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." Season 2 of the OnTeamBuilding podcast is on hold at this time. Chris will continue co-hosting the, Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building podcast w...

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 hope you join us! Find all Show Notes and Episodes HEREThis podcast is another facet in a network of resources b...

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 HEREThis podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builde...

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 HEREThis podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help tea...

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 challenge course programs. She now works with all ages, facilitating growth experiences and training others to do t...

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 (Group Juggle) and how he uses it to create a 'positive forming' experience. He says to his students, ...

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 "approaching everything as an experiment" to help us (team builders) learn and grow. We hope you join us! Find ...

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 successes and the kind of determination that's needed for all of us to get to where we want to go. W...

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 Requesting, Receiving and Responding to feedback (one of his frameworks). We hope you join us! Find...

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 Ellen Carter. For more than 40 years Jim has been leading, learning, teaching and training people from all o...

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 help our participants recognize how important EI is to their intrapersonal growth and their interpersona...

In this episode, Dave shares some of his recent experiences team building face-to-face with groups while safely distancing. He shares some of his thinking on preparing for his programs, what activities worked for him and some of his biggest take-aways. This is the third episode in our data collection series on safely distancing programming. We hope you join us! Find all Show Notes and Episodes HEREThis podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoin...

Jennifer and Chris get into a fruitful conversation about favorites. We find out about Jennifer's favorite props (some of which are Chris' favorites as well), her favorite activity (and a bonus share from Chris), her favorite processing tools and processing question when she's faced with limited time to close out a program. The conversation wraps up with one of Jennifer's biggest (ongoing) challenge - time! She also makes us think about "defining success" (who is responsible for this), "build...

Ed and Chris get into a steady up hill climb conversation about a team builders journey working with groups over the years. We all seem to start out looking for activities we can use with groups - having enough of them to fill the time we are assigned. Then, if you team build long enough you get the bug. You want to know more about the why behind the what. You want to be more purposeful in what you do. The overarching theme of this episode focuses on processing with groups and how Ed evolved ...

We are learning from Mo Kappes in this focused episode about team building while safely distancing. Mo is the Advisor, and facilitator trainer, for the Adventure Learning Programs at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Mo shares her recent experience facilitating a team building program while safely distancing. She tells us about how she and her facilitators planned the program and what they needed to prepare for, what activities they led during the program and some of their biggest take-awa...

In this episode, we're learning from Jeremy Yarbrough, the Program Development Manger for Group Dynamix out of Carrollton Texas. Group Dynamix is starting to bring groups into their 35,000+ sq. ft. indoor facility. Jeremy tells us about their early considerations, before groups were 'allowed' to return, some of the activities that have been popular and have worked while safely distancing and their biggest learning so far. What's really important about this conversation is understanding that '...

We get to learn from Jon Grizzle in this episode of the OnTeamBuilding podcast. Jon has been team building for over 13 years. He got hooked on team building through his scouting program and has never looked back. Today he spends most of his contact hours with adult groups, but still takes the opportunity to work with the younger minds as well. Jon shares his thinking about programming and some activity ideas to help groups work through conflict (if this is a program outcome). We get to hear a...

In this episode we're learning from Al Leone. Al and Chris have been "Con-Friends" for years - only getting together once a year, traveling from different locations, to attend the National Challenge Course Practitioners Symposium in Boulder Colorado. Al has been been team building with a variety of different age groups for over 14 years. She shares with us her firm belief about team building early (e.g., 5th grade groups) to start getting them to see what a community can be like (you don't wa...

In this special Focused episode, Daniel and Chris talk about creativity - being creative, thinking about creativity and being open to creativity. Daniel is the author of, From Experience to Creativity: The Experiential Educators Incomplete Guide to Creativity and the creator of the Epic Cards: Tools for Teaching and Promoting Creativity. He tells us that he wanted to produce a resource to "develop a language around creativity and a way understand it..." Daniel emphasizes, if we can "normalize...

Dr. Amy Climer has been a team builder for over 24 years working with many different age groups. Currently, her post-doctorate focus has been helping teams be more creative - or be more, deliberatively creative. In this episode we find out about how she uses a Creative Problem Solving Process to program for her trainings and how many focused learnings she likes to provide in a day-long program. We also learn about one of her biggest challenges as an experiential trainer and what she does to m...