From Challenge to Winners

Richard Holt - A winners account of his journey to the Carnegie Alpenrose

I first came across My Peak Potential at the Marketing staff away day. We were shown the trials and tribulations of the Everest West Ridge team and undertook a range of team building exercises. I found their approach enjoyable and informative, ending the day feeling positive and empowered. This 24 hour challenge seems very involved and also quite intriguing; it seems I will be embracing my cognitive, physical and emotional dimensions!! I am looking to approach the day with an open mind and see where it takes me. Alongside my Faculty of Business & Law and Support Staff day these two physical days will give me something to look forward to as a way of exercising both my body and my brain.

As I arrived at Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales for ‘My Peak Potential’ 24 hour ‘Carnegie Great Outdoor Challenge’, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had visions of sleeping rough, skinning rabbits and being tracked by packs of hunting dogs. Being greeted by friendly staff, a choice of sandwich fillings and a comfy bed come as a pleasant surprise. That is not to say we weren’t still challenged, almost immediately we were split into groups and sent out to begin a range of different challenges, as diverse as they were fun.

What was described as examining our cognitive, physical and emotional dimensions, translated into tasks that at times included logical thinking and problem solving, physical strength and a high dose of trust. These elements came together to create a strong altruistic group in record time. Whilst there was a competitive edge to the day, it felt more important to get the most out of yourself and the group, whilst smiling our way through the day. I had a fantastic experience, and will be recommending these challenges to everyone as a great way to develop your team’s spirit and productivity or as a way of making new friends from around the University.

The Carnegie Alpenrose:

Returning from four amazing days at the Carnegie Alpenrose, I have evaluated my experience to see why it was so fulfilling. Two models attributed to Karl Ronke, introduced me to a tool for creating the right balance of challenges to optimise our learning experience. Whilst new to me, the concepts are very straight forward. The first is ‘Challenge by Choice’, where we choose how hard to push ourselves and understand we need to be stretched to maximise our development. The second is ‘Comfort, Stretch, Panic’, best pictured as three concentric circles. In the centre is our Comfort Zone, next comes the Stretch Zone and the outside ring is the Panic Zone.

The Comfort Zone is what we are used to and enjoy doing. I spent a lot of the weekend here, aided by the beautiful surroundings, excellent staff and the safe environment they created. The Stretch Zone is where the learning happens. Abseiling blindfolded while the whole group is mute, stretched me to evaluate my every movement and remember everything I had been taught. The Panic Zone is to be avoided, you are not focused or learning. Luckily, my only foray into Panic was when it was time to go!

How Does Outdoor Education Add Value

Outdoor activities, by combining cerebral, physical, and emotional dimensions, offer the opportunity to discover the behaviour patterns and interpersonal skills of how people behave, interact, and achieve, regardless of whether they are abseiling or undertaking a work role. This is the key to the effective use of the outdoors. First designing a course that is strong in isomorphs - the similarity between behaviours at work and in the outdoors – and then enabling participants to discover this relevance and transfer their learning back to the workplace. This has been described as isomorphic transfer – the gaining of knowledge and skills in one environment that can be transferred to another.

So how do outdoor activities that appear unrelated to work activities improve performance at work?

Effective learning takes place when an individual puts an idea into practice. That practical experience tests the original idea, the individual can reflect upon the results achieved - modify the idea as necessary - and try again. The outdoors is a superb environment in which to do this because it is closer to reality than most forms of training as participants behave normally and cannot role-play due to the unfamiliarity of the setting. For most people it takes them out of their comfort zone, which is necessary to develop and learn. Learning occurs when we move briefly into stretch, try new things, and return to comfort to reflect upon the experience and assess what we have learned. Soon what was in stretch becomes comfortable, our comfort zone expands, and we become more capable. My Peak Potential’s experience of controlling people’s exposure to risk in the outdoors ensures that participants do not spend time in their panic zone as that causes stress and significantly hinders performance and learning.

Not only does the outdoors provide a novel, non-contextual environment for learning but also because tasks are unrelated to work activities and are relatively simple they expose the processes by which individuals perform and achieve. Outdoor activities offer an emotional dimension that parallels real life and presents a full learning experience. The physical, emotional, and cognitive nature of the activities helps by breaking down psychological barriers that can inhibit participation and learning. The immediacy and nature of the tasks involving these three domains requires full participation, the taking of decisive action, and heightens the experience. So gaining greater commitment from the participants and encouraging longer retention of the learning outcomes.
The safety of participants must be of the highest priority and although outdoor activities have apparent danger, in reality the danger is minimized and mitigated.

The outcome of well structured outdoor programmes is one of the individual experiencing strong emotions in a safe environment. This is important because it exposes the underpinning processes (the behaviour patterns and interpersonal skills) of how people relate to others. In taking what they perceive as risk, whilst being challenged and supported, participants can explore and understand their own limitations, how they react to others and how that affects their behaviour. Limitations can then be placed in context and practical steps planned to overcome them.
[1] Teigen KH., 1994. Yerkes-Dodson: A Law for all Seasons. University of Troms0, Norway. Sage Publications.