With the ever evolving parlance of group efficiency, team building training programs stare high on the growth agenda. Almost every corporate integrates team strategy into the business model to achieve a consolidated output. It’s easy to make a great presentation on team synergy and impart it to a bunch of enthusiastic executives. But, team objectives and processes cannot be planned on the grounds of a seminar. You need practical experience to achieve it. As a leader, your ‘ability’ to cultivate your own thoughts and the courage to work on your ideas translate into a team. In short, team building isn’t theoretical and is surely not easy. Let’s look at the picture in logical blocks.
Elements of A Good Corporate Team
- Ability to resolve a crisis, a problem, or simply function on time
- Defined set of roles for every member
- Well defined objective
- Consensual strategy
- Co-ordinated decision making
- Synchronized processes
- Empathy and bonding
Adventure Resorts for Corporates – The Fad
In metros, especially Delhi NCR, sensing the need of practical team work simulation, several outbound corporate exercise facilities have mushroomed. They promise the use of new tools and techniques for team building. Weekend packages at high profile training resorts are in vogue across India. Executives take up the physical activities here. Simulated terrain requires employees to compete as teams over obstacle courses. But to what end!
Trekking over a made up trail with ‘achievable’ difficulty levels followed by a heavy round of snacks, tea, and booze climax as a vacation full of party games. How is it making you more responsible? In fact, do you even get the idea of responsibility? How does it help you gain the confidence of safely promising your colleague “hey buddy I’ve got your back!” Are you prepared for uncertainty? No.
Trekking - A Human Resource Process to Team Building
- Knowing Your Strengths & Weaknesses: Contrary to a campus activity, a real-life outdoor sport like trekking is equipped with natural and some unforeseen situations to inspire team efforts for success. Mountaineering and trekking work profoundly on the human psyche, helping you gain confidence and an overall mental and physical boost. You learn to respect nature and in turn your swing to be ruthless as well as to be warm & tender. Overcoming the challenge of trekking up a steep hill slope to reach a vantage point can instill faith in meeting even the ‘seemingly difficult or impossible target.’ Just utilize your physical and mental resources well. Here, you become eligible to frame and work at the growth goals.
- Know Your People: Since mountaineering requires different grades of training, trekking is the next best thing fitting most health types. Even those with sedentary work style can start from the beginner or moderate level. In a corporate group, the people are more or less known to you. On treks, you get to interact with them better and understand them well. The personality type does influence your workplace productivity. An insight into each other through the highs and lows of journey can help devise workable ways during goal setting, delegation, and meeting the target. Trekking is not just learning, it is a lot of fun too. Enjoying a coffee over a log fire at night catalyzes the bonding. Experiencing a collective moment, such as a panoramic sunrise over the mountains rejuvenates you, while also establishes a relationship with your colleagues. The profound nature cements it all. You connect human to human because away from technology, transport, comforts, that’s all you have got. You as an individual – uninhibited, realistic, and quite fearless by now. This and so much more, such journeys are laced with lessons and it reflects on your learning ability too as a person on what you take away.
- Inner Peace: Once you’ve had your shot of mountain air walking though the most beautiful of paths, the primary change you notice is a set of rejuvenated, invigorated individuals, all belonging to the same group. The tilt to the positive sets in here. Lying on a mountain meadow with mist or bright sunshine all around you and the only sound being the tinkling of a cow bell, believe it or not, your perception of life will change and you will change. For professional and personal good.
- Team Work: Just like any terrain, you will arrive a breaking point even if all goes well. And something goes wrong, then add the woes. The good part, you have a bunch of folks who work a way out because there is no other alternative. As a team, through the trek, you learn to strategize, depute responsibilities, like care of equipment, setting up camp etc. When negotiating high slopes, each member is roped on to another, forming each other’s anchor. You now know the gravity of team effort, responsibility, decision-making, risk taking, and leap of faith.
Benefits of Trekking as A Professional Team Training
- Inspiration: The challenge of climbing a steep slope to reach the top can be an overwhelming experience. As a team achievement, it becomes all the more meaningful. You can now dispose your team against ‘measurable’ goals.
- Motivation: Your target is always in front of you. That peak or high point on the hill is a constant motivating factor pushing the entire team to strive forward. The team now knows the joy of success and is inspired to hit it head on. Have the morale boosting rewards in place to keep up the mood.
- Responsibility: Team members need to perform their tasks diligently and with utmost care as everyone is dependent on everyone else. You have a sincere team in place now.
- Decisiveness and problem solving: Each member learns to strategize and shoot ideas to tone down the trek grind. You take risks and instant decisions. Your unit is confident of its ‘controlling’ calculations by now.
- Confidence: Negotiating difficult terrain in harsh treks can condition a person to face life’s and professional challenges with a cool head. An even person is the most indispensable asset for an organization. Just imagine the impact of several such team members!
Out in the wild, nature does not limit you unlike an indoor corporate team building exercise. It is the real and life turning pivot. It isn’t about the competition; it is about reaching a goal together, where success is the only acceptable achievement.
Bikat adventures conducts several such easy, moderate, and difficult treks for the corporate teams.
