OnTeamBuilding

Carlo D’Amore is an actor, writer, director and coach with Live in Theater . Carlo and Chris explore the mental models of the theater world to see what they can show us as team builders. What is “really listening” and how can the behaviors of “rehearsal" enhance our practice. As a thought experiment, Chris challenges the team builder to take Carlo’s dialogue and filter it through the team bui...

Dr. Nevin Harper is the author of Nature-Based Therapy (with Kathryn Rose, 2019) and Kids These Days: Understanding and Supporting Youth Mental Health (with Will W. Dobud). Nevin and Chris talk about 'Kids These Days’ and how team builders (these days) can help create environments for youth to thrive. Nevin encourages us to treat our youth like “crew not passengers" and argues that “what...

Melanie finds joy in helping her groups learn life skills like patience, giving them the opportunity to practice these skills in healthy environments so they have the confidence to use them on a regular basis. Whether working with roller derby athletes or middle schoolers, helping them “learn how to talk to each other is a good thing.” Chris and Melanie also explore her style of organic programmin...

Barney is an Adventure-Based  therapist working mostly with people in recovery from addictions. He is the author of ‘Healing in Action: Adventure-Based Counseling with Therapy Groups’ and co-author of the new release, ‘Group Psychotherapy with Addicted Populations: An Experiential Manual’ (published by Routledge). Barney shares with Chris his ‘enjoyment’ approach to therapy, some favorite activiti...

Mark is the Chief Ambassador of FUN, and Founder of WorkPlay Solutions . He and Chris talk about facets we all experience as team builders: Opening Engagement (or Soft Openings), Discovery Sessions (a.k.a., Needs Assessments), Managing Expectations, Mark’s Checklist for Creating Powerful Experiences, and a fun way to end meaningful programs.  We hope you join us! Find all Show Notes and Episodes H...

Sarah Gough has been the Executive Director of Play for Peace for over 17 years. "Play for Peace supports individuals and organizations who are passionate about children to transform conflict into meaningful and impactful learning experiences, fostering laughter, compassion, and lasting peace worldwide.” Play for Peace facilitators bring play into harsh conditions to help build bridges betwee...

Chris Ortiz joins the OnTeamBuilding podcast to discuss some of the things he does during the early portion of his programs to get a sense of his groups – observing behaviors that can help him gauge the group mindset. These observations, Chris tells us, helps him steer programming decisions to better meet the immediate needs of his participants. We also find out Chris's take on the concept of...

Jolee Jones is a Director of Organizational Development and Experiential Learning for a school district in Colorado. In this episode Jolee and Chris talk about resiliency-building and the value it poses for educators and team builders. Jolee’s ‘Why’ (our Why being an important foundational principal of resilience), is to “revolutionize systems of work so that we have systems where humans can thriv...

Anna Grace started team building four years ago. She's now the Assistant Director of Outdoor Programs at a university in Georgia. She talks with Chris about her fast track, being in charge, imposter syndrome and the work she does with college age groups. She emphasizes that choices help us grow, everyone exhibits leadership behaviors, it's important to recognize the leadership behaviors...

Join Ken and Chris for an energetic conversation about The Power of Play – which just happens to be the title of Ken's first book. It's a wonderful read on the importance of rediscovering the playful and the impact it has on our lives.  Ken shares some of his experiences with groups on the beach – he does teambuilding programs in the sand through his Beach Play Company. It's an idea...

Chris and Karen share their experiences with todays youth and why team building is still important. Karen tells us about some of her favorite activities and why disasters are a key factor for learning and growing. She sees elementary through high school students at the Base Camp Challenge Center, helping them acquire the 'essential skills' critical to career success. Working with high sc...

Tim joins Chris to talk about why he uses teambuilding experiences in his physical education classes. Teambuilding activities, Tim shares, help develop a positive culture within his classes and beyond. His Kindergarten through 8th grade students have the opportunity to build character skills like integrity, resilience, kindness, and compassion. Chris finds out about Tim's, 5 Kets to Classroom...

