Building Great Teams

Team Building Programs, Structured Team Facilitation, Creative Exercises & Activities

The most impactful team building programs are those integrating an offsite team building experience with workplace discussions and interactions. A team building program provides the perfect foundation for achieving and sustaining the workplace changes you're looking for:

  • Trusting team relationships.
  • Positive and productive team dynamics.
  • Effective team communication (which includes real listening).
  • Effective conflict resolution.
  • Alignment and commitment.
  • Motivation to achieve team goals.
  • Happy, productive, engaged team members .

Our clients who achieve these results are those who invest the time and energy - post-team building program - to keep the conversation going and the momentum building. They view their team building offsite as the beginning, and not as the end itself.

Sherpa Higher Performance delivers a range of customized team experiences, including:

  • Fun off-site teambuilding programs.
  • Structured activities and discussions post-team building program (Self-facilitated).
  • Structured facilitation sessions, digging into topics of importance to the team (Sherpa-facilitated).
  • Team coaching sessions.
  • 1-on-1 coaching sessions.
  • Team training in specific content areas.

Make no mistake about it, It takes Great Leaders to Build Great Teams. Learn more about our leadership development consulting and coaching programs or call us at 610-287-2989.


Fun off-site Teambuilding Programs offered by Sherpa Higher Performance

Please call us directly to learn more: 610-287-2989 or fill out our Contact form here.

GeoChallenge, a High-Tech Treasure Hunt:

Based on the highly successful sport of Geocaching, Sherpa's GeoChallenge adventure utilizes a preset course of hidden caches. Each cache (or container) holds instructions and materials needed to complete a custom designed challenge activity, prepared based on your team's objectives. Utilizing a GPS receiver, the participants program in coordinates and track the hidden caches. The GPS receivers utilize satellite transmissions to pinpoint cache positions up to approximately 20 feet. Then the participants use other clues (i.e.: photographs, riddles) to narrow their search.

Team Challenge Course:

Sherpa's team challenge course involves a series of problem-solving experiences and low ropes teambuilding activities. Some involve portable props and materials, some involving permanent materials (i.e. cables running from tree-to-tree, rope hand lines). Most are more difficult than they appear and necessitate a group to collaborate, plan, and rely on one another to be successful.

An Amazing Race:

Team members decipher clues and riddles that lead them to each checkpoint along the racecourse. At each checkpoint, team members work together to complete the challenge presented by the facilitator and then receive their clue to the next checkpoint.

Island Escape:

Stranded in a remote island jungle, your team must locate parts to build their helicopter, then navigate their way to a suitable launching point and Escape. The team progresses through three phases requiring a high degree of collaboration and problem-solving: Search & Gather (solving clues to locate and collect parts to build the escape chopper); Assembly (correctly assemble all 97 parts into the escape chopper); Fueling & Launch (the final team challenge!).

Build Team, Build Community - Service Project Option:

Participate in a teambuilding experience that builds more than just your team. This is an opportunity for your team to choose a cause or organization on whose behalf you would like to "work." As your team complete the various challenges presented, they will earn certain point values. Upon completion of the challenges, the points are cashed in for supplies and materials that are used to create care packages for your cause or organization. Note: this option can be added to any of the teambuilding programs described above.

Harmony Cuisine:

How do you get your co-workers to cook you dinner? Easy... Harmony Cuisine! Your team will have fun and build unity as they create a meal together - no cooking experience required! Choose one of our package activities or create a customized event. Harmony with a cause - donate part of all your meal masterpiece to a local shelter or food bank.

Visual Landmarks:

Bring out the creativity in your team members! Choose from a variety of art projects including clay, tile work, paint and more. We'll create a totally customized program (and we'll bring all the supplies!) based on your objectives for the teambuilding program. This also works great as a community service project.

Trivia Game Shows:

Team members show off their trivia knowledge while working together to generate points. Trivia questions, name that tune, sing alongs, physical challenges and much more. Everything from basic trivia games to completely digital games that require keypads and a movie screen.

Wheels for the World:

What does it take to build a bike with the members of your team? If you're participating in Wheels for the World, it will require teamwork, effective communication, and a willingness to roll up your sleeves and get involved. Wheels for the World combines physical and mental team challenges with the construction of a working bicycle. No previous bike-building experience is needed and everyone will find Wheels for the World to be fun, engaging, and memorable. All bicycles are donated to underserved children within your community - or the charity of your choice.

Team Training Sessions

Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Based on Patrick Lencioni's book by the same title, this session involves assessing your team's performance against the dysfunctions and developing strategies for overcoming them and enhancing your team's performance and results. The session is highly interactive and uses various activities and team challenges. Click here for more details

Personal Effectiveness and Self-awareness, using the DiSC Classic Profile System

  • Increase awareness around individual behavior styles and tendencies, strengths, patterns of behavior, and one's impact on others.
  • Experientially explore style strengths and differences and the value individual styles bring to the team.
  • Enhance communication effectiveness by understanding the needs and goals of others. .
  • Learn to recognize the styles of other people by reading behavioral cues.
  • Create a common language and identify a model that will be used during subsequent sessions to dig deeper into the areas of trust, decision-making, and handling conflict.

High Impact Communication

  • Increase communication effectiveness by gaining awareness of our mental models (assumptions, perceptions, perspectives, and beliefs that drive our interactions with others).
  • Learn a 3-step process for achieving greater understanding and greater accuracy in communication.
  • Identify how one's assumptions about each other impact team behavior and decision-making.
  • Learn how to listen for understanding at a deeper level.
  • Gain skill at asking effective questions.
  • Learn how to apply these skills to team interactions around relevant issues.

Courageous Conversations: profitable handling of conflict and difficult discussions

  • Explore the desired team environment relating to climate, trust, and handling conflict.
  • Understand the different types of conflict and the importance of constructive conflict within a team.
  • Identify individual conflict handling tendencies and the impact on others.
  • Learn how to gain 100% alignment around decisions, precluding 100% agreement.
  • Build skills to effectively handle interpersonal conflict.
  • Develop "Conflict Norms".

Work Expectations

  • Explore individuals' values, needs, and expectations as they affect their team interactions and relationships.
  • Identify and communicate team members' high expectations and aspirations.
  • Develop a Team Operating Agreement (TOA) together.
  • Structured facilitation around how to make the TOA come to life (for example, how will we live out the expectations we've established) and how to hold one another accountable to agreed upon behaviors.

In what areas is your team achieving its highest potential? What aspirations do you have for your team? Contact us and let us help you Build Great Teams throughout your organization. Or call us at 610-287-2989.