RAFTS, LRC ROUTES, FIELD GAMES… WHAT BENEFITS DO OUTDOOR WORKSHOPS PROVIDE?
Czas czytania: 5min.
Outdoor adventure education as a method of team building
How to integrate the team? What to do to maintain a good atmosphere and ensure tasks are performed efficiently?
One way to build a team is through workshops in the outdoor adventure education (OAE) approach – more intense and impactful on a deeper level than regular integration (i.e., pleasant time spent together) and not as costly and time-consuming as multi-stage team work with a personal development trainer or coach.
- OAE (outdoor adventure education): A method of learning and development in close contact with nature, through tasks that require problem-solving by the team. It involves taking risks and real consequences of the actions taken. Its goal is to provoke interaction among participants. In Polish, ‘adventure pedagogy.’ (More about the OAE trend: here#)
It is worth tracing what thoughts arise in a participant of outdoor workshops? What do they learn during them? What are their conclusions and reflections?
What happens in the mind of an outdoor workshop participant? Video diary analysis
Researchers from the University of Birmingham tried to answer these questions.
During the 3-day teamwork workshops, 40 participants divided into 6-8 person teams took part in outdoor activities such as LRC, which is training on ateam-building rope course (more about the LRC method in this post), building a raft and sailing it on the sea, and shorter field exercises such as finding a designated object despite being blindfolded. The trip’s program also included time for casual evening integration.
To collect thoughts and impressions on an ongoing basis, a tent with a camera for video journaling was open throughout the entire trip. Participants answered questions such as: –What are you starting with? What do you hope to learn during the workshops? Is there anything you are afraid of? -Tell us about your day today. Which experiences have been the most important for you so far? –What have you learned about yourself?
What do participants think about the outdoor workshops? How does their attitude change over time?
I expect…Initial attitudes and motivation levels vary. Some participants say they are attending the workshops because they have to and doubt the importance of teamwork (“-I don’t think we’ll learn much here”), some declare that developing teamwork skills is indeed important to them, while others are primarily hoping for a successful evening integration… Some have already heard positive opinions about outdoor exercises and are happy to participate, while others are concerned about their safety or poor physical condition. There are also concerns about how relationships with other participants will develop. In the recording, we hear ‘I am mainly worried about whether I will get along with my team members.’ If not, it will be a difficult time.Key experiences are… As the course progresses, participants describe various events as particularly significant to them. They especially rate the following as important:
• Participation in engaging, attractive activities
• Physical and intellectual challenges
• Experiencing frustration and sometimes failure, recognizing one’s own weaknesses
• Novelty and taking risks
• Experiencing the immediate consequences of one’s actions
• Free time and sharing impressions
At the team level:
• Effective cooperation (“-Other people in my team were well-versed in this, I learned a lot from them”)
• Taking on leadership roles (“-I had built rafts before, so I suggested how to do it and the method worked very well”)
• Good communication (“-Everyone spoke in turn, this way we gathered ideas to overcome the next obstacles”)
• Division of work according to predispositions (“-We chose people with the best sense of balance to carry the water”)
• Trust (“-When you have your eyes covered, you have to trust the other person to climb the wall”)
• Humor (“-A dose of humor definitely helped me get through some moments”)
• Support from instructors (“-The trainers treated us very friendly, they were helpful and really have a great insight into what we are doing. They can point out where the team’s weaknesses and strengths lie.”)
From the perspective of an individual participant:
• Utilizing knowledge from other contexts (e.g., knowledge about knots from a sailing course)
• Managing emotions
• Improvisation
• Ability to reflect and draw conclusions as well as good planning
What impressions do you leave with?
The impressions turned out to be positive (“-It was a great experience that I will always remember”), many participants speak of the outdoor workshops as a significant experience for them, important memories, they talk about their sense of success (“-We tried and finally made it, we succeeded. Achieving this was really something!”), a big positive surprise compared to expectations (“-I didn’t expect anything special but… I liked it, it was really a good time”). There are also comments looking into the future, regarding the quality of future collaborative work.
What do participants learn in outdoor workshops?
Reflections concern both team activities, important skills that allow for effective action and achieving success, as well as individual discoveries about oneself, one’s resilience, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Discoveries and conclusions about the team:
Participants primarily talk about learning to value teamwork
, improving their relationships with others, and working more effectively despite differences (the course took place in the UK and included people from various cultures).
The set of important skills in the team, which they believe they developed during the workshops, includes: effective communication and listening to each other; leadership skills; maintaining high team morale by motivating each other, mutual trust, and the ability to make sacrifices for the team; utilizing team roles for optimal task distribution; cooperation and the ability to compromise. - Discoveries and conclusions about myself: Participants also say that the workshops developed them as individuals, emphasizing primarily the learning of mental resilience, effective task management, greater self-awareness, awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, and increased motivation to work on their fitness.
Author: Zosia Augustyniak
Sources and articles:
Detailed report of the described study: Cooley S, Holland M, Cumming J, Novakovic E, Burns V. Introducing the use of a semi-structured video diary room to investigate students’ learning experiences during an outdoor adventure education groupwork skills course. Higher Education. January 2014;67(1):105-121.
What is outdoor adventure education: http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/what-is-outdoor-adventure-education