The Hindu Business Line : Outside office-hours

From IT firms to manufacturing sectors, media companies to banks ... employees go rock climbing, rappelling or river rafting for healthy corporate performance.

Many corporate houses are going `out there' — away from the concrete jungles to play outdoor games in order to foster management development or organisational change.

From IT firms to manufacturing units, media companies, pharma companies, banks and petrochemical giants... they are all rock climbing, rappelling, river rafting, etc., and having an experience of a lifetime.

As Charusheela Kumar, Senior Manager (HR), Sony Entertainment Television, puts it: "Our experience with OMTP (outdoor management training programmes) has been simply mind-blowing. One can learn facets of modern management through various physical and mental challenges and enjoy himself at the same time."

HR experts now root for OMTPs after realising that they are extremely potent — retention levels are higher compared to conventional classroom training programmes.

"These programmes provide real-life challenges within the framework of safety, hence the success (or failure) is very real, not just on paper," says Vasant Limaye, CEO, High Places Management Pvt Ltd. Garud Maachi, 140 km from Mumbai, is an OMTP centre with elaborate facilities.

High Places recently organised a night treasure-hunt for clients. The groups had to collect `orders' from dealers and return to base within a prescribed time limit. When the facilitators added up the earnings of each team, the margin of victory between the winner and runner-up was just Rs 5,000. It was later shown that the runner-up team had overlooked another order worth Rs 15,000 under the pressure to meet the deadline. A careless mistake by the team had cost it dearly.

"Now, this was a real failure. Yet, it was a low-stake situation, where the participants did not face the danger of reprimand or punishment but it taught them to look into minor details even when the deadline looms large," explains Limaye, a mountaineer and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (London), who is a veteran of over 500 outdoor programmes.

High Places has been organising adventure and outdoor management development programmes since 1989. It customises programmes by working in close partnership with client organisations from the design stage. The programmes are safe and well within the limits of subjective danger. The physical levels of various activities is designed keeping in mind the fitness level of the group.

The activities foster qualities such as re-discovering oneself, self-belief, enlarging vision, change management, leadership qualities, effective teamwork and bonding with people. These qualities in turn lead to qualitative growth of an individual that is reflected both at home and the workplace.

Says J. Khorakiwala, CMD, Biostadt India: "To us it added value to ease out small irritants, to be perceptive and thus provided a better understanding among team members of each other's goals and objectives."

Of the 237 programmes High Places conducted last year, about 40 per cent dealt with team building, 25 per cent each with leadership and new recruits, and the rest with specific themes such as adapting to change, negotiation skills, etc. Each programme invites participants to look for untapped potential. For instance, a manufacturing company and its sales set-up, which were separate legal entities, were to be merged. A programme was conducted to facilitate this merger.

In another instance, a pharma company was split up and a major proportion of power brands and the resultant revenue was bought over by a competitor. There was much scepticism in the remaining faction and levels of faith for future growth were at an all-time low. A programme was conducted to address these issues and move forward with renewed energy. Or, as in the case of an engineering company, where in addition to team building, the top management wanted to understand the concerns and ambitions of the juniors, which was difficult to gauge in the day-to-day office environment.

The OMTPs are often organised in scenic and exciting places such as Sinhagad fort, a popular haunt of Pune's rock climbers; Mandu, situated on a 2,000-ft-high plateau on the crest of the Vindhya mountain range; Rishikesh, located at the foothills of the Himalayas; Tarkhola, a tented site close to the Sikkim border on the banks of the Teesta river; and Munnar, Yercaud and Srirangapattinam in the south.

Participating companies include IBM, Veritas, Mphasis, Motorola, Cognizant Technology, Onward Novell, NetQuest, Wipro Infotech, Mahindra and Mahindra, Eicher Motors, RPG Group, GE Medical Systems, HLL, P&G, Coca-Cola, Shopper's Stop, Owens-Corning, Marico Industries, Oberoi Hotels, Australian Trade Commission, PN Writer, CRY, Dr Reddy's Laboratory, Novartis, Merind, Cynamid, Monsanto, United Phosphorous, Bharat Petroleum, Castrol, Essar Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, ANZ Grindlays Bank, Stock Holding Corporation of India and Sony Entertainment Television.

Before accepting an assignment, facilitators from High Places conduct a background research of the client. Explains Mrunal Paranjpe, Managing Director, High Places, "Our first contact is usually with the HR/training departments. We often meet the line managers of the team attending the programme to understand their perspective too."

With an ideal group size of 15, the participants go through a series of exercises, which act as triggers for exploration on interpersonal as well as intra-personal dimensions. This process helps explore behavioural patterns and offers options for growth. Two experienced facilitators oversee the programme.

High Places conducted a series of programmes for a five-star hotel in Mumbai. At first they visited the hotel and observed all the "behind the scenes" (also underground) activities, which a customer normally does not get to see.

Says Paranjape, "We could see the interconnections between store and kitchen, housekeeping and laundry, etc. This gave us valuable insights into the links between various functions." This background information was used to show each participant how his/her work brought value addition to the organisation.

OMTP is based on the experiential learning methodology. The activities are followed by review sessions that encourage participants to reflect and introspect. The faculty handles the emerging data with care and sensitivity. "In an OMTP, lessons are not taught, they are learned. The adult learning theory states that adults would rather learn on their own from personal experience rather than be taught," adds Limaye.

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