfold the one behind the steering wheel and ask the other to give directions. Will they really have an option other than to help each other out of the sweet mess you just created for them?
Team bonding is not a result of carefully thought out strategies and meticulously planned activities. Randomness can be the key here.
Lifts the Veil of Fear
Fear drives us inward, restricts our ability and impairs our personality. The only antidote to this venom is adventure.
Suppose you’re seated in a hovercraft. Before stepping in, our instructors may have given you all the theory that there is to know about moving it and also the assurance that you will be safe. But theories and assurances do not really make up for first hand experience, do they?
When the fan behind you starts moving and the craft lifts up, so will your spirit. With every drift and slide of the hovercraft, your teams fears will disintegrate slowly.
If you bring your team to Avalanche Adventure, there are several things that you will walk away with. That includes an unforgettable experience, a memory that each of you will hold onto and of course, a close knit team – and isn’t that what any passionate team manager wants?