This morning saw me arriving at the Adventure Rope Course at 7.30am to set up for a visit from a regional sales team from Wrigleys. They’d booked themselves into the Albrighton Hall Hotel to enjoy some time together and take a bit of time out from selling chewing gum! Although the four hour session had been billed as ‘team building’, the emphasis was very much on having fun together and building relationships, rather than more serious team analysis and intervential development.
Unfortunately, the rain seemed to arrive with the group, so we started off with some simple ice breaker type exercises under the shelter of the trees, before venturing into the open to tackle a Stepping Stones team challenge. They formed an outline plan pretty quickly and got cracking before they had all the detail sorted. However, they worked really well together and were very supportive (alongside all the usual colleague banter!)
We then moved onto some of the height based activities with a session on the Crate Stack. As usual, some were more nervous than others about height but this is a good activity to start with as the height increases slowly. This activity is attempted in groups of three, and it was interesting to note how each group did better than the last as they learnt from watching previous attempts and improving on technique and teamwork each time.
After a quick break, it was time to head into the Adventure Tunnels. This time, it was great to be able to listen in on conversations and hear the team coordinating different pairs as the group split up to explore various routes and dead ends. Groups are always briefed that no one should be on their own just in case someone pick up an injury, but they often seem not to be particularly concerned with each others safety. However, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the genuine care and concern for each other, when this was something that the Wrigleys team had really taken to heart.
After descending on the Parachute Simulator, I gave the group the opportunity to choose their next activity and, after only a brief consultation and briefing, we were winching the first pair up on the Giant Swing. Whether or not this was due to a desire not to loose face in front of colleagues, I don’t know, but all the pairs decided to go to full height which resulted in numerous screams and expletives!
With time starting to run short, the group decided to finish off by giving those that wanted to, the opportunity to have a go on the Leap of Faith. Climbing the pole proved relatively straight forward, while standing on the top took a bit more effort and determination for some and many found themselves needing to turn around at the top which proved a bit awkward. However, there were some very impressive leaps including the last jump of the day with the ball at maximum distance from the standing platform.
After all this, everyone had worked up quite an appetite and was starting to think about the nice spread that the hotel were putting on for lunch. To be fair, after everything I made them do, I think they earned it! One of the things I love about my job is that I get to meet such a diverse range of people, and today it was a real privilege to spend four hours with this great group of people. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay at the hotel – it sounds like it’ll be busy in the bar tonight!
