TAKE THE TEAM OUT OF THE OFFICE. SEE WHAT EMERGES
Most teams know how to work together when the meeting is scheduled, the agenda is clear and everyone knows what comes next. We are more interested in what happens when they don't.
The Gauntlet takes teams out of their normal environment and puts them into a series of unfamiliar challenges where they need to:
- COMMUNICATE
- MAKE DECISIONS
- SOLVE PROBLEMS
- WORK TOGETHER
Sounds simple, it's not.
THIS ISN'T TEAM BUILDING FOR THE SAKE OF TEAM BUILDING
Yes, your people will probably have a good time. That's not the point. Every activity in The Gauntlet creates a practical leadership problem.
- INFORMATION IS INCOMPLETE
- PRIORITIES COMPETE
- PLANS CHANGE
- PEOPLE INTERPRET DIFFERENTLY
Sound familiar?
The environment might be different from work. The behaviours aren't. That's what makes the day useful.
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Gauntlet 2.0 coordination is easy, until people get involved
Gauntlet 2.0 put communication and coordination to work. Teams had to share information, understand their roles and rely on one another to turn a plan into action.
Knowing what to do was only useful if the rest of the team knew too.
Gauntlet 3.0 dialled up the uncertainty
Teams had to solve problems under pressure, make decisions with incomplete information and adapt as the situation changed around them.
Because a good plan is only good for as long as reality agrees.
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FAMILIAR TEAMS CAN BE SURPRISING IN UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS.
The interesting moments aren't always the loud ones.
Take away the familiar and people have a funny habit of surprising us. We'll help you notice:
- A quieter team member starts speaking up.
- Someone who normally leads realises they're better off following.
- A team discovers they've been solving three different versions of the same problem.
- People stop waiting for permission.
- Someone asks the question everybody else missed.
- And occasionally, a beautifully constructed plan survives approximately thirty seconds. Good. Now we've got something worth talking about.
SERIOUS LEARNING. SURPRISINGLY GOOD FUN.
We could explain teamwork with a PowerPoint. But where’s the fun in that?
why the eighth mile?
Making things difficult is easy. Making difficulty useful is harder.
The Gauntlet isn't designed to exhaust people, manufacture pressure or see who can shout the loudest when things go wrong. Every challenge has a reason for being there.
Our facilitators have led teams in environments where communication, trust, adaptability and accountability had real consequences.
We know:
- What to look for when a team is put under pressure
- The assumptions nobody checks
- The information that doesn't move
- The decisions that don't get made
- And the people nobody thinks to ask.
Then we help your team see it too. Because the challenge isn't the clever bit. What your team learns from it is.
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Hard-learned leadership lessons from both the military and the corporate world
