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Personnel TodayMilitary

The last word

by Personnel Today 1 Nov 2003
by Personnel Today 1 Nov 2003

Trainer and writer John Charlton gives a personal and tongue-in-cheek view
of outdoor development courses

Shared experiences that are tough and challenging build team spirit:
discuss. Nights spent down the pub telling jokes and spinning yarns also build
team spirit: discuss.

As a mock-battle-hardened veteran of both the ‘push-them-to-the-limits’ and
‘keep them cosy’ team-building methods, I can see both sides of the argument.
But when I read that a well-known manufacturer was using bungee jumping as a
team-building exercise for its apprentices, I wondered whether this was taking
the tough outdoor approach too far.

Let’s face it; hanging head-first over a water feature after a 100-foot
elastic-assisted plunge won’t necessarily lead to better built lean-burn
engines, although it’ll make for excited chatter afterwards, at least for the
survivors. And it is during those ‘après-danger’ socials that team spirit
really manifests itself.

Many employers and training providers take an imaginative approach to
experiential learning, but why do some organisations still think that
team-building training must involve discomfort and wet feet? I have a theory.

Workplaces today are relatively safe as houses, and the vast majority of
Britons lead lives where practically all danger has been removed. That is why
many of us crave a risky outdoor experience – as long as it’s legal. And there
are legions of ex-military types who want to earn a living by putting their
experiences to commercial use.

Put the two together, and what do you get? Why, building a raft with a plank
of four-by-two timber, 10 empty beer cans and a skipping rope, and then
crossing a stickleback-infested Essex pond with a discarded plastic box as a
paddle. Or riding a motorbike backwards while blindfolded and whistling
Bohemian Rhapsody.

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I can handle these things. But I can’t fathom why being forced to trek
across bleak moorlands with an 80-pound backpack and a muesli bar while being
told you are useless, makes you a more effective team member.

One high-profile former defence guru told me recently that the team-building
courses run by his company include three nights’ survival training in the snowy
Arctic. "But it’s not tough," he says. And it’s not relevant either.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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