There is increasing demand for outdoor education and for Teambuilding as part of any curriculum or job. Employers are verbalising a need in potential recruits for more employability skills and have identified that these are being delivered through outdoor education and Teambuilding programmes. Fantastic! But is this the answer to all employers’ prayers? Well, this depends on the delivery of course.
As well as the soft skills that are picked up through the everyday delivery of these courses, if the outcome for the team is intended to be linked to employability directly then time management is a crucial aspect that cannot be left to chance. The skill of time management encompasses the ability to direct oneself at work, to be proactive about the work you are doing and to prioritise activities. It also goes a long way to establishing a culture of responding rather than reacting (see post on this on site) which is critical to long term effective management and success.
So, with this in mind, here are ten tips for how to embed time management skills into Teambuilding and outdoor education programmes:
1. Hand over the management of time to the group; when a day of activities has been arranged, make the timings flexible and give the group management over how long they want to give to each task and how much travel time, break time etc they want to put into the day. Whilst this will almost certainly diminish the number of activities completed, or the distance walked/canoed etc, it will allow them to begin to manage Timor own time more effectively. When you do this, ensure that the group are made to stick to the timings even if this results in failure, this will instil the notion of the importance of time management within the group. After each activity allow the group some planning time to reflect and change the schedule for the next task so that they can embed the learning about time management in real time.
2. Create incentives or penalties for timing problems; if the group complete a task or activity on or before time, give them a reward for this. This does not have to be something monetary or separate from the tasks of the day, it could be access to hints and clues for the next tasks, or access to bits of kit that will make future tasks easier. The added advantage of this is that it creates further buy in for the day’s activities and increases motivation and focus. Similarly, you can offer penalties for going over time, reduction in kit for future tasks or, in extreme cases when engagement is very poor, a combined time for activity plus break so that finishing late will eat into break periods.
3. Set time-oriented goals; “by eleven o’clock I want you to have completed x number of tasks, or be in location x, or achieved x…” this links all the task focus into time managed goals, making success categorically linked to good timekeeping. The advantage of this is that it provides a definite point of reference for reviewing success or failure based on time constraints. Again, do not worry about failure as with a good review and debrief you will learn as much if not more from a failed attempt than from a successful one.
4. Create time-oriented rendezvous points; if the tasks or activities involve splitting the group or pair work, or any other split, or if you require the group to acquire additional kit or information at specific points, make these time bound. “The whole group must be back together by, or the whole group must reach point x to receive instructions, or pair x must meet pair y at this time to pass on a piece of equipment”. These time-based rendezvous allow an autonomy to the group members that means that they are more accountable for their own timings. In any situation where you allow a group member to take personal responsibility you are setting up a situation where deep level personal learning can take place; the questioning and reflection cannot be focused elsewhere; it must be directed inwards towards themselves.
5. Create competition; whenever there is an element of competition it is linked to timing, as a starting point for a group this can be useful as a motivator and as a way of expressing the importance of time on an activity. This competition could be between two groups, or one group split in two, or it could be for a group to beat the best time of a previous group for the same activity. The group will take control of the competition element without much prompting, the value of the competition occurs when the reflection of students is focused on how the competition was linked to motivation and group cohesiveness within the task.
6. Highlight wasted time; if you are watching the task, time the amount of wasted time that occurs and then highlight this within the debrief. This will allow groups over time to become aware of the impact that wasted time has on the effectiveness of the task. This approach is more long term and may not immediately identify the time bound factors to the group, but over a sustained period it will become clear to the group the effect that this time wasting is having on task completion, motivation, and effectiveness.
7. Create a timeline; through the use of pictures or other medium show the progression of the group throughout a day, this will allow a group to reflect on the increase in time effectiveness and cohesiveness throughout the duration of the day’s activities or course. This distance travelled approach is also a highly effective motivational tool for groups.
8. Repeat the same task at the beginning and the end; if you do this and change it just enough to stop them repeating it purely from memory, i.e. changing location or terrain, or changing the materials you give them, or introducing limiting factors, you will be able to still show the increase in effectiveness and the time difference despite the activity becoming harder. This, when highlighted will allow students to start noticing the factors that contribute to effective time management and how they are linked, factors such as team roles, effective communication and group cohesion or shared goals.
9. Use time as a fluid concept; give a group time check but vary the length of a minute and see how quickly they pick up on it. Start out giving them a whole minute and then vary it to 30 seconds or to two minutes or more, but still call it a minute. This, once they pick up on it, will give a group a better understanding of how to measure their own time and to keep time more accurately. You could challenge them to tell you whether your minute was accurate or not and what they think the real time was.
10. Turn the concept on its head; try to complete a whole day’s worth of activities without mentioning timings at all, do not give any links to timings for breaks or activities and see how this effects the group. It is very likely that at some point they will bring up time and timings and this will give you a window to discuss the impact of time on daily life and activities.
Throughout all of these the impact comes from the students understanding of the implicit relationship between time and soft skills and employability. It is crucial that this understanding of time is conveyed to students for them to feel the full benefit of the employability aspect of any outdoor education or Teambuilding programme.
Note: If you are interested in learning more about team building my book will give you a much deeper insight and lots of practical examples and activities as well.
Shevek Pring 