An Amazing Adventure Race
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TEAMWORK AND LEADERSHIP AT THE CENTER OF SUCCESS

INTRODUCTION
Island Creek Oysters is based out of Duxbury, Massachusetts. They employ over 300 people. The owner contacted Synergy at Northeast Mountaineering to organize an outing to address leadership and teamwork for the eight members of the marketing department. Many of them did not associate themselves as “outdoorsy” but carried an enthusiastic attitude and were eager to participate. In their entry surveys participants expressed concerns about the leadership, teamwork, accountability and lower-than-expected levels of feeling appreciated in their jobs but were very optimistic about the mission and the future of the company.

THE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTION
Our goal was to create a custom adventure package that would address the desired goals of teamwork and leadership. Working through our systematic process of discovery, planning, implementation, evaluation and adaptation we were able to fully understand who ICO was as a company, an accurate picture of each participants abilities and then develop a suitable outing that would leave a lasting impression once they returned to the workplace.

Discovery Goals

  • Clearly define Island Creek Oysters and fully understand their mission and team
  • Identify areas of weakness with room for improvement
  • Build tools to quantify and measure intangible qualities such as leadership and teamwork
  • Understand the physical and mental limitations of the participants
  • Allow for anonymous assessments of current state and future state of the company culture, teamwork and leadership

Planning Goals

  • Establish an Adventure Race that would force teamwork in the decision-making process
  • Make the course attainable for all participants carefully considering the physical and mental limitations of each participant
  • Set criteria that allowed for multiple approaches to success
  • Effectively and efficiently use time
  • Establish 20-30 voluntary challenges that directly addressed teamwork or leadership (or both) with rewards for completion
  • Create learning opportunities that have direct analogies to the business world (i.e. narrow focus vs. new areas for growth, etc.)
  • Force natural leaders to become supporting participants and natural teammates to become leaders

Implementation Goals:

  • Clear communication to set expectations
  • Strong leadership and teamwork displayed by NEM Guides
  • Allow for ample planning and preparation to maximize success
  • Provide guidance to each team without impeding the decision-making process
  • Ensure safety at all times
  • Have a competitive adventure race that leaves a lasting impression
  • Force participants out of their comfort zone without compromising safety or enjoyment level
  • Allow participants to adapt and deviate form their original plan

Evaluation Goals:

  • Allow participants to reflect on their team, personal and organizational experience, identify areas of strength and areas for improvement
  • Allow NEM guides to provide insights to each team member, the team and the organization about areas of strength and weakness
  • Allow participants to assess their guides’ areas of strength and weakness
  • Overall assessment of the program
  • Two-week follow up to determine on-going impact
  • One-month follow up to determine on-going impact
  • Statistically analyze the improvement in teamwork in leadership
  • Identify the value of the experience versus the cost
  • Clearly demonstrate multiple leadership styles and how they can be effective

Adaptation Goals:

  • Take the lessons learned and discover ways to improve areas of weakness and maximize the areas of strength
  • Establish a follow-up procedure to ensure on-going impact

 

 
THE AMAZING ADVENTURE RACE
We organized a two-day, two-night outing to meet the time restraints and the budget of ICO that included an Adventure Race, Lodging, Food and ample time for discussion and fun!

Day One
After introductions and communicating the participants to the challenge that lies ahead we established two teams by picking straws so that participants that worked closely together in the workplace could not subconsciously gravitate to the same team. We provided each team with a map that clearly defined the starting point, end point and the established trails in the area. On the map we marked 25 bonus challenges that rewarded each team with negative time bonuses upon completion. Each team established their intended route of travel and identified which objectives they intended to complete along the way. We broke for a catered lunch around noon. After lunch we went to a local climbing crag (cliff) to practice any of the skills required to safely complete the plans established in the morning session. This included introduction to ice climbing, practice pitching a tent, learning about climbing and mountaineering equipment and how to use it and a whole lot more! Dinner reservations were made and the team enjoyed great food and beverages unaccompanied by NEM representatives.

Day Two
Each team had six hours to complete the adventure race, completing as many challenges along the way as they desired. Each team was forced to adapt and alter their plans on the fly. In the end, the two teams completed the race within 30 seconds of each other despite completely different leadership styles, plans of execution and varying levels of physical and mental limitations. The winning team was declared over a celebratory dinner. Both teams completed 15 bonus challenges. The winner was determined by better execution of one competition challenge.

The 25 challenges were broken down into the following categories:
Mandatory: Failure to complete these challenges resulted in a positive time penalty
Participation: Successful completion of these challenges were rewarded guaranteed bonuses
Competition: Bonus was awarded to one team only via picture evidence of completion. The team who completed these challenges with better style and quality were awarded the bonus.
 
 

Brett and his team of highly talented, personable guides did an incredible job of creating a fun experience where our management staff got to enjoy the outdoors and get some exercise while also undergoing a powerful exercise in self discovery and leadership development. We had a great time, learned a lot about ourselves and one another, and are still seeing the positive impact in our day to day months later.

 
 

 
THE RESULTS
The immediate impact was realized and communicated in the post-race debrief. Within 48 hours, the NEM staff was able to identify key strengths and areas for improvement in each participant. Participants easily defined positive qualities within themselves, the organization and lessons to improve the work environment and/or workflow. Many participants found a new sense of confidence, glowing self esteem and were optimistically reminded of and enthusiastic to work on areas for improvement. Stepping beyond their comfort zone highlighted natural tendencies that forced them to work through challenges and thrive in comfortable roles. We discussed the analogies between the adventure race and the business world and how it could affect their approach moving forward to improve their processes and foster growth. Our two-week follow up provided feedback that these benefits were translating back into the workplace. Employees who were previously “slacking” improved their initiative level. Communication was improved by reducing the number of assumptions being made, clearly stating expectations and listening more intently. New sales goals were established and processes to accomplish them were in the planning phase. The employees continued to talk about the outing and discover new “ah-ha” moments through reflection of themselves, the team, and the organization. Our summary report showed increases in job satisfaction, teamwork and leadership levels across the board at ICO as a result of their Synergy experience.

Benefits:

  • Improved self-awareness for each participant
  • Identified natural leaders and those with a propensity to follow in a supporting role
  • Effective communication in times of differing opinions
  • Conflict resolution techniques
  • Renewed confidence
  • Increase levels of initiative
  • Problems became opportunities for solutions – improved attitude
  • Better customer relations and communication