Embracing ‘no “I” in team’ mantra

ALL ONBOARD: A corporate team on the American Eagle works together to trim the sails as it rounds a mark toward the finish line in a team-building race hosted by America’s Cup Charters in Newport. / COURTESY SMITHHILL
ALL ONBOARD: A corporate team on the American Eagle works together to trim the sails as it rounds a mark toward the finish line in a team-building race hosted by America’s Cup Charters in Newport. / COURTESY SMITHHILL

Local, national and global companies that offer corporate team building in Newport see the waterfront city as a spectacular backdrop to activities intended to improve communication and teamwork.
“Team building has become so important because of the recession,” said Cheryl Twiss, vice president of sales for Newport Hospitality, a destination-management company that customizes corporations’ team-building programs. “So many companies have had mergers or layoffs or have hired new people. Team building has become important as they rebuild their teams and get people to work together.”
The team-building exercises that are most attractive tend to be sailing or yacht races and scavenger hunts, though other types of programming, Twiss said, cover the gamut from Iron Chef culinary contests to community give-back programs like building a bike for charity.
Getting corporate colleagues to collaborate effectively is the chief reason firms say team building continues to attract clientele who may spend as much as $200 a head to put up to a dozen people on two or more yachts, along with the boats’ experienced crews, to compete in races.
The outcome of these competitions – including those featured in America’s Cup yachts at the firm America’s Cup Charters, where team building is about 60 percent of the business – is not the most relevant result, organizers say.
“What this company does is a destination,” said Julie Lassy, the organization’s “sails” manager. “People come from all over the world just to do this event and they’ll build their meetings around being able to do an America’s Cup event. Team building is usually a group within a company that needs to learn to work together or different departments that need to learn to work together.”
The act of sailing and/or racing a vessel teaches leadership, communication and how to compete – three separate points of focus offered in distinct packages by America’s Cup Charters, Lassy said.
For most clients, racing a yacht is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that engages participants in ways that can be transformative, said Twiss. Her organization also uses Seascope Yacht Charters and 12-Meter Charters, both based in Newport. “Because each boat only holds maybe 12 to 13 or fewer people, it really forces people to build camaraderie and work together, whether you’re raising the sail or steering the helm,” Twiss said. “Even [for] people who are a little leery of it, there’s such an energy to it; they really catch the enthusiasm of being on the boat.”
Ed Tilley, co-founder and partner of the El Cerrito, Calif.-based Adventure Associates, which provides a mix of corporate training and team building across the country, said his firm has only done half a dozen team-building events in the past year in Rhode Island, but each year they are “usually” in Newport, “because there’s great sailing there.”
Adventure Associates also offers a Geo-trek program, in which participants use handheld GPS units to find different landmarks in cities like Newport and Boston, Tilley said.
“It’s a great way to explore a city,” he explained. “You get a list of way-points to plug into the GPS unit, decide where to go, and the GPS gets you close. There’s a fun clue that helps you find what we’re trying to get you close to – a statue or plaques embedded in the sidewalk.”
Along the way, people build relationships as well as learn to communicate or collaborate more effectively, he said.
The recession hit Adventure Associates hard, particularly in late 2008 and 2009, and business dropped by as much as 20 percent, but since then, “it has rebounded nicely,” he said.
Boston Adventures, founded in 1994 by President and CEO Eric Lehman, also has a division called Newport Adventures. The latter’s team-building specialty is the scavenger hunt, in which people use clues to find targeted objects on a list.
“It gets people thinking alike to figure out where to go and what to get,” Lehman explained. “It’s a challenge mentally and physically.
“This type of activity is going off-site with your people and allowing them the opportunity to relate to one another on a personal level and work together to achieve the highest goal, which would be winning. But,” he added, “It’s not always about winning. It’s about getting people to interact. It’s very important for morale.” •

No posts to display