Training Day: Corporate business training I have actually enjoyed.

It's end of the quarter, and we’re huddled up for the weekly team leadership call to discuss numbers and planning.?

Over the speaker we hear, "next month we’ll have leadership training in Singapore." Silence, followed by the low energy?simultaneous?mumble, “ok”.?

A trip to Singapore, for training, had become so frequent over the years working at Symantec, we all felt it was yet another long flight and likely a corporate?boondoggle.?

We had our orders, go listen, absorb and get back was the plan.?An apply, lather, rinse, repeat process.

Though I always enjoyed spending time with other regional colleagues, absorbing the culture, cuisine and searching for?air-conditioning in?the scorching middle earth sun, “training” was an opportunity always accompanied with an eye-roll.?

What now? The regional top read another book that had impressed them: Good to Great, The Tipping Point, Crossing the Chasm, so we were all going to get a dose of it?and what the top?thought we?needed to understand.? All great books I have found value in over?the years, but as a leader always being told to manage costs, a two day guided book review among 50 colleagues was not something,?I would've spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars on in hopes of improving business performance. A?book?discussion over Webex, followed by a team dinner was good?enough and had far less?impact on EtoB.?

The majority of these exercises, were usually filled with too much wine over team dinners and too many emails during the day to?really benefit from the content. People showed up, but they really weren’t there, or engaged.

Training those days was combination of good, mediocre and less than satisfactory.?

It wasn't all bad. Two times I?experienced sessions that were really great, and the take?away provided real value.?

The best sales team training I ever experienced was delivered by Jay Tyler . If you want to learning how to develop a solid performing sales ( any )?team, his?Field Management Process and Victory Plan sessions are the best, very engaging and well delivered. Most importantly, you learn a practical process that produces results.?

During his sessions, Jay is just a joy to be around, a master storyteller and great presenter. Bjorn Engelhardt coordinated this session for our team, and I was grateful for the opportunity and the time we spent. I only wish I had the opportunity much earlier in my career. I still find myself using these approaches today leading my own business.?

The absolute best and most engaging training I experienced was delivered around the concept of teaming for success during a challenging adventure.?

( What’s the difference between teaming and teams / teamwork. ) What is Teaming? Amy Edmondson | Harvard University

We casually muster at 9 am, to a room with a beautiful scene of a mountain peak and some dashing adventure dude on the screen, on the center stage is a tent pitched, surrounded by climbing gear. In the shadows stood a rather tall gentleman in a puffy red down expedition jacket. I’m thinking, “well this is different, surely he’s written an adventure book on dealing with some adversity,"? and we are about to get eight hours of chapter highlights from his book applied to business.? I walked around until I found the tables for Japan, and my name card. Team Japan was always lumped together for “language” concerns, which I’d always felt was just a bit too much pampering.?Oh great, I’ve been given English support duties again. My attitude sunk.? To my left the Japan county leader, a stern process fellow, loved book reports, very unhappy to be there, and grumbling to the table. To my right the education services leader, though we knew each other well,?we hadn't really worked together much as Symantec grew into an enterprise business. I smiled and scooted right quickly picking my partner for the day.? At that point, I began to notice we had been placed in units comprised of multiple divisions?in the business; managers of sales, marketing, education, support, operations. A group, that during any normal training session, would’ve never thought of sitting together for a session.?"Oh, this should be good these people are?never going to function well together, they never engage well during the day to day, and they always complain about each others performance. It’s a bit mad! "

A video played, then suddenly, a clear voice with a distinct South African accent called for our attention. The session began with a keynote about a really challenging adventure to the?North Pole and the hurdles to making a successful journey to the top of the world. I still recall learning about arctic explorers consuming entire sticks of butter and chocolate to?provide the body with enough calories to survive. I’m?thinking, now, that’s commitment, yet I’m feeling that is way too much butter intake talk, when?I had too many?deep fried mantou buns with the Chili crab and beers. I settled down with event coffee,?opened my notebook to jot down the day's?learnings.?

At that point, we begin to understand the topics of the day, adapting to change and “teaming” for success.?The room lights up, center stage stands the fella in the jacket, Ian Schubach he briefly introduces himself and his background. We begin the day with “on belay”.?

"On belay" is the voice command issued by your climbing partner to indicate he or she is prepared to keep the tension of the rope as you climb, thereby?ensuring your safety."

For our training, it meant the team was aligned to support each other and had committed to a decision. Throughout the day the room was energized with roaring, standing calls of "on belay!”?

The training course we?embarked?upon was an adventure developed around a real experience filmed during a summiting of Aoraki ( Mt, Cook ) the highest peak in New Zealand.? From planning to climbing we were given options to consider each step of the way to reach the summit. We were a virtual team of climbers adapting to changing conditions, discussing options and committing to a plan. As the day progressed, Ian along with a video scenario navigated us through our choices. There we were, colleagues from all different sections of the Symantec business, and we were teaming for what?seemed to be the first time, breaking down organizational silos to reach the summit together. I glanced around the room, all the tables are alive with?engaging discussion, and quite a bit of laughter. For the?first time, I felt I was actually?enjoying a training session and finding value.?For the first time, I was not bored or needing caffeine to get me through a corporate training session.

That day we made good team decisions and our table reached the summit. We had also become more comfortable as colleagues?from various business units willing to listen to each other, and look for ways to support each other.

A day later we all departed Singapore with a renewed commitment to ensuring we were teaming towards each others mutual success.?

For weeks and months, most of our table of colleagues continued to smile and fist bump in the hallways and use "on belay” as a greeting, a sign we were there for each other and ready for the challenges.? After all, we had climbed that mountain together.

So finally, I had found value and enjoyed a corporate training trip to?Singapore. ( Jay Tyler’s?training came later )?

During that session, I became a fan of Ian, and this approach to the delivery of business training.? We connected over LinkedIn, shortly after the session where I expressed my appreciation and enjoyment.?

I've followed his post on leadership, and teaming for success in business for several years. As Ian launched his new business at Red Leaf, I sent him a Bravo Zulu, and we struck up a conversation on?working together to bring this training to Japan. We are now underway to challenge that summit.?

As the pandemic has changed the way we work these days, Ian has recently introduced a new training model: Virtual Adventures powered by Red Leaf.? These virtual adventures can be delivered anywhere, to any size team.?If you are interested in learning more about Red Leaf Virtual Adventures?designed to improve your team’s impact with a variety of engaging approaches, feel free contact me or visit www.virtualadventure.com

I'm positive your teams will find value in a session and ongoing value after delivery.

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