Swati and Agyat talk with Chris about their meaningful work with Play for Peace over the 25 years. Through play young people "get access to being themselves" and the power they have in their own lives to make a difference.  Play for Peace "supports individuals and organizations who are passionate about children to transform conflict into meaningful and impactful learning experiences...

Has anyone ever asked you, "How do you lead a team building activity?" Chris has fielded this question more than you might imagine. "Not exactly a soup question," as Forester would say.  In this episode, Sam and Chris discuss some of the foundational aspects of what to think about and do before leading an activity, for the first time or, really, any time. Chris also shares his...

In the final episode of Season 1 of the OnTeamBuilding podcast, Michelle Cummings (the BIG Wheel at Training Wheels ), shares one of her favorite activities, some programming wisdom and her go-to processing tool. She leaves us with advice to keep us learning and growing, "Find others that do what you do, and make those valuable connections."  We hope you join us! Find all Show Notes and...

Tom Heck is a master of the team building craft. He has worked with groups of all ages, committed to the deep dives he can take groups into. Tom shares some of his most memorable stories lined with possibilities for all of us! He holds to guiding principles like, "Remain curious and be willing to explore," and "Keep that wonder and surprise" with every group you work with. We h...

Rohan is the Training Manager for ChallengeWorks out of California. He is simply an amazing source of knowledge in the area of challenge course training and operations. Rohan shares several of his favorite activities - some for team building programs and some for training programs. He also gets into some of his go-to props. We hope you join us! Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE This podcast is...

Floyd, as a team builder, has a deep background in working with youth diagnosed with severe emotional challenges. In this episode, he shares some of the books, processing tools and activities that have helped him navigate programs with these youth groups. (You don't want to miss his variation of the activity, Jump In-Jump Out.) We hope you join us!  Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE This...

Kema started her (now 30+ year) career helping youth as a recreational therapist working with them on physical, emotional and social growth. Her 'job' was to find therapeutic value in anything recreational - from cooking to canoeing. When she discovered Adventure Education she added more team building methodologies to her program list and then moved into running and facilitating challeng...

Chris Schuhmann has been a teacher and adventure educator for over 13 years. Early on, Chris saw the amazing potential of adventure ed and has been using its methodologies to help bring about powerful life lessons. He categorizes what he does as Adventure Psychology - the practice of helping others learn and grow through adventure. In this episode, Chris shares one of his favorite activities (Grou...

Andrew, with a background in social work, uses adventure-base counseling methodologies with groups of all ages. His primary focus is helping youth populations practice pro-social behaviors through team building experiences. Andrew shares some of his favorite processing tools and practices, how "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" (Lencioni) can guide adult programming and advises "appr...

Kristina is the Instructor for Experiential Based Learning for the Center for Character and Leadership Development at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs Colorado. It is the first position of its kind at the Air Force Academy. At 34 years old, Kristina already has 17 years of team building experience under her belt. She tells us about her career journey, the challenges, the suc...

During this episode of the OnTeamBuilding podcast, Jaime shares with Chris four different frameworks that help him program, observe and process team building experiences - all of them are organized in groups of three steps (easy to remember). Jaime also shares a favorite celebration, a few of his favorite activities, how he keeps processing sessions from slowing down and the importance of Requesti...

Dr. Jim Cain, from Teamwork & Teamplay, and Dr. Cavert dive into some of Jim's favorite books, activities and team building props and hear stories from the field about how 'simple' activities can have powerful outcomes that change lives, communities and companies. Jim has authored over 12 activity books and recently published his first novel, Rise Again: The Story of the Mary El...

Scott Goldsmith, author of Experiential Activities for Enhancing Emotional Intelligence shares his three keys to success focus and other emotional intelligence (EI) connections we can make with our team building groups. We have traditionally been promoting and enhancing EI in our team building programs without making the important connections to understanding EI. Now, more than ever, let's he...