Photo tour of activities with our clients

The rest of our web site has been kept simple and easy to load for your convenience. On this page we indulge ourselves.

Please, join us on a tour

Please join us for a tour of some of the activities we have led so far. Can you suggest some more? All events are designed to achieve previously agreed outcomes. We always take part with you, as well as organising and facilitating the event!!

Indoors with a flip chart or three . . .

Nothing beats a flip chart when it comes to workshops. It is probably the facilitator's most valuable tool.

Often the best work is when the facilitator is doing nothing – and the floor is held by the team. We set up the situation – you do the work!

Of course flip charts provide a wonderful platform for the boss to explain, or challenge.

“Now tell me folks . . .

could our vision be this big . . .

. . . or could it be this big?”

And indoor groups offer a wonderful opportunity for our leader to expound.

And for others to engage.

What value from time spent exploring ideas and perspectives.

Indoor activities might also include small group work.

Or a game designed to learn through metaphor.

And outside . . .

It is surprising how 'office people' can change when you give them some basic musical instruments.

And this creativity and co-ordination can feed straight into decision-making and teamwork.

On a quieter note we have a little exercise to build sensitivity, co-ordination and co-operation. This can be done anywhere.

And with just some blindfolds and an obstacle course individuals become suddenly helpless – dependent on the one in front, and responsible for those behind.

What can teams learn from this?

Outdoor challenge courses

There are many challenge courses which focus on problem solving and teambuilding.

Getting across a dangerous bog or building a raft or bridge to cross a lake are two common exercises. They are valuable if used to explore patterns of behaviour.

Assembling a design with pre-cut planks is an interesting way of learning how to organise a project. In the case shown here the 'directed' team won the first round, but the 'empowered' team learned faster and rapidly overtook them in later rounds.

Oh, how often do we see teams forget this planning stage in their rush to get out there and do it!

And could it be that this is a pattern sometimes seen at work?

However useful the activities and the coaching we lay on, they always claim that they did the most valuable work in the bar afterwards!

A lesson here, perhaps, about the value of meeting your own staff socially.

Ropes courses now in the UK

So far we have done our ropes work high up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, which certainly adds an exciting dimension. But, increasingly, ropes courses are being built in Europe too.

The most photogenic ropes are undoubtedly those high up in the air. And these have their own attraction in terms of courage, partnership and trust.

But it is probable that the low ropes courses have more learning potential. Only a matter of a foot off the ground, they nevertheless raise their own challenges and provide excellent opportunties for talking through how an individual's or team's reaction could represent a pattern brought from the workplace.

And a chief executive who does the backwards trust fall with his team is more than making a statement. You know the story of the ham and eggs: the chicken made a contribution but the pig . . . made a commitment.

Mountain adventures

What better way to travel on a mountain than by horse? All the romance of the cowboy, the challenge of mounting and controlling another creature, the cameraderie of the team, helping others – and even, maybe, recognising that others have talents that you currently lack.

And then, perhaps arriving for a barbecue at dusk.

Memories are made of this.

Or you could stay in a cabin and cater for yourselves. Why not? People who cook together, stay together.

And it certainly beats having to break at a critical point to go into a public restaurant at a hotel.

Not that you would wish to cut yourselves off all the time. After all, when in Rome do as Rome does. Anyone for a hoedown?

And it's all absolutely designed to cement the team and embed the learning!

A team can easily justify getting away for some quiet thinking and some teambuilding. You can achieve even more with a structured programme and a professional coach.

And now . . . . just to tempt you to the REAL thing.

We can build a whole programme around a river trip, using flow, direction, rapids, calm, as metaphors for life in the 'real' world. Camping at night, cooking beside the river. Can you imagine it? Just give us a ring. We need an excuse!

Britain – surrounded by water

To be fair, you don't have to fly to Colorado to use the water. Britain is surrounded by it.

Have you discovered coasteering? Pembrokeshire has a wonderful varied coastline along which we can go coasteering.

Put simply, it is just moving along the coast at the waterline. But it holds numerous opportunities for lessons. Some take like a duck to water. Others have never much walked anywhere other than on a city pavement. Some can't swim. Some dislike heights.

Never mind. There's something for everyone. And those who need help can allow others to provide it. Typical feedback from one group of managers: “I spend all my working life as the boss helping others – being in charge. Here I had to learn to ask for help. And allow others to help me.” WOW – what an experience.

Just look at these two on the left. This courageous young girl engineer could not swim, and probably wasn't too keen on heights either. But she was prepared to make this leap of faith.

On the first evening of a week's programme. Consider the impact of such a symbolic breakthrough action on her ability to learn and deal with new challenges during the rest of the week. And we know from her feedback that it changed her behaviour at home.

And what a way to end a day. Gazing into the horizon at dusk.

So, if we have tempted you, as we hope we have, then just contact us now.