Local Companies Still Find Value in Team-building Activities

Don Shipley is familiar with the concept of team-building.

“Here, it’s just a lot more aggressive,” Shipley said.

Shipley operates Extreme SEAL Experience in Chesapeake, Va., and as a group of Northwest Arkansas businessmen found out, there might not be a more intense team-building experience to be found.

“If you go through eight days of that, it ain’t going away any time soon,” said Lance Holly, vice president of brand emergence at New Creature, a Rogers-based advertising and marketing firm.

Holly and two other New Creature VPs, Chad Sadler and Ken Williams, attended one of Shipley’s week-long camps in September. They were accompanied by Sadler’s brother, Wes, and Isaac Farmer, who work at Capital Structures in Fort Smith. The group was treated to a military-grade dose of maneuvers designed to promote communication, teamwork and attitude.

“You’ve got to be real good in all of them or the foundation fails,” Holly said.

The same can be said for most successful businesses. That’s why team-building activities, from half-day getaways to extreme experiences like the one Holly and company endured, remain a viable endeavor.

“Some of the stronger teams look at it as an investment instead of an expense,” said Chuck Hyde, CEO of The Soderquist Center in Siloam Springs. “They think it’s something they can’t afford not to do.”

 SEAL Style

New Creature president Patrick Sbarra echoed Hyde’s sentiment in an e-mailed comment.

“New Creature’s leaders know they have a responsibility to bring the most out of our people, help them realize their potential and help them to stretch beyond what they thought they were capable of achieving,” Sbarra wrote.

Holly, Sadler and Williams decided to stretch themselves first by attending Shipley’s camp. Shipley, a retired SEAL, sets up the camp to give participants a taste of real SEAL training.

Shipley said the exercises are designed to force participants to “focus on the things that matter and stop worrying about the things that don’t,” a tenet he believes applies to all aspects of life, including business.

Much of the week revolved around competitions between attending teams. Holly recalled one such event that involved team members swimming an eight-foot, telephone pole-like piece of lumber through about 500 yards of water.

“That’s the closest they come to seeing God down here,” Shipley said.

Holly said the idea of teamwork was reinforced when the first-place finishers were disqualified for leaving behind one of their members. Holly’s team was awarded first place, as well as a brief period of rest, while other teams went through more exercises.

The rest emphasized another business-world axiom.

“It pays to win,” Holly said.

Now Holly hopes the experiences he shared with Sadler and Williams pay dividends in their work at New Creature. He wants them to be an example for other employees, especially due to the fact the company often tackles highly challenging projects.

To be successful, New Creature must rely on the same things – communication, teamwork and attitude – that helped them thrive at Shipley’s camp.

“We have to tell them our expectations and then show them through our actions how to get those things done,” Holly said of the New Creature staff. “We’re going to do the hard things, so embrace it. Let other people do the easy things.”

 Business is Good

At about $1,500 per person, some might find the lessons learned by the New Creature crew cost-prohibitive. Stacy Reagan, program coordinator for NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s Corporate Learning program, is quick to point out more moderate options are available closer to home.

NWACC’s program, which utilizes independent, licensed facilitators, costs between $30 and $90 per person. Determining factors include whether the group is a non-profit or for-profit organization, and whether they choose a half-day or full-day activity.

Reagan also stressed NWACC’s offerings pale in comparison to the cost of sending a small group or even an individual to a seminar or business conference. This is especially true when considering the added travel and lodging costs.

By attending one of NWACC’s team-building sessions, which come complete with colorful names like the Nitro Crossing, Wild Woosey and Flying Squirrel, a larger group can reap the benefits one person might gain by attending a seminar. Reagan also believes employees typically respond more favorably to activities outside an antiseptic conference room or meeting space.

“Rather than having to sit in a classroom, they’re able to get out and about, get outside and have a good time,” Reagan said. “And a lot of times it’s an experience they’ve never had before. They really have to think and build trust in each other to get something accomplished.”

Companies like Arvest Bank Group Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., as well as many of its vendors, are repeat customers and provide a solid business base for NWACC. Reagan said about 30 to 40 groups participated in team-building activities at the on-campus facility this summer, up from about 20 to 25 last summer.

A Different Slant

At The Soderquist Center, Hyde puts a different spin on many activities similar to those available at NWACC and other places. Hyde said team-building can come across as a generic term for anything from an employee trip at the bowling alley or even a barbecue.

The Soderquist Center, which utilizes a 5-acre parcel at John Brown University and the 100-acre Greystone Estate at Beaver Lake, prefers the term “team development.” A full-time staff of four leads the effort, with more facilitators available if needed.

“We want to actually train them to perform more effectively,” Hyde said. “You can go bowling for a fraction of the cost, but you get what you pay for.”

Hyde declined to give any type of price structure for Soderquist Center activities, but said a wide range of services is available. That includes traditional exercises such as a ropes course and other challenge courses, as well as more involved exercises like orienteering, repelling and kayaking.

“People want a sense of adventure,” Hyde said. “You can get pretty creative out there, and that’s fun.”

The Soderquist Center experience is more than just a recreational one, though. Professionals are in place to reinforce the lessons learned during group activities once they’re completed, Hyde said, and one of the greatest rewards comes when feedback is received at an even later date.

Hyde recalled such an exchange with a client who found himself embroiled in a tense meeting with co-workers. Tempers flared and patience ran low as the group struggled to find a solution to a problem.

“I remember a guy actually calling me and saying, ‘Hey, we thought about you guys the other day when a problem came up,'” Hyde said. “They re-traced their footsteps and thought about how they had solved their initiative here. Then they applied those same ideas to the problem they were having.

“They left there with something accomplished.”

In the Zone

A scenario like that one is the objective of all team-building exercises, said Jeff Ohnstad, director of LIFE Adventure Center in Springdale. LAC is part of the Jones Center for Families, and Ohnstad has conducted more than 575 team-building events since the center opened in August 2002.

Originally planned as a team-building venue for school and non-profit groups, Ohnstad gradually has built a base of loyal business clients. Though he also declined to discuss specific rates, Ohnstad has branded his experiential education center – located on a 2.5-acre plot – as “a very affordable alternative,” and hopes to become a self-sustaining operation in the near future.

Ohnstad said the LAC prefers groups of 15 to 25 because that size allows all participants to reap the maximum benefit of exercises tailored to their needs. Energized and inspired employees, he added, are his ultimate goal.

“Our big deal is to move people out of their comfort zone into their stretch zone, where they learn the most about themselves,” Ohnstad said. “But we don’t move them into their panic zone, where they don’t learn anything at all.”

Holly likely can relate to that idea. His extreme team-building experience taught him a lot about himself and his co-workers, and reinforced some of the principles on which New Creature was built.

“We always say we’re the Rolling Stones of what we do or the Navy SEALs of what we do,” Holly said. “This was a way to back that up.”