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Team Building the Mountain Whitewater Way
Group whitewater rafting trips are the perfect activity for an impactful and worthwhile team building experience for any business or corporate group.
by Ben Costello, December 2015
Team building outings are a very important tool for managers, corporate officers, team leaders and business owners in developing a high-quality, professional staff. Most employees are more comfortable in a work place where we get along with our coworkers and can understand and relate to each other more effectively. Shared experiences through team building, especially those that take place in an unfamiliar setting, can help facilitate positive bonds between coworkers. Don’t waste time gathering in an onsite meeting room to try and build team camaraderie. Team building is a lot more effective when you take people out of their normal environment and put them in a situation that encourages them to break out of their shell. A whitewater rafting trip with coworkers provides the ideal scenario to build a cohesive team.
So why is rafting such a great activity to facilitate worthwhile team building? Simple. Whitewater rafting is a natural team building activity. Getting six or seven people to work together and paddle in unison to get a raft through the rapids requires teamwork, leadership, cooperation and communication. Everyone from the owner and managers to the newest employees must contribute equally to paddling for a successful run through any rapid.
Skills used during a rafting trip can be applied to many different scenarios at work. In a successful workplace, everyone needs to paddle towards common goals. The more efficiently everyone paddles together towards a common goal, the easier that goal is to achieve.
As a rafting trip travels down the river it will encounter many situations that can relate to challenges your team can face. During times of calm waters it is important to remember to take-in the fantastic scenery and not focus on just your own raft. During times of turbulent rapids it is critical for everyone to buckle down and work together to make it through with success.
Following a guides instructions and helping others understand those instructions leads to improved communication. Relying on the paddling skills and effort of your team members builds trust. Collaboration is needed between raft mates to avoid swimmers. Down time between rapids gives everyone the chance to get to know each others back grounds a better through conversation. The action during a rapid helps to identify and respect strengths and weaknesses of team members. The adrenaline of rapids teaches paddlers how to perform in a fast-paced and unpredictable environment. Not to mention the chance to have FUN together. People naturally learn more when they are having fun and tend to remember those learned experiences better when the experiences were enjoyable.
Mountain Whitewater can facilitate a team building trip for groups ranging is size from 14 up to 50 people on any half-day trip. Group rates apply to team building trips as well. Custom programs are also available that include additional exercises and debriefing sessions at Mountain Whitewater.
Rafting Team Building: All the rafts on the trips must stay together and work as a team for a trip to make it down the river successfully.
The Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area
The Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area tells us about the history of Northern Colorado and the West.
By Ben Costello, December 2015
In Fort Collins, we are very fortunate to live near the Cache La Poudre River. Not only is it a National Wild and Scenic River, but the river corridor is also a National Heritage Area. There are 49 National Heritage Areas in the United States. The Cache La Poudre River corridor is one of only three National Heritage Areas in Colorado. National Heritage Areas (NHA) are designated due to their historical significance and to encourage historical preservation of the area. NHA are not National Parks and are not federally owned. They are administered by state governments, non-profits or corporations with the National Park Service playing an advisory roll in their development. The Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area is administered by The Poudre Heritage Alliance.
Here is a little bit about why the Cache La Poudre earned this designation from the Poudre Heritage Alliance:
The Cache la Poudre River is the heart of the National Heritage Area which follows the Poudre downstream for 45 miles. This is the story of the “working Cache,” a river essential to the lives of the more than a half-million people in the northern Colorado Front Range.
Originating among the Rocky Mountains and dropping some 7,000 feet to the Great Plains, the Cache la Poudre River is relatively short —125 miles from start to end. It flows eastward through diverse geographic settings. In many areas one can see head gates, flumes, water measurement devices, and an intricate network of ditches as reminders that people are able to modify the river’s flow. These structures symbolize the long struggle to sustain a viable agricultural economy and to meet the water needs of urban development for the people of northern Colorado.
The Poudre is significant for its contribution to the development of Western water law and the evolution of complex water delivery systems. The Poudre has also played a crucial role in regional economic development and has become a focal point for recreation.
Please visit www.poudreheritage.org for more information about the Poudre Heritage Alliance and the Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area.
