what do you learn when you are hanging on for dear life?

Last year – “Survivor SoCal” was our theme for the year. We trimmed our business and our expenses in every possible way. Projects were put on hold and our “In To Lunch” campaign was our marketing initiative for the year. 2010 has brought with it a cautious recovery, but we continue to take one step at a time as we rebuild our business platform.

Gathering in Idyllwild in May, our Leadership Team arrived to again review our progress against our Plan, make any adjustments necessary for the remainder of the year, assess the market as it is and to re-focus our team’s effort to deliver a successful year. I have always believed that experiencing personal and business lessons is far more effective than reading about them. So – into the trees we went.


Working closely with Paul Blanchard, owner of A New Team Adventure one of our favorite partners in Southern California, we identified our goals and what we could accomplish with the time we had. Though rock-climbing was #1 on our list – three people on our team had conditions that prevented them from participating at that level of activity( pregnancy + wrist surgery + bad hip) do not add up to rock climbing! So – we opted for another option - a dynamic, challenging and thought-provoking ropes course.



How to have fun – try something new – and learn about ourselves and our work habits. No matter our individual fitness levels – everyone participated in the wide range of activities. Whether on the ropes as part of a two-person team – on their own –coaching and cheering from the ground - or traversing trees blindfolded and directed by their peers – each person had the opportunity to explore the scope of their individual strength, fear , coaching skills and focus.


One of the most interesting lessons of the day. . . with each subsequent effort, we considered or recognized a better way to do it on the next turn. Each team’s efforts provided insights and tools to be more effective the next time – resulting in continually improving success. Now, how does that apply to our daily work? How do we learn from each other’s efforts?

Something else we learned . . . we make assumptions all the time. When given instruction – we add our own interpretation to the meaning of the task. We often make the assignment more complicated than it is.

Our work style. . . we take action before we plan. How familiar does that sound? For some reason, we feel compelled to move before we identify a strategy; gain consensus and fully communicate the role each of us is to play. How does that habit show up each day?

We learned a lot that day – we recognized our own self-imposed limitations and viewpoints – and we recognized that we influenced each other greatly. We had fun! Time to come down from the trees and get back to work – we’re keeping our balance.