Group Development

Our simple equation is challenge + support= growth. Whether on the climbing wall, a green space on campus, or out in the local parks and waterways, we can work with your group to design a program with just the right mix of education, discovery, and fun. Our programs are dedicated to building the skills necessary to become a high functioning team, including:

• leadership
• trust
• communication
• creative problem solving
• conflict resolution
• strategic development

To start planning your adventure, please email Kendal Willenbrock (kendalwillenbrock@miami.edu) to start the design, scheduling, and booking process.

• Group Dynamics

  In many respects, a small group of individuals is a complex living entity. If its members remain together long enough, a group can progress through a series of developmental stages or “life cycle,” just like the individual human beings who comprise it. The pioneering work in group development was done by Bruce W. Tuckman. Tuckman reviewed many studies to determine the five stages of group development, better known as the group life cycle. The five distinct stages are:

  • Forming
  • Storming
  • Norming
  • Performing
  • Adjourning

  We will work with you to design activities and challenges that push your group to gain awareness of how they function. Through this awareness we can then guide your group to develop action steps that can move the group to the desired stage of group developments.

• Psychological Safety

  “Shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. A sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up”

  - Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School Professor (1999)

  Leading a group or team, small or large, requires both cognitive and emotional intelligence. Getting the most out of a team takes a lifetime of experience. We can help our teams, the team members, and our larger organization by promoting and practicing psychological safety. This is something we can and should do “all the time,” but when we are working with our teams on experiential education and growth activities it is essential for the group’s leaders to model and practice psychological safety.

  Let us help your team learn more about psychological safety, how to promote, practice it, and debrief current barriers to having psychological safety in a team.

• Communication

  Effective and efficient communication is something all teams want and need to perform at an elevated level. This, however, is easier said than done and the daily challenges of life often present evolving barriers and distractions to our teams' communication.

  Our programs can help your team identify common barriers in many of our daily communications, develop plans for change and improvement, and practice those changes before finishing the program. This type of approach will give our facilitators the chance to help guide your team and offer feedback on their communication before leaving. This combines the knowledge of a team's strengths and challenges as well as a plan to improve.

• Conflict Resolution

  Conflict is natural and under many circumstances both a good challenge and evidence of a growing team. This doesn't mean that conflict is easy or that we should be comfortable with it.  Let us help your team be more comfortable with the discomfort that stems from conflict within a team.

  Our program will help your team to be comfortable with conflict and to resolve disagreements in a healthy way that improves team performance and psychological safety within the team.

• Problem Solving

  Critical thinking skills and problem-solving are some of the most used and widely desired skills by employers. Experience matters when it comes to solving problems and thinking critically and not all experience is created equal.

  Our facilitators will work with your team to identify how they are solving problems, receive coaching on solving problems as a team, and maintain psychological safety while solving problems. We will use Kolb's view on experiential-based education to help your team gain value from not only their experience with us but more to be efficient and aware of opportunities to learn and grow after leaving our program.