Experiential learning activities are based on the principles of experiential education, and serve as the basis for engaging team building programs that deliver high impact team and leadership skills development. Debriefing occurs after the activity and is an important process designed to synergize, strengthen, and transfer learning from the experience to real-life, on-the-job situations. Our professional facilitators can tailor, modify and debrief each activity to meet the specific needs of your team.
Acid River
A divided team is separated by a large chasm with each team needing to transport personnel to the other side. Team is provided limited resources attempting to cross the wide span of the divide within a very specific time frame. Drawing on their strengths, and depending on each other, the team must construct a plan before it’s too late. As time ticks, groups must move forward and put all the pieces in place as they try to successfully bridge the gap. There are two teams in this activity. The objective is to try to get from one side of the rope to the other side without touching the ground. Blocks are placed in between the ropes that they can use to get to the other side. In addition, each team is given two boards. As the challenge begins to formulate, stipulations are placed on the group limiting their use of the few available resources they possess.
Bull In The Ring
Bull In The Ring Teams will be challenged to transport their product to the marketplace using a highly specialized tool designed to streamline the delivery system. Each member of the team plays an integral role to ensure the quality of the transport allows for successful delivery of your product before the competition catches up. The demands continue to grow and the deadlines get closer as this exciting imitative continues to get more complex.Through this highly engaging initiative, each team is assigned the task of transporting their product out of their warehouse and into the marketplace as quickly as possible using only a rubber ring that has ropes attached to it. At no time is anyone allowed inside the warehouse to protect the integrity of the product.
Cycle Time
Cycle Time provides a unique challenge that draws forth remarkable effort and unparalleled performance. It requires an interesting blend of mental and physical skills to create a solution. So what exactly is the challenge you may ask? Well, we can tell you this, your boards will be stacked against you! With a limited set of instructions, your team will have to connect different shaped boards into the correct formation. To succeed, you will need to make numerous connections throughout the challenge. Once all of the right connections have been forged, an array of new possibilities will be displayed before you. Just when you think you are done, the ultimate question will arise, how did you get here from there? Clear communication, well defined roles and responsibilities, organization, effective planning, and teamwork are factors needed to complete this problem. A group may discover a solution, but in order to repeat the solution in a “world class” time, the group must act as a high performing team.[/wpcol_2third_end]
Island in The Stream
The group is divided into three different levels of corporate hierarchy and charged with completing a group goal, as well as, individual tasks. One group, the line workers (The Island of the Blind), is blindfolded and given a task. They do not receive concrete instructions for accomplishing their task or information required to complete the overall group goal. A second group, the middle managers (The Island of the Mute), is provided a view of the overall group goal but is not allowed to speak. They are separated from the other departments and are tasked with assisting the people on the Island of the Blind. The third group, the executives (The Island of Project Managers) consists of senior managers. They can see and speak and are given additional tasks to complete along with the overall project goal. As the activity progresses, participants eventually begin to ask the following: “What is the common goal?” and “Why are we not reaching it?” and”What do we need to do to work cooperatively?”
Information Swap
Time is of the essence, the deadline is looming and completing tasks in a carefully designed sequence is critical. The pace is quick and the pressure is thick. Your team must step up to the challenge and develop techniques that will lead you along the path of continuous improvement. In this high-energy activity, the team is given an ambiguous task with a tough deadline–working together to make contact with giant numbered spots on the ground as fast as they can. They must develop and improve a solution through iterative attempts. As the activity progresses, the participants find that they must challenge their own assumptions about goals, the rules, and their concept of the “best” way to carry out their task. Goal clarification, continuous improvement, and brainstorming are practiced and refined.
High & Low Ropes
Ropes programs are non-competitive programs. High ropes programs take place 30 feet above the ground. Low ropes programs take place a few feet above the ground. They are based in the Challenge by Choice philosophy. All activities are voluntary. The decision to participate empowers people to perform to their potential, freely and without pressure. Safety is a primary concern. The perception of risk creates high-impact learning environments by moving groups outside their comfort zone. Participants are challenged physically and mentally by activities designed to simulate various aspects of high-performance teams.
A sense of community and purpose is established by evoking the trust, camaraderie and esprit-de-corps that comes from challenging and fun experiences performed collectively. Participants are generally more willing to take calculated risks in their daily lives once they have experienced the sense of accomplishment and well-being resulting from the day’s activities.
Magnifying Glass
In this challenging activity every member of the team holds an integral piece of the big picture, literally! Creating an atmosphere of mystery, each of the participants are handed a single picture that no one else can see. Within three rounds of information sharing, the entire team must determine the sequence of the pictures in the correct order. This engaging group activity helps develop communication skills, perspective taking, and problem solving skills. By piecing together the scenes, the extraordinary connections are revealed between seemingly unrelated characters and images
Object Retrieval
A golden egg needs to be rescued and returned to the museum preserving its pristine condition. Your team has been charged with successfully swiping it from the un-rightful possessors. Your specially trained tactics team will need to draw up a flawless plan to put an end to the treachery making use of their limited resources. In this extraordinarily challenging initiative, time factors in as plans are constructed, roles are defined, trust reaches peak levels, and stealth is the name of the game. Team members are tasked with rescuing an egg balanced on a golf tee from the middle of a 60 foot circle using limited resources supplied to them by the facilitator as well as some natural resources found within the activity area. Constraints are placed on the team, including limited presence within the rescue zone, no touching within the boundaries, and a series of safety regulations which the team must abide by, creating a high level group initiative.
