Move your meeting to the woods

Hello from the trail!?This is?ExperienceCraft, a weekly LinkedIn Newsletter Series with exclusive insights on customer experience, courageous listening, and outdoor transformation. If you're new, welcome! And if you’re curious on how customer experience can be the strategic differentiator for your company, subscribe here .

Let’s step outside.

No, really. Let’s go climb a mountain together. Or canoe down a river. Or take a walk down Main Street.

Why?

Because we’re tangled. And tired. And we need recess. Remember recess? That feeling of freedom? Of games? Of laughter?

We all get a little too serious sometimes, cooped up in conference rooms and on Zoom for too many hours.

• Globally, people average?6 hours 58 minutes?of screen time per day.
• The average American spends 93% of their life indoors. That’s 5 hours or fewer per week of time outside.
• Zoom fatigue is real. According to a Stanford study , it happens because our fight or flight survival reflex is triggered. Excessive amounts of close-up eye contact is highly intense – and akin to either mating or conflict.
• Coined “The Great Exhaustion ” by McKinsey, at least 49% of those they studied are burned out, although they believe the number is much higher because the most burned-out people have already left the workplace.

Are you ready to step outside?

During the pandemic my family decided to step outside. We bought a travel trailer and took off for a few months into the wilderness. We watched a moose diving for food in the Grand Tetons. We went “sledding” on the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado. We played in the Rio Grande. We worked remotely thanks to our portable Wi-Fi devices while our kids logged into their classrooms. Each morning we plowed through work to spend the afternoon together, alone in nature. We were even featured on The Today Show . It was the trip of a lifetime that I didn’t want to end. It felt like I finally had the blinders ripped off.

I was no longer comfortable spending 10-12 hours a day tethered to a laptop and cell phone. I didn’t want to network in a hotel conference room. And I noticed that I wasn’t alone.

Sure, on a personal level, nature provides both physical and cognitive benefits. There have been thousands of studies proving this and I’ve experienced it first-hand. But what about teams? What does the data say?

• Increased creativity and problem solving: A 2012 study demonstrated that when groups are taken out of the office environment and are immersed in nature, their creativity and problem-solving abilities increased by 50%.
• Increased concentration and enhanced memory function (multiple studies ): University of Michigan psychology researchers Marc Berman, John Jonides and Stephen Kaplan found memory performance and attention spans improved by 20 percent after people spent an hour interacting with nature. And that was in Michigan, where it’s fricking ??COLD??!
• Improved communication and collaboration: At the heart of this research is the idea that contact with nature might enhance the quality of social and community interactions because it promotes a sense of connection with the outside world that generalizes to other people.?When we’re in majestic, awe-inspiring places, we’re drawn closer.
• Rapid team development: Tuckman’s Model for development sequence in small groups is incredibly difficult in today’s workplace, which is often remote and almost always distracted. The traditional forming, norming, storming, performing takes on average six months. What if it could happen in two days?

So, are you ready to step outside with your team?

I decided to test the research. I’ve spent the last year:

1. Conducting hiking / surfing meetings whenever possible in lieu of a Zoom. The conversations have been richer. We felt a deeper connection. We came up with ideas that would have never crossed our minds if we we’re indoors.
2. Networking outdoors in small groups of 4-6 for a walkabout. Sparking the gathering with a few key questions / discussion topics and then pairing up, rotating every so often, so that everyone has a chance to interact with each other. New relationships formed. Individuals felt supported and encouraged. Ideas took root. And the groups kept meeting again for coffee and always a walk.

3. Adventuring in the outdoors. I joined Cairn Leadership for four amazing, challenging, inspiring trips into nature with others excited to talk about leadership. We camped next to bison on Catalina Island, canoed down the Colorado River, hiked through the snow in Olympic National Park, and climbed the back of El Capitan in Yosemite. The Cairn Team is world-class; they are talented guides in outdoor experience and thoughtful facilitation. I came away from each trip feeling more connected, passionate, and courageous than ever.

(Cairn Leadership - Black Canyon Canoe Camping)

And moving into 2023, ??I’m committed to take those around me outdoors.?? That may be as simple as a walk together around town or a multi-day retreat next to a National Park.

That’s my journey. What’s yours? Are you feeling tangled and tired, like I was? I know it’s hard. Hard to let go of sharing PPT slides over Zoom. Hard to leave the office without a tinge of guilt. Hard to feel weighed down by the barrage of emails that will be sent while you’re gone.

But what happens if you and your team don’t step outside? ?

Burnout. Lack of connection. Lack of clarity. Lack of inspiration. It’s time we consider nature an essential part of our workplace. Are you ready?

Let’s step outside together

????????????????????????

LoyaltyCraft was built out of a passion for helping companies create meaningful customer experiences. Founded in 2016 by Lauren Feehrer CCXP, we focus on ??strategy, ??qualitative research, ??customer design, and ??employee engagement to help mid-market companies ??open the door to new customers and keep existing ones from leaving out the backdoor. ?