Teamwork exercises
Teamwork exercises
We have combined nature tours with science-based trainings. We help you to develop your team and to acquire knowledge about nature through practical activities. Nature tours are carried out by the tour guides of Wanderlust and science-based trainings are conducted by the instructors of Psience.
All training themes can be combined with other services offered by Wanderlust, for example:
- walking tour or hike on snowshoes + the basics of successful teamwork
- bushcraft workshop + teamwork under stress
- nature workshop + creation of team values and working principles
- GPS-adventure in the wild + teamwork training for connected units
WHAT ARE THE TRAINING THEMES?
This training is focused on introducing the basics of teamwork through the experience of a joint hike/game. We speak about trust, the particular characteristics of best (winning) teams, acknowledgment as a motivational tool and many other things. Additionally, we will also learn how our thoughts, feelings and behaviour is regulated in the brain. This helps us to understand our response to a specific situation, for example to stressful events.
This training is focused on introducing the basic principles for facilitating cooperation between different personality types. A team is always made of different types of people who have a slightly different perspective of the world. By being aware of the behavioral patterns of ourselves and our teammates, it is easier to achieve common goals. A good preparation for this training is a hike/game that reveals the different behavioral patterns through practical situations.
People act differently under stress. This training theme explains the reasons behind this and how to tackle situations like these as a team in the best possible way. We learn about how people and teams react under stress and try out practical methods for dealing with stressful situations and mitigating the negative effects they cause.
Communication skills are the basis that no team can do without. What does the communicative process entail and how big is the influence of words or body language? What are the critical communication mistakes we make when communicating in a stressful situation? How to communicate better in stressful situations? All these questions will be discussed during the training and a hike/game completed beforehand will definitely be of great help when providing practical background information.
Communication management relies on its own rules and principles. Although it might seem that communication is something clear and simple, we often find ourselves in a situation where we have failed because of insufficient or mistimed communication. This training focuses on the basics of communication and teaches us how to effectively manage communication within a team.
Every employee and team needs feedback to achieve success. But giving feedback is often challenging and it is even more difficult to be at the receiving end. Fortunately, this skill can be learned and developed. The feedback training is focused both on the basics of giving and receiving feedback and uses the main mistakes and successes the participants made during the prior game/hike as practical examples.
Every team is made of individuals. The awareness of the team as a whole depends on the awareness of the behaviour of every member in the team. This training gives the team a new perspective through an individual analysis of team members. The individual characteristics of team members will serve as a basis for the analysis of the strengths and vulnerabilities of the team. We will also discuss a mutual support system that will help the team become stronger.
This training is aimed at those in a leadership position. If the road gets rocky, every word the leader says becomes important. We will discuss how to maintain balance as a leader in critical situations and what are the most important psychological factors that facilitate the implementation of changes and dealing with difficult situations while working with people. The management of changes is also discussed.
This training is aimed at people who have just stepped into the responsible position of supervising new employees. We will discuss what to do and how to act in this role and test our skills during the game/hike before the training. The training will help you to become more aware of your current behaviour as a supervisor and to learn new tools to handle the most important responsibilities a supervisor has.
Every organization has different units. For example, the sale and production units often have mutual challenges. While solving the practical tasks during a game/hike we also learn about the mutual expectations of both units and find solutions for making the cooperation more efficient in real work environment. During this training, we will also cover the specifics of the everyday work of the participants in more depth.
A game/hike in the wilderness is also a good preparation for putting the values and working principles of your team into words. Joint activities provide a chance to see your team in a new light and, momentarily, witness the situations at work from the position of a bystander. This is a good opportunity to jointly think about the base values of the team and to write them down as behavioural examples and working principles.
Follow-up analysis of team hikes and adventures
Hikes and adventure games in the wild are a good way to test your team and experience its strengths and vulnerabilities through new situations. The best way to learn is through a real experience and the emotion it creates. The emotional experience and the resulting eureka effect help you to record the lesson in a more efficient manner.
Trying to achieve a common objective with your colleagues or friends in a totally new environment could provide the team with a new perspective and fresh strength. These situations also highlight the weaknesses of a team. The emotional experience and the following reflection upon the experience fortify the trust between team members and create a good foundation for achieving common objectives.
Depending on the schedule, the follow-up analysis of adventure games and hikes could last from a couple of hours to a training of 1-2 days. It is also possible to change the main focus of themes depending on the needs of the specific team and the nature of the game or hike.
In general, the follow-up analysis of a game or a hike is split into two parts depending on the nature of the game or hike:
- Analysis of the game/hike
- Discussion of the theory and science behind successful teamwork on the basis of the theme focus.
One of the benefits of the follow-up analysis is that in addition to the great time spent in fresh air, the teams have become more aware on an individual and team level – they have analysed their performance and its contribution to teamwork and their performance as a team. The participants are more aware of their own behaviour and that of the others and can therefore plan their actions more efficiently. It is also important that the focus of every game or hike or the follow-up analysis is based on the actual needs of the specific team and supports more efficient handling of respective situations at work. This results in more effective team work and even stronger mutual trust.
Group size
The maximum group size is 30 people.
Locations
We organize trainings in cooperation with our partners across Estonia.
Training structure
- gathering together and instructions
- interactive tasks in the nature or a hike
- food break
- training and follow-up analysis
- summaries
Materials
Every participant gets a training workbook that includes theoretical materials and is also used to write down the participant’s observations during the training.
Training price
We will make a price offer on the basis of the customer’s wishes. Catering and accommodation upon agreement.
Instructors
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- Anne-Mari Ernesaks
- Liis Purge
- Kai Auger
Read more about the instructors HERE.
