Tarps and team work
I spent yesterday in Algonquin. What an incredible time of the year to be out on the water. The weather was perfect and the colours are just starting to loose their prime. I also was lucky enought to be with a bunch of great people. The staff at BrandHealth here in Peterborough asked me to guide them on thier annual Algonquin outing and do a couple of team building initiatves. Bob Stronach from Algonquin Outfiiters helped me out and the first task was to go canoeing. Of course, I’m not sure they realized that the canoeing was part of it. To them, paddling around Algonquin Park and witnessing the fall colours was just a good idea. But being stuck in a canoe all day with another person is definitely considered a good team building stratagey.
Next they were put into groups and asked to set up a camp tarp. Again, seemed simple, and a regular activity when spending time in Algonquin. Erecting a tarp, however, is one of the best team building initiatives I know. You have to work together as a group if you’re going to win the prize for best tarp set up. Everyone pitched it and shared their talents, which is usually a rarity in this activity. It was difficult to choose the winning team. They all did extremely well – which meant to me that this company would be a very cool to place work, A tie breaker had to be battled out with lighting a single match fire. The winner was the black arm-band team. They had their flames going well before the other team (rumour has it they cheated with a Bic lighter though).
