What Sparks You?
I got my spark for experiential learning in the 90s while I was leading trips for Backroads Active Travel, the world’s #1 active travel company. I was hosting groups of people exploring new places on foot, by bike and by boat. It was a complex but thrilling endeavor.
Think of it, 30 strangers from any and all age groups, backgrounds and fitness levels coming together for 6 days of adventuring in exciting and unknown destinations. As you can imagine, things always came up – from lost luggage, monsoons, and flat tires, to interpersonal friction, the emergence of personal fears and more.
To me, this is where things got interesting.
I liked navigating the group energy as it shifted and morphed throughout the day from person to person, situation to situation, knowing that, no matter what, we all had agreed to the same goal: to get to the end of trip safely and experience as much as possible between now and then. Because of this agreement, we, guests and leaders alike, were able to push our boundaries, unravel at times, overcome obstacles, celebrate and experience things that happen outside of our normal comfort zones. By the end of the trip, everyone had grown closer as a group and something in each of had changed forever.
Now here I am, 20 years later, still navigating group energy in experiential learning environments, however, the last 12 years have been focused exclusively on professional development in the corporate world.
I’ve worked with leadership teams from Fortune 500 companies and executives of global industry giants, hosted young scrappy startups, heart and soul family business owners and their faithful employees and many more. The one thing I have learned and know to be true in both personal and professional life is this:
The real magic, the real SPARK between people happens when we step out of our comfort zones and let our guard down to solve problems, fail, succeed and laugh together. It’s this shared reality that enables us to bond and achieve great things.
Spark4 creates opportunities for this to happen through our unique Team Building Outings, Leadership Development Programs, Custom Events and Retreats.
Check out the new site and let me know how we can Spark your corporate team.