Headline: Life Center Teaches Teamwork (Jeffrey Wood Commentary)

If Donald Trump really wanted to see what his army of “Apprentice” weenies were made of, he’d fly the whole bunch down to Springdale for a run though on the ropes challenge at the Charles N. McKinney Life Adventure Center.

Not to turn The Donald’s show into its lowbrow NBC brethren “Fear Factor,” but his Ivy League lineup could really use a refresher on the most important lesson in business: Trust and strong relationships are built on interaction and good listening.

This became crystal clear to one pudgy, balding guy who recently found himself in dress shoes and slacks, hesitating on a tiny wooden perch 32-feet above the ground. What got him to step out onto a suspended inclined log, and tightrope across a 20-foot span to the next crow’s nest, was encouragement from his teammates and the belief they would never let go of his safety rope. And he had only met most of them that morning.

The center’s high-element challenge is basically an obstacle course of wood and cable held in the air by giant telephone poles. It looks like something a squad of Navy Seals or a pack of orangutans would enjoy.

Initiatives along the course include the inclined-log walk, the swinging-log multi-vine walk, the heebie-jeebie challenge and a 100-yard zip-line dismount from a tower back to Earth. Participants are hooked to both dynamic belays, safety lines counterbalanced by teammates, or static belays that are hooked onto cables.

Jeff Ohnstad, director of the Community Life/Life Adventure Center at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale, invited a group of local business owners and executives out for a day of experiential education on the course. None of the lot, including yours truly, appeared to be cut from the thrill-seeker cloth, yet everyone still tackled the course.

Our crew included Amy Knight of Stephens Inc., John Rutledge of First Security Bank, Randy Mullikin of the Mullikin Agency, Richard LaFargue of LaFargue Financial Group Inc., Tracy Cude of the Walton Arts Center, Jim Potts of Lewis & Clark Outfitters and Kelly Kemp-McLintock of the Jones Center.

Two additional staff members also joined us: Kelley Warren, the center’s Family Life coordinator, and Eric Whittaker, the assistant Teen Life/Life Adventure Center coordinator.

Ohnstad, a certified ropes course instructor, started us out small on team-building exercises that emphasized communication. Then we worked toward the bigger challenges.

The whole idea is to develop interpersonal relationship, problem solving and leadership skills as well as stronger team cohesiveness. Participants build confidence, overcome potential fears, learn to work through challenges and build trust.

The whole reason I wound up there in dress clothes is because I did a terrible job of listening to what the day was supposed to hold. There are weeks, particularly this time of year, when the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal is so covered up that I’m tempted to jump out of my own second-story window. This particular week, I was under siege, and it never registered that Ohnstad’s invite was offering a day of fun. I thought I was going to a press conference.

I am so glad the center stayed after me to come, and that I got a chance to interact with this group of remarkable people. It was incredible to watch random acquaintances meld into a real team. Imagine what it could do for your office.

More information as well as corporate and nonprofit rates is available at www.jonesnet.org, but the best way to experience Life Adventure is by doing it.

Just be sure to wear sneakers.