Inward Bound: An adventure learning experience in Maine to build high-performing teams

Video highlights of Inward Bound, September 2022

Once upon a time, long ago in BC (before COVID), we decided to start a business together.

As sisters, we were warned about mixing business with family but decided to do it anyway. Why? Because we had a great idea and a solid relationship - we grew up under the same roof, played on the same lacrosse teams, traveled abroad, faced love, loss, and conflict. We felt like we could handle anything. What could go wrong?!

Turns out (spoiler alert)…starting a business is hard. Like, really hard. Despite our strong foundation, we were starting to experience tensions that were holding our business back. Lindsey would get frustrated when Julia bypassed the details or wanted to take “too much time” before launching a new product. Julia was frustrated when Lindsey wanted to “rush” things out the door, or bypass the creative brainstorming process needed for new initiatives. We were wasting precious time and money trying to figure out how to work together instead of moving the business forward. So we asked our coach what to do. She told us, “Go get some data on yourselves!" So we did. We completed a workplace behavioral assessment, spent an hour reflecting on the results, then met to discuss over dinner. But not just any dinner - at the one place we loved the most: a campfire. Having grown up near the Maine woods we've always loved making food over a fire. It has been a hobby we've shared for years because of the fire's unique ability to pull you out of your routine and into creativity and presence. We decided to make one of our favorites - homemade wood-fired pizza, dripping with cheese, mushrooms and peppers. As we pulled the pizza off the fire, we talked about our relationship and our tensions, which sparked some big 'aha' moments: It wasn't that Julia didn't care about the details, it's that she's wired to be a big-picture thinker and thrives when she has freedom from rigidity and minutiae. Lindsey's need for speed doesn't mean she's trying to sacrifice quality for pace, it's that she thrives in a fast-paced environment and feels the most momentum when she can check things off a list. Both big-picture thinking and fast-paced strategic drive are assets to start-up culture, we just needed to figure out how to strategically apply them to our vision! Our conversation over the fire transmuted tension into powerful insights about how to work better together. As a result of that night, we:

• Adapted our roles - Lindsey now takes the lead on detailed work while Julia leads big-picture strategy work.

• Limited brainstorming sessions to 1 hour to minimize overwhelm and maximize impact.

• Proactively set deadlines for key deliverables rather than negotiating on pace for everything.

Now our business is humming because our roles are aligned to our strengths and we aren't wasting time figuring out how to work together. Can you relate? So many of the teams we work with struggle with similar tensions despite best intentions, high EQs and talented people. We designed Inward Bound, a half-day adventure learning experience in Maine, to help leaders build high-performing teams. We leverage the power of data, nature and food to help teams deepen self-awareness, build trust and enhance understanding of each other's unique strengths and limitations so they don't waste precious time and money on activities that don't move the business forward.

If you're a leader looking to give your team an unforgettable, “uncorporate” experience in building trust, improving communication, building stronger teams and having fun doing it, we have three slots left for summer 2023! Click here to schedule a call and see if this experience might be a good fit for your team.

Here's to your success!