Greg Huber

When choosing a team building provider, a factor that is often overlooked is flexibility. Having to make your decision based on price, location, or number of participants can limit your options. Your business, its people, and its challenges are all unique, so why would you choose a “one size fits all” experience? Having a flexible and customized program for your team shouldn’t be a nice-to-have, it should be a must-have! When choosing a team building provider, think about all the unique qualities of your company and examine all those same areas in which we can offer flexibility. 

Program Design

Rather than providing everyone with the same experience, Signature Teambuilding customizes our programs with your team in mind. When designing a program, we focus on your goal and objectives. What challenges are you facing within your team? What would you like your employees to break through? What lessons do you want people to takeaway from the experience? These are just a few of the questions we might ask when planning your program. We work backwards to build a program based off of what you would like to achieve; that’s how we create the most effective experiences!

Location

Another area in which we can offer flexibility is location. Not in Richmond? Not a problem! We’ve conducted our programs in 5 different countries and in 41 states; we go where we are needed! Are you based in Richmond, but don’t have a facility? Again, that’s no problem. Our partnership with U-Turn Sports Academy allows us to provide our clients with an excellent indoor space if they do not have their own (or if they just want to venture off-site). 

Quantity of People

Are there 5 people on your team or 500? From small groups to large, our programs are completely scalable. With Signature Teambuilding, there is no limit on the amount of participants you can bring to the experience and no group is too small. 

Time and Price

Maybe you can devote the whole day to the experience, but what if you only have an hour to spare? If you’re restricted by time, we can handpick the activities that we feel would be the most advantageous for your team and design a program that maximizes its impact within your limited timeframe. If price is a factor, let’s start a dialogue! Making sure we are accessible to everyone is important to us and we can work with you on a program that fits into your organization’s budget.

Our programs can be tailored in a multitude of ways. Whether you require flexibility in regards to location, quantity of people, or price, we will work with you to make sure the needs of your organization are met. With Signature Teambuilding, you don’t have to fit into our box; we fit into yours. 

It feels like everyday there is a new adventure park or ropes course popping up that promises a great team building experience. These parks advertise an adrenaline rush and high thrills. Entertaining and fun? Yes. Providing your team with lessons on how to improve relationships and workplace performance? Not so much. While these experiences undoubtedly provide your team with an afternoon of fun and excitement, they are not designed to meet your team’s specific goals. All of these companies advertise themselves to be “customized team building experiences” but before you take the claims of these parks at face value, there are a few things you’ll want to consider. 

At these adventure courses, the staff are not likely trained facilitators, they are trained to be “safety monitors”. Their priority lies in ensuring groups are obeying safety guidelines and that the proper procedures are followed. They are not trained or focused on providing a memorable, reflective and valuable team building experience that will purposefully transform your team. 

In an Adventure Park and most traditional ropes courses at camps, participants file through obstacles one behind the other. This design focuses much more on the individual’s experience rather than promoting working as a group to overcome fears, obstacles, or challenges. Without empathy or support that comes from moving through the obstacles as a team (the way our TeamQuest course is designed), you lose the opportunity to strengthen relationships and develop a greater sense of trust. Those struggling through the course may even feel impatient or isolated resulting in a “survivor” mentality which is not much of a team building experience. These courses are more focused on through-put than they are on creating a meaningful experience for the people participating. 

When looking at the description for these parks, there are a few identifying traits that indicate they are not designed as team building experiences focused on learning and outcomes. Some of these identifiers would be:

• Great for all ages and abilities
• Promises an adrenaline rush like no other
• Opportunity for a thrill
• Create your own adventure

If you are looking for an experience that is truly focused on providing long-term learning and outcomes, you’ll want to look for a program that is customized to your specific group and its challenges, not necessarily for the masses. Expect a well-honed in-take process where you talk with a facilitator prior to the program- it’s these conversations that will create the most impactful experience for your group! I’m not implying that it is impossible to have a personal breakthrough or self-revelation when participating in one of these programs, for that would be a welcomed achievement! I simply believe that the occurrence is left to chance, rather than being the ultimate goal. At these adventure parks the focus will always be on fun, rather than on learning. At Signature Teambuilding, our programs are specifically designed with your teams’ goals in mind. We focus on the changes you wish to see, the values you want to emphasize, and the outcomes you’ve been waiting for. Don’t confuse a day at the adventure park as a meaningful, transformational team building experience for your employees. If you are looking for a fun and exciting afternoon than it will likely fit the bill! But if you’re searching for lasting change within your organization, put your trust in our programs at Signature Teambuilding. 

