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Copyright 2002 Team Building in the Wilderness
Trust Members of a wilderness group often meet as strangers. One of the most important factors that turns a group of strangers into a wilderness team is their growing sense of mutual trust. This trust builds in several ways. Team members learn through experience that they can rely on each other for help when needed. They learn through council and campfire talk that they can reveal themselves without penalty. They learn through jokes and games that they can be foolish and still esteemed. Building this sense of trust should be a priority whenever a group of strangers in the wilderness is to be turned into a team. While there are a number of books providing that provide resources for team building in the business and corporate contexts (for example, Heermann, 1997; Snow, 1997; Sikes, 1998; Priest & Rohnke, 1999), perhaps the most widely used resource for trust-building activities that can be used in a wilderness setting is a series of books put out by Karl Rohnke of Project Adventure (1984; 1989; 1994; Rohnke & Butler, 1995; see also Sikes, 1995). A number of these activities are known as icebreakers. The goal of such activities is to get participants to learn something about each other, celebrate the diversity of the group, and identify other group members with common interests or experiences. For many of these activities, too, the goal is to break down barriers by allowing – even encouraging – participants to behave foolishly. Being granted permission to behave in a silly manner at the outset can be quite liberating; the prospect of looking foolish in the future – especially in a wilderness setting with which participants may be unfamiliar – is less intimidating if the participant has behaved foolishly already without adverse consequence. Here is one of my favorite initial activities. The participants stand in a circle. One participant says his or her name, and accompanies that name with a gesture, or posture, or action, such as clapping hands, waving arms, jumping up and down, turning in a circle – the more creative the better. The group then repeats both the name and the action. Then the next participant clockwise does the same; and this time the group repeats the name and gesture of the second person followed by the name and gesture of the first person. By the time several participants have given their names, the group is saying the names and gesturing, jumping, and prancing; mistakes by individuals are inevitable, and add to the fun. By the end of the circle, everyone will know everyone else's name, and everyone will have behaved with socially acceptable foolishness. Several icebreakers seek to find commonalties or differences among the participants. For example, each participant can find a partner, and discover something in common that is not visible. This can range from the simple to the complex, from both of them having tattoos or riding motorcycles or being vegetarians to both having rappelled off a bridge on a major interstate highway. Then, for each pair, the group can use a twenty-questions-type format to try to guess what the commonality is; wrong guesses can be as much fun as correct guesses. Another variation can be a human treasure hunt. Each participant is given a list and must find a participant who fits each description on the list – in the wilderness context, for example, one who has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, or has slept over 15,000 feet, or has gotten lost for more than three hours, or can identify marmot scat. It can also be nice to know who has been in a parade, or has held public office, or has a twin. Each human treasure can be listed only once. In some circumstances, some of the facts to be sought for can be taken from, say, the participants' application forms. One of my favorite icebreakers – and this also makes an excellent campfire game – I call the lying game. The participants each state three facts about themselves; two of the facts are true, and one is false. The rest of the group has to determine which is which. Some versions of this game elaborate facts into stories (compare Rohnke & Butler, 1995, pp. 80-81). The speaker may be asked questions for a specified period of time, usually a few minutes, in order to verify the facts. Then the group votes, and the teller tells all. Once the truth is revealed, part of the fun is to ask additional questions. I have played this game with people who have turned out to be world travelers, Olympic swimmers, and presidential bodyguards. Then there are games whose only purpose is to allow people to be foolish. In one such game, the participants sit in a circle and a number of small objects are passed out, evenly spaced around the circle. Each person with an object can pass it to the person immediately to the right or left; a person who receives an object can pass it in either direction. If a participant finds two objects in his or her lap, the player must make a loud awful noise, and then pass the two objects in opposite directions. The faster the game, the more people get caught; the more people get caught, the more loud awful noises there are. References Heermann, B. (1997). Building team spirit: Activities for inspiring and energizing teams. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Priest, S., & Rohnke, K. (1999). 101 of the best corporate team-building activities we know. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Rohnke, K. (1984). Silver bullets: A guide to initiative problems, adventure games, and trust activities. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Rohnke, K. (1989). Cowstails and cobras II: A guide to games, initiatives, ropes courses and adventure curriculum. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Rohnke, K. (1994). The bottomless bag again (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Rohnke, K., & Butler, S. (1995). Quicksilver: Adventure games, initiative problems, trust activities and a guide to effective leadership. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Sikes, S. (1995). Feeding the zircon gorilla: and other team building activities. Tulsa, OK: Learning Unlimited Corporation. Sikes, S. (1998). Executive marbles & other team building activities. Tulsa, OK: Learning Unlimited Corporation. Snow, H. (1997). Indoor/outdoor team building games for trainers: Powerful activities from the world of adventure-based team building and ropes courses. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. | |||||
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