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Our Method for Building Great Teams

Step One: Recreation - Establish Camaraderie

The cornerstone of building an effective team is establishing good rapport – or camaraderie - among its members. This can be accomplished with many activities - like hiking or going to a museum - during which fun and interesting experiences are shared. Recreational Events accomplish this for many groups, and at Cliff Dweller we offer a wide range of indoor and outdoor group activities that center around adventure themes. An office excursion out to our climbing wall is one such example. Recreational days are less in depth than team building programs, but serve some of the same initial purposes.

Step Two: Low Elements - Evaluate and Enhance Team Performance

During a team building program, we use the recreational phase as a foundation and move on to enhance communication, problem solving, teamwork, trust, and leadership through a series of low to the ground initiatives. These are fun problem solving activities that explore the group dynamic and highlight the changing leadership structures that emerge as the group moves from one initiative to another.

Step Three: High Elements - Enhance Individual Confidence:

The tower and tree borne initiatives shift some of the focus from team performance to individual achievement, in order to enhance self confidence. The team is still intact, but its role changes as it now exists to provide encouragement and physical support, rather than direct assistance. Individuals are encouraged to step outside their comfort zone, accept a personal challenge, and act on it. There is a level of personal challenge for everyone, regardless of fitness, and our professional staff is well accustomed to positively coaching those whose fear of heights makes them reluctant.

The high course experience, for a great many people, leaves an empowering, positive impression that they will remember for a lifetime. This is all the more true for those with a fear of heights.

Step Four: Debrief - Conclusion and Applicability

In the end, what determines the relevance of any team building event is how well the experience is related to everyday life. Our facilitators guide the entire day towards this conclusion using logical, well thought out metaphors - rather than the "group hug" approach. Practical insights and personal bonds are solidified during the debrief, which permanently enhances relationships and team effectiveness.

Team Building Program Packages