When actor Billy Crystal, as Mitch, took a cattle drive vacation with his buddies, he got much more than the cowboy experience he had signed up for. As the City Slickers comedy plot unfolded, Mitch gained insight into what was most significant in life for him. And by the end of the movie, he was on a new more purposeful midlife path, fresh from the epiphany he got out there on the range.
Business groups can experience more than roping and riding at ranches, too. In fact, lessons in cowpoking and other ranching skills can be metaphors for what goes on back in the office. Cowboys need organizational and communications skills to get a herd moving, and those same skills can apply back home, too.
Techniques for gaining trust and partnership with animals can be applied to associates by managers and executives. Not that horses and cattle are on par with people, but the animals do give instant feedback when you are trying to get them to do something—and they provide a good opportunity to practice tempering skills and learning concepts to apply in management.
In other words, running cattle can help you run a business.
The splendid isolation of Western ranches encourages business groups to step out of the proverbial office box and achieve good ROI. Yet many business guests won’t completely disconnect, and they want good Internet and cell phone service, even in the wilderness. A morning of cross-country skiing, a trail ride or a cattle roping exercise can be great for the program, but don’t take away my laptop and cell phone, say many 21st century wannabe cattle hands. Dedicated meeting space and AV equipment on-property are additional pluses for ranches that want to attract business groups three seasons a year, when summer family dude ranch vacations aren’t in full flower.
Business Ready Ranches
At The Home Ranch near Steamboat Springs, Colo., ranch manager Johnny Fisher says wireless is “everywhere” on his ranch. It’s one of the reasons Conversant, an international training and consulting company with offices in Boulder, Colo., brings its management training course trainees to the ranch twice each year, he says.
“They bring in 17 people twice a year who are involved in a nine-month course about how to be better managers,” Fisher says.” It’s pretty intense, with no downtime outside of the hours they sleep. The people learn how to ride horses and pen cattle right off. If they can’t get the horse to do what they want it to do, they learn it’s not the horse’s fault, because it’s all about communication. Most of those who come here have never ridden horses, and it’s amazing to see how well they end up riding by the end of their time here. The focus is very intense, and the idea is to work on yourself to become a better communicator so you can get lots more out of others.”
At Rock Springs Guest Ranch in Bend, Ore., ranch co-owner Eva Gill says high-speed Internet access is so important for guests that she and husband John changed from their original, unreliable satellite system to a land-based system for a high-speed connection in the ranch’s lodge and conference space.
“Our Rock Springs Conference Center is approved by IACC (International Association of Conference Centers), and offers lots of natural light and ergonomic seating, along with Wi-Fi,” Gill says. “Our guest services manager works with planners through the whole booking and execution process, which is a breeze within our CMP (complete meeting package) all-inclusive rate.”
Rock Springs also has high and low challenge courses for team-building exercises, and offers support services to those who are looking for outdoor experiential training programs and don’t have their own facilitators and consultants. The central Oregon ranch also serves up a smorgasbord of recreational options for groups, including horseback riding and hayrides, golf on 30 courses within an hour’s drive, hiking, and skiing at nearby Mount Bachelor. Rock climbing, biking, canoeing, white-water rafting, and dog sledding are also available in season.
Isolated but Accessible
Spectacular mountain vistas, the opportunity to get close to the lore of the American West and privacy are popular reasons to book your meeting or training sessions at dude ranches.
Carol Moore, group sales coordinator for the 45-casita White Stallion Ranch, with 2,600 square feet of dedicated meeting space near Tucson, Ariz., says business groups come for the lifestyle simplicity of a ranch setting.
“When you have the simplicity, along with the facilities you need, all your meals, and not a lot of distractions, you can get down to business right away,” Moore says. “You can’t walk into town, and once you are in residence, you have few things to distract you from the purpose of the meeting.”
The ranch’s American Plan of three meals a day means groups eat and meet in the same sphere, and enjoy recreation like hiking in the Sonoran Desert, tennis, golf, and swimming in the ranch pool.
White Stallion is among the West’s ranch properties that are within less than an hour of a regional or major airport—it’s a 40-minute drive from Tucson International Airport—so groups don’t have to sacrifice accessibility for a location apart.
Another ranch with similar accessibility is Three Bars Ranch, located an hour from the U.S. border and Cranbrook Regional Airport in British Columbia. April Beckley, one of the family owners, says regular air service into Cranbrook originates out of both Vancouver, British Columbia, and Calgary, Alberta. The ranch also provides guests with Wi-Fi technology.
“We have 21 cabins to accommodate up to 40 people,” Beckley says, “and a 14,000-square-foot lodge that combines several uses, including meeting space, dining, entertainment, a fitness center, and a bar. We are 15 minutes from Kimberley Alpine Resort, where our winter guests enjoy both downhill and cross-country skiing in season, and we arrange heli-sightseeing tours, golf tournaments and trips into Banff National Park, which is just two hours away.”
So while the traditional ranch experience remains available to city slickers, so is a plethora of 21st century amenities like Wi-Fi and some pretty sophisticated diversions when business is done.
