By Sharael Feist
2003
Some 9-to-5’ers are escaping their cubes to take on the challenge of urban adventure racing – on company time. While using adventure training as a corporate training tool isn’t new, SVchallenge Programs of Santa Cruz, California, is one of the first to implement urban adventure racing into the mix.
SVchallenge co-founders Terri Schneider, an adventure racer with a master’s degree in sports psychology, and Heidi Vandegrift, an event producer and business consultant, recently put 600 employees of software giant Adobe Systems, Inc. through an urban adventure race in San Jose, California. The three-hour event sent teams of four meandering through the city in search of various checkpoints at which they had to complete mental or physical challenges.
“These programs are created for people that sit behind a computer all day,” Schneider says. “It’s an opportunity for people to learn to communicate better and overcome challenges within the group.”
Programs are customized to address prevalent corporate challenges with the end goal of increasing productivity, motivation, trust, confidence, teamwork and leadership, she says. During the event, teams have to complete tasks such as scaling an indoor rock-climbing wall or locating certain landmarks via compass headings.
Other recent clients include Tyson Foods, Cisco, Wal-Mart and The Discovery Channel.
“We had structural and personnel changes, and that (event) helped our employees get to know each other outside the office,” said Devin Cole, a director of sales at Tyson Foods. “They learned to trust each other and bond in a short amount of time.”
Bottom line: it sure beats volleyball at a company picnic.