Outdoor training: why companies are incorporating outdoor activities as a learning experience

Outdoor training: why companies are incorporating outdoor activities as a learning experience
Outdoor training: why companies are incorporating outdoor activities as a learning experience

For years, companies or organisations have been looking to build very high-level teams or team buildingHowever, achieving this is often an uphill task, which is why more and more companies around the world have seen in the technique "...the need to improve their processes".Outdoor TrainingThe "effective, simple and even fun method of achieving the goal.

Its Spanish translation is "outdoor training" and, as its name suggests, it is the formation of a group - let's imagine around 15 people -, members of the same company, who through physical activities in the middle of nature must apply skills to solve situations never before encountered, which would have an impact on better work performance. How we develop in the outdoors as an apprenticeship.

The activities are fun and help to relax the group and strengthen the team feeling. But they can go further, as how we perform in them can be evaluated by monitors to analyse leadership skills, interpersonal relationships, teamwork, decision-making, communication, among other skills that are not usually learned within four walls.

"Outdoor Training" an effective, simple and even fun way to achieve the goal / Photo (cc): Margarida Csilva
"Outdoor Training" an effective, simple and even fun way to achieve the goal / Photo (cc): Margarida Csilva

Among the activities to be used in the outdoor training We can find abseiling, orienteering, caving, raft building, bridge building and many others related to survival, which put to the test, in addition to physical condition, the skills of each participant to adapt to each of the situations that arise and the environment in which they operate.

An important point is that it is also necessary to get to know the colleague outside the office, doing a relaxed activity, beyond the four walls of the workplace. These activities are also an incentive, we have a good time, we make a team, we create, we manage to reinforce the team buildingA high level team willing and able to achieve the best results at corporate level and to motivate the rest of the team members.

Outdoor training to the fullest extent. A well-designed and well-planned activity.

What does an organisation need - to develop the skills of its team, to incentivise, to create a team? Everything depends on the activities we carry out. An outdoor training programme should be purpose-oriented and have clear phases.

1.- What are the needs of the organisation? It is all about analysing the team and the organisation. It is the human resources personnel who know the culture of the company and the particularities of each member of it. Problems are analysed and it is necessary to know the worker's perception of himself and the rest of his colleagues.

2.- Then the programme design Outdoor Training based on the conclusions drawn in the previous phase, what we want to improve in our team. In this way we will choose facilitators and activities to carry out. It is important to bear in mind that each activity in the natural environment sets us apart. In some cases it may strengthen us personally, our leadership capacity, but in others it will strengthen our work as a team.

3.- The presentation is a vitally important step, as the results of the diagnosis are presented to the group, so that they know how they perceive themselves and their surroundings. The programme is also presented.

4.- Now it's time for us to have some fun making the activities and exercises designed. Here, the skills of each participant are brought into play according to the challenges to be solved. Each challenge is conditioned by the expected results. The activities will be analysed in order to get feedback and reflect on them. We must not forget that the objective is learning and the conclusions that the exercises and activities provide us with in the outdoors.

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5.- But the activity is not all there is to it, we will seek to create a change plan The reflections and conclusions are to be applied in the organisation. It is in this way that the worker will multiply the knowledge acquired during the training programme. outdoor training.

6.- And we must not forget the trackingThis means that after several weeks, meetings are held with the participants to learn about the evolution of what they have learnt in the activities. Outdoor Training. Here we analyse the progress and how the change plan is implemented as a result of the reflections and learnings.

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