Winter teambuilding happens on more than one level for groups that gather in the mountains. There’s the purely fun and exhilarating adventure choice—perhaps a welcome break from focused work back in the conference room. Then there’s the uplifting idea of achieving cultural change among a team, “climbing higher” with the help of professional facilitators. Designs emerge from predetermined needs and weaknesses that may be blocking objectives. Such programs encourage a-ha moments for team members that lead to discernible ROI—such as better working relationships, bigger sales and higher profits.
Whatever the objective, here are some of the latest and greatest ways to enliven productivity and outdoor fun within your white season program.
Igloo Building
Inuit have lived in them for centuries, and so do today’s skiers and outdoor trekkers. The successfully constructed igloo is a warm and sturdy shelter, and creating one can be a fun and effective teambuilding project.
Banff, Alberta’s White Mountain Adventures in the Canadian Rockies guides clients in the process. Gordon Stermann, president and general manager of the company, said the action gets going with snow saws and instruction in cutting building blocks from snow mounds.
“If teams listen to what they are told, they can cut the blocks fairly easily,” he said. “The real challenge comes with the building and how people keep the igloo from falling onto itself. People must cooperate to get the cutting and building just right.”
Winter Rescue Challenge
Adrenalin-packed team competition in Vail, Keystone, Colorado Springs and several other destinations in Colorado, Utah and Arizona is a specialty of Colorado Bike and Ski Tours (CBST), based in Frisco, Colo.
“We fuse modern technologies like GPS with classic wilderness protocols to create an exciting competition that’s growing in demand, said Jay Irwin, CEO of the company. “One is a simulated winter rescue—as if one of the people had been hurt in the snow. The challenge is to get the person to safety as rapidly as possible.”
Winter makes it more difficult because the teams must wear snowshoes to get around, he added.
“How individuals react in the exercise is key, and we do debriefings afterward,” he said. “The same personality traits that come out in work situations occur in this process.”
Fat Biking
Bikes with big tires make it easy to ride on snow, and they’re making inroads in the teambuilding arena. CBST’s Irwin said his company sets up skills courses that get team bikers past hills and other challenges, such as knocking balls into goals with croquet mallets.
“Fat biking is big now, and some groups just want to spend time in the snow biking together,” Irwin said. “If they want deeper meaning and a teambuilding focus, we offer that, too.”
The really good news about fat biking for novices? Sliding around corners has never been easier or more fun, and crashing on snow trails hardly hurts, he added. The bonuses? Plenty of great workouts, pristine winter scenery and laughs along the way.
Ice Sculpting
“Frozen” indoor team challenges put everyone on equal footing and provide great winter options.
PageBreak
“Unless they’ve been a chef, nobody has ever done ice sculpting,” said David Goldstein, creator of opportunities for TeamBonding, based in Stoughton, Mass. “Groups of three or four people get a 50-pound block of ice, wire gloves and tools (not chain saws) that cut ice like butter.”
Participants receive instruction on creating everything from martini glasses to the company logo.
“Sculpting results are often pretty impressive because people really get into it with a lot of laughter and determination,” he said.
The challenge is something Goldstein said his company facilitators conduct in resorts and hotels all over the country to take teambonding to the next level.
Stargazing
Dark clear winter skies above the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Lake Tahoe, North America’s largest alpine lake, are great for stargazing with and without telescopes. One way groups in residence at The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe next to The Village at Northstar can get into the stunning nighttime scenery is via snowshoeing, said Giles Priestland, director of sales at the resort.
“Our guide and astro poet Tony Berendsen leads tours through the serene forest to a strategic location, where he sets up telescopes that guide participants through celestial galaxies,” he said. “Tours end on the hotel’s patio with hot beverages.”
Wintertime Dinner in a Yurt
Near McCall, Idaho’s Shore Lodge, located two hours from Boise overlooking Payette Lake, groups can opt for an outdoor adventure of snowshoeing or cross-country skiing by moonlight to dinner. The lodge partners with Blue Moon Outfitters in hosting excursions to a remote yurt in Ponderosa State Park, a peninsula in the glacial waters of the lake.
A shuttle takes guests to the trailhead, where a guide leads them through the forest on either cross-country skis or snowshoes. Guests traverse through evergreens by the light of the moon and tiki torches to a lakeside yurt. A wood-burning fire warms the conversation inside the yurt, as trekkers enjoy a multicourse ethnic meal, including Thai, Southwest, Cajun, Caribbean and Pacific Northwest favorites. The combination of a nighttime snow-filled adventure through beautiful scenery that culminates with dinner in a yurt creates an evening of memorable camaraderie.
Tech Hunting
White Mountain Adventures’ Stermann said teams are using technology to lift ever-popular scavenger hunts to new heights.
“We have a new tablet computer game we call ‘triviography,’” he said. “It combines a treat quest with a trivia game and uses tablet computers rather than paper. The computer shows your location and that of all other teams in real time, plus the locations you must find. The idea is to get to the question locations ahead of other teams and earn points by answering first.”
A screen comes up with a question at each stop. Teams earn points by answering ahead of others.
“Excitement builds as teams watch everyone’s progress,” Stermann said. “Making the game even more fun is that teams can text message others to tease, congratulate or even collaborate.”
Other Snowy Quests
Scavenger hunts are popular in any season, and in winter, groups can add the fun and challenge of navigating via snowshoe or snowmobile, according to industry professionals who operate programs around Montana’s Big Sky Resort region.
Erik Henyon, CEO and founder of Organizational Wide Leadership Solutions (OWLS), headquartered in Bozeman, Mont., said there’s plenty of challenges for teams that navigate with GPS units, maps and cameras to locate hidden clues, trivia and photo ops.
“We learn a lot of about behaviors and team culture in these situations,” Henyon said.
Big Sky forests and open spaces are ideal for snowshoe navigation, said Veronica Haynes, president of A Meeting by Design in Bozeman, Mont.
“First, team members are tasked to make their own snowshoes with provided materials,” Haynes said. “What they don’t know is that facilitators don’t expect them to emerge with usable shoes—it’s just the process. Afterward, they are given real snowshoes to use on a simple course that the facilitator maps out for them, and winners get their prizes at a group dinner.
“We’ve found this half-day program really helps build relationships,” she added. “Even though it’s not designed for deeper teambuilding, participants have a lot of fun in the process.”
