Leadership Strategies: Nature and Team Building

Off sites have gone through much iteration over the past decade; we have gone from the exhilaration of river rafting and indoor climbing walls, offering employees fun and entertainment, to let’s just get “the business” done.

In the present environment companies are demanding goal-driven, results-oriented retreats. This no nonsense approach matches the financial times. Corporate retreats need to inspire participants and give them creative input to find new solutions to solve present problems.

The question is: can we gain innovative ideas and new ways of collaborating if we stay in conventional settings such as hotels? How often have I heard that a team has spent two or three days in “lock down” in a hotel going from meeting room to elevator to bedroom to elevator to dining room, never even seeing the streets of the city.

Information about how the brain is stimulated to be creative indicates that changes mostly occur when outer environments help us think in unique, innovative ways. Outer nature has a way of mirroring inner nature and retreats that can combine real work, time to reflect, where there are trees and grassy places to walk, sharpens our senses. It is in nature that team building has the opportunity for the individuals to deepen and come to those amazing “aha” moments that make the biggest difference.

More than physical challenge is the challenge to view your work and your life from a new lens. Being away from the daily routine, being in a place where there are limited distractions, where you and your team are the only ones who have full use of a property, what we call acres of diamonds, opens folks to both communication and innovation. Check out The Country Place as one of the unique settings to bring your team to produce solutions and come away with measurable results.

Organizations that want to improve teamwork and build relationships do not leave out the element of fun. It is simply packaged in ways that never forget the bottom line while nurturing inner nature through outer nature.