Values And Outdoor Training Programs

By Doug Gray



There are many reasons why people invest in training programs. What have you heard?

“We are all leaders forced by change to venture on a journey together. Leadership is no longer about position; it is a behavior we must exhibit. Changing behavior isn’t easy, we need to be patient with each other and help each other to change. It is a learning process and we will all make mistakes” (adapted from Kouzes-Posner).

“Excellent companies have a bias for action and measure productivity through people, not statistics. The best companies attend to the needs of their customers, yet maintain a simultaneous ability to be both loose and tight in response to market changes. The best training, therefore, helps people practice flexibility and creative problem-solving” (adapted from Peters and Waterman).

How do you sort out the jargon from the content? These prolific authors represent the breadth of books about business. There are many books, many choices and many pressures to make decisions. How do you determine what training you may need?

Try this simple exercise — ask yourself two questions.

Question 1: What are the values your work group stands for?

Question 2: How can you make those values manifest within your work group?

Particularly since September 11, many work groups have stated such values as: connection with one another, commitment to our mission and faith that our freedoms will enable us to make good decisions. These work groups have sought training that focuses on building trust, developing relationships, practicing creative problem-solving skills, practicing collaboration and practicing shared decision-making.

Some of the most powerful training occurs when people are encouraged to step out of their comfort zones into a new environment. The social historian William James maintained, “Good education is the moral equivalent of war.” Good training days ought to be as provocative; they ought to make us reflect on what we value and they ought to become the subject of conversation for months and years to come.

Outdoor experiential training programs are opportunities for people to practice new behaviors in a less familiar environment. The programs can take many formats, from multi-day retreats to expeditions rock climbing, sailing, canoeing, whitewater rafting or kayaking, to a ropes course-based program, to a Team Olympics, an Adventure Racing program theme, a series of activities (called initiatives) designed to help your work group practice new behaviors. Imagine yourself 45 feet up in the air on a cable being belayed by your work colleagues. Imagine that other work group (finally) collaborating with yours as you use a map and compass to navigate through the woods.

The specific activities are less important than the outcomes of the training. By practicing a “Challenge by Choice” approach to outdoor training, every participant can determine his or her level of challenge. There is no reason for anyone with significant health concerns to do anything risky.

However, we do know that training programs that used experiential methods (such as outdoor training) produced twice as much improvement in performance, as rated by supervisors and peers, as did other training programs. Furthermore, the return on investment for the experiential programs was seven times greater.

If you were to reflect back to question 1, those values should become program outcomes for your training. For instance, if you state that you value “listening to innovative ideas” or “getting work done on time,” your training day should be designed to make those values manifest in your work group. The best training days occur when we change values into new behaviors.

A company led a ropes course-based training at a spectacular site near Olney, Md. One client summarized the value of that day thus: “Our company has done well enough, but we need to do some work. We need to build community with our customers. We need to take reasonable risks, just like on the ropes course doing the Leap of Faith. And we need to thrill in the experience of taking those risks. That has been our work thus far, it makes our company unique.”

What does your work group value?



Doug Gray is president of Action Learning Associates, Inc. He can be reached at 301-490-0764, www.action-learning.com or dgray@action-learning.com.