17 Mar, 2008

Julie Androshick 

Imagine a rigorous one-day team building event that promises to optimize the functioning of you and your colleagues. Add sun, wind, spray, and beautiful views from onboard small yachts that provide dynamic, engaging, high-energy “classrooms”, and you have a program that is optimized for fun—and learning. Now, stop imagining, and read on to discover how to bring all these elements together for your organization.

Bill Koch, the skipper of America, the Americas Cup champion of 1992, was asked the question, how do you look for a crew member? He answered:

“The first thing we look for is a good attitude. The second thing we look for is a good sense of teamwork. The last thing we look for is their athletic and sailing ability”

Almost anyone can learn how to sail. But being a good crew member is a lot more challenging, something any skipper worth their salt-water will tell you.

A need for problem solving in adverse and stressful conditions, quick decision making, clear communication with team members and grace under pressure: These are the skills that world class skippers look for in a crew.

Business is frequently compared to sailing because corporations want to build high functioning teams that will perform under a variety of conditions, and “win.” Corporate team members, like competitive sailboat racing crews, are picked for their special contribution and ability to address critical needs. The collective strengths of the group should out perform what any one individual could do on their own.

Kristen Berry, owner of Gale Force Sailing, has been coaching professional sailors for six years and has operated team building programs on sailboats for the last three years. Says Berry, “Sailing is a clear metaphor for business. Sailing and running a company require preparation, organization and ‘the right team.’ Both require a keen awareness of shifting conditions and the ability to weigh all the factors, make good decisions quickly and track team mates and rivals.”

Without first understanding how individuals think, communicate and function, with regard to themselves and to others, teams—like crews—can be set up for exercises in futility. The differences of each team member in terms of how they work and the capacity of those individuals to effectively communicate and to collaborate must be considered before a project is started.

Corporate teams often turn to team building or team “bonding” exercises with the hope that a day spent tumbling over ropes courses or playing paintball will lead to better communication, fellowship and productivity. Undoubtedly these programs give the individuals a sense of fun and camaraderie. But most teams lose the day’s “feel good factor” when the real challenges of day to day work set in. In the end, the real value of these programs relies more on fun than on developing a deeper awareness of self and of one another.

It was this challenge that led Berry and Julie Androshick, a Kenning Associates partner and member of a competitive sailboat racing crew, to come up with the idea of adding the tools for meaningful team communication to a day out on the water. Kristen and Julie met while Kristen was coaching Julie’s crew on a Melges 24, a high performance sailboat with a growing fan base, including Terry Hutchison, tactician for the Alinghi, the current Americas Cup defender.

The idea came to them while rigging boats for a race in Charleston, SC. Says Julie, “We thought that the individual crew functions on the sailboat would lend themselves very well to Myers-Briggs Type Indicator exercises that help individuals clarify how they take in information and how they make decisions.”

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) highlights and explores the commonplace idea that people are fundamentally different; that is, people have different mindsets that shape different thinking, which in turn shaped different modes of communication. MBTI preference knowledge eases communication among professionals so that things like team development; problem solving and overall effectiveness are strengthened.

Most MBTI workshops take a classroom approach through which participants review MBTI basics and get to know their own preferences, and that of others, via preference-specific exercises. But there are other ways of learning about type and preference that are more fun and engaging.

SailMBTI is a unique workshop that uses the challenge of sailing to validate Myers-Briggs type, reveal communications issues that arise as a result of preferences, improve awareness of behavior in a challenging setting, and improve team awareness. The sailing challenges are designed to help teams to experience type awareness in a meaningful and fun way that can then be applied to work settings. Because every client’s needs are different, Androshick and Berry tailor each program based on a pre-event assessment. Regardless of whether participants want a team-bonding or a team-building focus. Sail MBTI programs all rely on core principles, including de-inhibiting, empowering, and engaging every participant.

The programs are safe and exciting, and while sailing might seem like a big activity to tackle, there is no experience necessary. Moreover, unlike golf outings and other physical and competitive activities, sailing takes brains – as well as brawn – so everyone is involved. Whether you are building a new team, energizing an existing one, or just want to have fun, SailMBTI team building and leadership development tools might be just the ticket for your next offsite or annual event.

To learn more about how to make a SailMBTI program available to your team or organization, please contact Julie or Kristen at julie_androshick@kenningassociates.com or kristen@galeforcesailing.com.