Taking the office outdoors.

• Author: STAPAY, REBECCA
• Position: Team building and training for professional workers at Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center - Brief Article

gathered beside a clear mountain lake on a fall day, seven co-workers from a Summit County business are facing a challenge. Each is straddling a pair of four-by-fours, holding in each hand a rope tied to the lumber underfoot. The goal is to walk as a group, using the four-by-fours as giant feet. To succeed, the workers must lift their hands and feet in perfect sync.

An elected leader counts off. But one person slips. Then another. "That will cost you $10,000," says an instructor -- or tormentor -- from the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center's Professional Challenge program.

Some workers moan. Others laugh. All try again.

The BOEC, first established as a non-profit organization in 1976 to provide outdoor experiences for people with disabilities, has expanded to meet a growing demand for experiential education (learning by doing). It cooked up the log-walking exercise to build teamwork among co-workers.

Each activity in the Professional Challenge program is designed to be a metaphor that helps participants better understand the complexities of their workplace relationships and how they interact as individuals and team players. The log-walk, for instance, represents taking a product to market. When a team member steps off the log, or the group fails to perform as a team, a delay is incurred. In turn, money is deleted from a pre-assigned budget. Each delay, then, has real business consequences.

"Experiential education is appealing to professional groups because the...