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Incorporating Team Building into a meeting can be as much of a challenge as an actual team building activity. Cedar Creek Conference Center, in New Haven, Missouri, has made sure the challenge stays on the field with its new Western Team Challenge Course, giving meeting planners a ready-made team building activity. In the spring of 2008, Chris Gill, Director of Student Development at Fontbonne University in St. Louis, wanted a conference center for a student-worker retreat program prior to the fall semester, inquired about if there was a team building course available, and Cedar Creek, which had one in the planning stages, decided to move the construction up by a year. "I loved the property, the center and the food, but I couldn’t make it work without a teambuilding course," said Gill. ‘They shocked me by asking "What if we build one?’"

 According to Peggy Krokstrom, Program Director at Cedar Creek, market research had indicate that the Team Building Course was a popular form of outdoor education in the 90s, particularly among student groups. "I guess a lot of them are now in the corporate world and are melding this activity into their meetings." More than 10 corporate groups have used the course since its Summer ‘08 debut and several groups have already booked it in Spring 2009.

The course itself is relatively simple, consisting of several pods. The actual stations of the course have names, such as King's Finger and Couple’s Walk, and each station has a specific purpose to the activity. For example, King's Finger is a tall vertical pole—participants place a tire—the ‘ring’—on the pole and them remove it, without the use or props, just each other. Couples Walk features two divergent poles, where team members support one another as they cross the poles. Whale Watch consists of a wooden platform on a fulcrum, where participants step on the platform then must maintain its balance and avoid the wood from touching the ground.

In order to achieve team building results from the Western Team Challenge Course, planners work with Cedar Creek personnel in both devising a program and post-course, debriefing sessions with participants. "The debriefing is where it all comes together," said Brad Gruenewald, Lead Facilitator Cedar Creeks. "You have to have an eye out for learning moments. At the end, you discuss those moments and how they can apply them to everyday life and office situations."

"I study the specific industry and learn the lingo and the issues involved," added Krokstrom. "We also identify specific goals so we can design a program. Everything is personalized and in-depth." The goals include such topics as "Trust Building," "Communication Improvement," and "Problem Solving," with the general target of creating better group cohesion. Some of the industries whose companies have used the course include Construction, Food Service and Aeronautics.

"We had a list of goals that I talked over with Cedar Creek before we came and incorporated them, it really makes all the difference," added Gill. "The personalized facilitation is what sets Cedar Creek apart from other locations with teambuilding courses. It’s a beautiful course, very well built, but it’s the facilitation that will keep us coming back."

For the conference center, it is the customization of team building that has been key to its success. "I love how unique and different each group is," said Krokstrom, who has 20 years experience in outdoor and experiential learning. "Even if I repeat the same activity with several groups, I can never predict what the outcome will be or how it will change the group’s relationships. But there is always significant growth."

"There is no single outcome for the course," added Genny Haas, Sales and Marketing Representative, Cedar Creek. "Each time the course is used, there will be a unique goal and a unique outcome based on the needs of the client. That ‘uniqueness’ trait carries on the tradition that Cedar Creek is known for—personalized service and undivided attention to our clients and their needs."