Signature Teambuilding recently partnered with Luck Stone, the nation’s largest family owned and operated producer of crushed stone, sand and gravel. This unique company, which celebrated its 95^thanniversary last year, embraces a culture of innovation and collaboration that is designed to ignite each associate’s potential.

We were asked by Matt Schiefer, vice president of Luck Stone’s Eastern Region, and Jim Van Ness, vice president of Luck Stone’s Central Region, to develop a program that would strengthen relationships among the seasoned associates in the two regions. Matt had previously worked with Greg Huber on team building exercises for the company’s executive team, so he was confident that Signature Teambuilding would offer a creative solution to disrupt the daily routine and foster a new way of thinking.

Based on our knowledge of Luck Stone’s commitment to investing in the career growth of all associates, we recommended Signature Teambuilding’s WaterWorx experience, which focuses on innovation, design-thinking, problem-solving and change management. 

In a highly interactive exercise, teams use tubing, connectors, valves and pumps to build a fluid transport system that moves various colors of water from their sources to 12 random destinations. The Luck Stone teams were tested on their ability to solve a complex problem by working together and ensuring one another’s success. 

“We had done some team building activities internally, but nothing to the degree and complexity of Signature Teambuilding’s WaterWorx program,” Matt Schiefer reported. “It was hands-on, visual, competitive and time-bound – like an associate’s day-to-day business life amplified. We all enjoyed this opportunity to be in a fun environment while revisiting the fundamentals of collaborating as a team. Every participant was impacted in some way.”

In fact, Jim Van Ness shared that the impact of the WaterWorx experience was evident within days of the event. “The program reinforced the importance of recognizing the diverse strengths and abilities that each individual possesses and learning how to utilize those strengths for the particular challenge or endeavor that the team is working on,” he shared.

For Signature Teambuilding, it was a pleasure to support the values and vision of Luck Stone’s leadership team. 

A special quality of Signature Teambuilding is that three of our four programs are entirely mobile meaning we bring the team building experience directly to our clients. With the exception of TeamQuest, our clients never have to leave their location to have access to a valuable team building experience. But what about those clients that may not have a set location? For those clients, we’re excited to announce a brand new partnership between Signature Teambuilding and U-Turn Sports Performance Academy!  For the first time, Signature Teambuilding has a designated indoor location where we can provide our programs to client’s that may not have the space.

Since the purchase of their building in 2005, U-Turn Sports Academy has been able to reach and positively impact the lives of 15,000 Richmond youths and families. Their large facility, comprised of four basketball courts, meeting rooms, and multiple athletic fields, is used to host a variety of sport programs, youth camps, and community events. With full access to all these spaces, we’ll be able to provide a variety of our programs to groups of many sizes. Their athletic fields and indoor courts are perfect for Shifting Gears, a program that requires a little more space, while the collaborative table set-up in their meeting rooms is perfect for Expedition Antarctica and WaterWorx.

U-Turn Sports Performance Academy is a non-profit whose mission is to foster an environment that encourages fellowship, inspires leadership, and elevates lives. We are proud that because our companies’ missions and values are so aligned they chose to partner with us.

Working with U-Turn gives us the opportunity to serve a variety of clients that may not have been able to participate in our programs before. The partnership will begin in August as we test out our programs in their indoor space. As the months progress, we plan to collaborate with the U-Turn team on developing a series of exciting new programs. We are so pleased with this development and see this being a fruitful partnership. We believe together we can make a valuable contribution and long-term impact on the Richmond community.