OnTeamBuilding – Details, episodes & analysis

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 with, no-other than Michelle Cummings. Season 2 of the Ask podcast will begin early February, 2021. You can find it at all major podcast players and OnTeamBuilding.com/askpodcast

We hope you join us!

Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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 HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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 interpersonal relationships.

We hope you join us!

 Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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 HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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), "building comfort" (her favorite part of a program) and "asking permission" (when should we be doing this?). 

We hope you join us!

 Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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 his techniques over time through practice, books and simple tools like image cards and postcards. Ed's favorite processing technique involves using participant-generated language to focus learning opportunities. "When they can use their own words, it's more meaningful to them."

We hope you join us!

 Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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-aways from the experience.

We hope you join us!

 Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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 'opening' to clients is a massive group effort. Meaning a global effort. Jeremy tells us that they had to learn a lot from others and then put the best strategies into practice in order to focus on the safety of their staff and their clients. We are really in this together. More than ever before, we want programs to succeed, re-grow and survive so we can learn from each other and get to the other side of this challenge. As team builders, we know, together is better!

Please share your thoughts, learnings, successes and failures so we can learn and grow. Email: chris@onteambuilding.com

We hope you join us!

Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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 about 'Card Perspective' (an activity in Jon's book, Team Building A La Card: Affordable Adaptations of Team Activities), one of Jon's favorite activities and 'gutters' one of his favorite props. When it comes to processing, we hear about his two favorite tools, his go to question and his favorite book focused on a 5-Question processing model (one of Chris' favorite books as well!). Jon also shares one of his biggest challenges when working with groups and how he manages it.

We hope you join us!

Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders

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 want to miss the story). Al also shares memorable moments with Mousetraps, the importance of compassion and kindness with other people's stories, her struggle with helping others understand the important work we do and her powerful connection to The Alchemist, a book by Paulo Coelho ("...a book that helps us find our own story.")

Al is a passionate educator and team builder. She believes experiential education "works if we work it" - trusting the process and the power behind what we do is vital to changing lives. 

We hope you join us!

Find all Show Notes and Episodes HERE

This podcast is another facet in a network of resources being developed in an ongoing effort to help team builders, all over the world, learn and grow:

• OnTeamBuilding Blog - Conversations about a variety of team building topics
• Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building - Podcast for Team Builders
• FUNdoing - Activity Resources for Team Builders (Blog, Store, Trainings)
• FUNdoing Fridays - Bi-monthly email of activities (sign up form at this page)
• TeamBuilderPowerUps - A growing online school of resources for team builders
• YoungTeamBuilders - The voices of new team builders