Team Building, a worthwhile investment?

We think so.

Brian Scudamore, Founder and CEO of O2E Brands which is ranked as one of the country’s best places to work, said of team building in this article for Forbes, “It builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication, and increases collaboration. Effective team building means more engaged employees, which is good for company culture and boosting the bottom line.”  For these exact reasons, it is important to include team building on the agenda when planning a conference, board meeting, or retreat. Groups coming to Montana have an exciting opportunity to create unique experiences and team building activities that everyone will remember for a very long time!

One of my all-time favorite assignments was creating a Survival Challenge Team Building Extravaganza for a corporate retreat. I had a couple of conversations with the meeting planner to find out what they were looking to experience and what their goals were for the team building activity. The CEO wanted an experience along the lines of Naked and Afraid, the Discovery Channel show. The meeting planner said, and I will never forget, “Let’s do something challenging in the woods, but without the naked part!” The primary goal was to push individuals outside their comfort zone and have them do things they wouldn’t normally do – most were coming from large cities around the country and didn’t have much time to spend outdoors. I took that direction and met with my operations team to brainstorm what we could put together. We decided to create an entire survival scenario that would use as many of our most popular activities as possible and teach survival skills and team problem solving at the same time.

And here is how it went . . .

The Scenario

At the end of their breakfast meeting, we outfitted all the participants in camouflage colored bandanas to designate which team they were on. They had been split up into groups of six by the company to mix up people of all levels of management and departments so they would be working with individuals they usually don’t get to work with. Then we loaded them into vehicles and took them to the starting point. The teams were paired with a staff member who would be their guide and score keeper throughout the challenge. Then they were given a briefing on the scenario.

The scenario was that they had been out in the wilderness camping when a huge storm came in. They scattered to take shelter and had gotten lost. Now they needed to use basic skills to survive and get rescued.  They needed shelter.  They were on one side of a lake and there were good resources on the other side, but they would need to paddle a kayak across to get the supplies and paddle them back to their team’s designated area. First, they needed to build a shelter. Team members took turns in their kayak paddling as fast as they could to bring back poles and tarps to create shelters. Every team member had to paddle at least once for each task. This proved difficult for some who had never been in a kayak or those that didn’t like the water, but team members cheered them on and the competition was fierce.

Once their shelters were built and tested for sturdiness, they had to start a fire (those that had gotten wet in the kayaks were happy to get a little warmth!). The fire starting kits were on the other side of the lake, so they again had to paddle across and choose items such as pine needles or Vaseline soaked cotton balls to light with flint and steel. Next, they had to collect fuel from around their shelters to build a fire large enough to burn a string that was strung two feet off the ground. This portion took the longest because not many people knew how to start a fire with the flint and steel. Many could get a spark, but couldn’t figure out the right proportions of fuel to make the fire grow without smothering it.

When lost in the woods, it is important to stay hydrated. After their fire was going well, teams needed to collect water. Each team was given a gallon bucket and they had to paddle across the small lake to a fresh stream to fill up their buckets. Then they had to paddle the full buckets back to their shelters and fill a five gallon bucket up to the top to complete this task. For most teams it took more than five trips because it is not easy to get in and out of a kayak with a full bucket of water!

Once their basic survival needs were met, the teams needed to “hunt” for food. The teams ran to an archery area where they had to shoot bow and arrows at targets to win food for lunch and gain points for their final score. Each team member got three arrows and the closer to the bullseye they were, the more food they would get. Some teams had great shooters and got a decent lunch. Others at least ended up with a snack to keep them going.

The story goes on…

From there, the scenario was that they had been hunting on sacred ground and the locals were not happy. They had to sneak around the edge of the local village to continue on their way to being rescued. Each team was given one paintball gun to defend themselves and they had to run through a grove of aspen trees all together while getting ambushed with paintballs by the angry locals who were hiding in the trees on the hillside above their path. There were hay bales, trees, bushes, etc. to hide behind as teams made their way down the path. They got extra points if they grabbed flags placed strategically out in the open along the path. If a teammate got hit by a paintball, they had to fall down and two other team members had to drag them to cover. No team member could be left behind.

Once the teams made it past the angry locals, they found bikes and a map to find their next location. After deciphering the map, the teams pedaled about a mile through a cow pasture to a grassy knoll. Here they found out a helicopter was searching for them, but they had to get to higher ground to be rescued. They needed to create a directional signal that the rescue helicopter would be able to see that would show the direction they were going to be traveling. There were piles of various materials such as logs, tires, and fence posts teams could use and each got a compass to orient the signal in the correct direction. Upon completion of the rescue signal, teams were given a GPS device and a set of coordinates. They had to use the GPS device to navigate to the coordinates where they would find the next set of coordinates. Keeping the challenge difficult, but not impossible, the five sets of coordinates led them up the face of a mountain, along a ridge line, and across a small valley to the rescue rendezvous point.

The “rescue helicopter” met the teams at a ropes course which included a climbing wall, zip line, and a “Leap of Faith”. Each team member decided which elements of the ropes course they wanted to do and they got points for each one they tried. The “Leap of Faith” required an individual to climb up a telephone pole, stand up on top of it, and jump out to the “helicopter skids” (a trapeze bar) action hero style to complete their rescue and fly away on the helicopter. Safety is paramount on the ropes course so everyone had harnesses and were connected to safety straps in case they didn’t catch the helicopter skids. The scenario and competition to finish strong made the course more fun than usual!

Winners and Losers?

We held an awards ceremony at dinner that night and gave out authentic Montana prizes. The team that came in last got (brand new) toilet seats hung around their heads and were very proud of the fact that they didn’t cheat at all on the course – unlike some other teams, they claimed! The winners got golden horseshoes to hang in their offices for good luck in all their future challenges.

This Survival Challenge Team Building Extravaganza was a pretty difficult physical test for some members. For others afraid of heights, it was a chance to face their fears. And for those outdoor adventurists – it was a really fun day out of the office. Each team had their strengths and weaknesses, some working better together than others. Different people stepped up along the way to lead different challenges if they had the background knowledge or a strategy the team agreed to try. Teams even started helping other teams – showing them how to work a compass, encouraging each other up the steep mountain climb, and cheering on the bravest as they attempted the “Leap of Faith.” Everyone learned something new whether it was how to use flint and steel to start a fire or who is the best at getting a team to work together to solve a problem. A new camaraderie was built that day that never would have been created sitting in a meeting.

In Montana we are lucky to have incredible outdoor opportunities to create unique experiences, but team building can be done anywhere. As you plan your next meeting or retreat, see how much time you can create for some invaluable team building. It is worth the investment!

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