When should 'outdoor' activity-based development be used?

Why is this a problem?
There are a bewildering variety of outdoor-type activities availabl. Plus, some organisations may view an outdoor based event as an expensive leisure activity, even though it can have enormous value.

How to decide?
First of all, 'outdoor' means a variety of things. For teams, outdoor activities generally involve doing problem-solving tasks in a purpose-built, out-of-town centre. However, the challenges could be physically mild (treasure hunts, low-level obstacle courses) or challenging (abseiling, rock climbing, white water rafting, etc).

The reasons you'd do it however, are basically the same. Firstly, any outdoor activity will make a quick impact. Team problems and process improvement needs can be identified very quickly. Necessary change can become obvious to team members without so much work.

Secondly though, an outdoor day can give a 'boost' to a team. Such events are often great fun to do, and the social elemnet, the laughter and the energy released are memorable and builkd team spirit.

There are two main things to be careful of:

Too much unspoken fear is dangerous. 'Nobody has to abseil if they don't want to' is a good rule to have. But if everybody's doing it except one, there is an awful lot of peer pressure there, and perhpas you'd best not select a program containing such challenging activities. Put together a milder program. And do check out people's reactions to it.

Don't mount an outdoor event when what you really need to do is talk business issues. The training world is full of sales teams being taken through motivational outdoor days, when what they want to do is to question and discuss the marketing strategy.