In June, KIC associates engaged in BusinessWorks, our annual team-building day. BusinessWorks is an exhilarating mash-up of physical feats, challenges, and shared discovery designed to help associates build leadership skills in a team setting.
Bringing associates into the woods, and out of their comfort zones, allows better perspective on how we operate and how we can improve. Using the Pinnacle Leadership model, groups of associates work together on land (creating people-powered walking machines, for instance) and in the air (maneuvering though an aerial course that includes rope bridges and trust falls). After each new challenge, KIC associates debrief, focusing goals and roles. Associates learn how they communicate, who takes on leadership roles, and how they well they work together.
Daring and doing
It’s a day when values come to life in the most unexpected ways and stepping outside our comfort zones is a big part of the experience. As team members reflect on the lessons learned, a common refrain is how proud they are of fellow associates who dare to do something completely new and of their own risk taking and leadership. Everyone is encouraged to see BusinessWorks as “a day to take one step farther than you think you can.”
It’s also a whole lot of fun. When this year’s crew arrived at the Pinnacle Leadership campus, they were greeted with the instruction, “Be irreverent!” And they took that call to heart. As they made their way into the woods, one team could be heard chanting, “Float like a feather, sting like a bee, we’re the greatest like Muhammed Ali.”
At the end of the day, as all the teams gathered for skits and music under a big white tent, spirits were high and the camaraderie was clear. The bonds formed and rekindled at BusinessWorks sustain KIC year in and year out, and the lessons learned here make a difference in all the work we do.
