Over the River and Through the Woods, to Training I Go.

For the past two days, I attended a management training series sponsored by Indiana University. The training took place at Bradford Woods, a large piece of property owned by the University just south of Indianapolis. Two or three individuals from each IU campus are selected each to attend this series. So, I was pleased when my Vice Chancellor recommended that I attend.

The first day was spent in a series of outdoor team building challenges. If you are in management, you probably know the type I'm describing. All the activities are designed to instill concepts of what it is to be a team and to then take those concepts back to the workplace. We had a great facilitator, Stewart, a long time U.S. citizen but who is originally from England. What is it about the English accent that immediately causes one to take notice and listen more intently? I don't know, but even beyond the accent, Stewart made the whole day go very fast and I didn't feel like I was just being given some regurgitated lessons on how to be a great leader. My favorite activity involved Stewart taking our group of 10 into a wooded area. On a tree he wrapped a bandana. Our job as a team was to go back to our starting point (a few hundred yards away) and return to this place. Oh yeah, we had to do it blindfolded, and after Stewart spun us all around and totally threw off our sense of direction. We actually made it back to the tree, and in pretty good time.

It was nice being around other University professionals that share my same commitment to higher education. I'll be back once a month until next April.