6 Team-building lessons from an adventure racer
Two-time Adventure Racing World Champion and two-time Guinness World Record distance kayaker Robyn Benincasa knows what it takes for a team to succeed. During the Borneo Eco-Challenge, Benincasa and her three teammates ran, paddled, mountain biked, climbed and whitewater-rafted over 300 miles in the rugged, leech-infested terrain. Since all teammates must complete the race to qualify, the harsh experience tests teamwork to the extreme.
Benincasa, a full-time firefighter and the director of fun for World Class Teams, applies the team-building lessons she learned in the wilderness to the corporate jungle. [Photos courtesy of Robyn Benincasa]
Commitment
"Commitment starts when the fun stops," Robyn Benincasa told HR/benefits professionals at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans conference. Pictured here at the boat's bow, she offers 4 P's to understanding team commitment:
- • Planning: Don’t forget the checkpoints
- • Purpose: Inspire through a greater good
- • Perseverance: Never let emotion affect locomotion
- • Preparation: Luck is a result of opportunity and preparation
