Raleigh North Carolina Based Rock Climbing Guiding, Climbing Trips, Climbing Classes and Instruction » Experiential Education

Leaders Travel Unexplored Paths

brandon — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:44:52 +0000

I found a new blog that I love to read….it’s called The Practice of Leadership. I read an article today on The Importance of Creativity for leaders. Make sure to read the article in full. I wanted to highlight one of the points the author makes.

“The leader must be able to travel into an unexplored path”

As I reflect upon this statement, I realize the truth of it. If a leader isn’t willing to travel on an unexplored path, they really aren’t leading…they just simply follow in other people’s footsteps. A leader needs to know which path to choose, and confidently lead their group down it, ready to confront obstacles, make split second decisions, and help carry along anyone who is struggling behind.

Is that the way you lead, or are you afraid to try new ideas?

This in my opinion is such a key principle to follow, and really does a very succinct job at explaining why using the outdoors and adventure for leadership development and training is so effective. Teaching people to confront fears and feel comfortable when faced with new risks and challenges can be done outdoors better than anywhere else.

Tools for Dealing with Uncertainty Part 3: Being Optimistic

brandon — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:12:00 +0000

A person can teach themselves to overcome learned helplessness and be more optimistic. As with all forms of mental discipline, from sports psychology to the suggestions below, they seem simplistic and somewhat silly when written on paper. However such disciplines, like exercise, healthy eating, systematic investing, and others, can have powerful effects when applied consistently and intelligently over time. They are not magic. But, they do work.
Is being optimistic an advantage? People with high scores for the optimistic explanatory style has been shown to have to be the ones “immune” to learned helplessness. Other significant benefits have been documented:

Optimism has been correlated with better immune systems in healthy people who have been subjected to stress.
Both lab research and survey research indicate that positive emotions help people who were previously under stress relax back to their physiological baseline.
Positive emotions that come from optimism broaden one’s awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. Over time, this broadened behavioral repertoire builds skills and resources

The method for change is on the principles of what Positive Psychology calls “ABCDE” for Adversity, Beliefs, Consequences, Disputation and Distraction, and Energization. In the next entry we will explore these tools.

- Author: Danny McCracken (dmccracken@ascentadventure.com)

Defeating Fear with Past Success: The Climbing Experience Applied to All of Life

brandon — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:58:26 +0000

This weekend I was climbing at Cathedral Ledge in New Hampshire, on a route called Recombeast (5.9+). The crux of the route is on pitch 3, where you have to make a traverse onto a flake, with nowhere to put your feet except for smearing on the rock. This day, the area for my feet was wet! So it made it quite a challenging task. It took me a while to make the proper moves, but ultimately what got me through it was by standing still and remembering past experiences I had.

When I remembered that I done other scary traverses on harder routes, I realized that I would be able to do this one. I remembered, “I was afraid before, but it turned out to be ok. It will be ok this time.”

This experience can apply to all of life! When we face challenging and even scary situations in life, we must take a moment to think logically, instead of acting out of fear. Ask yourself these questions:

Have I had similar experiences before?
How did I respond?
What can my past response teach me now?
What will be my next action

Some simple things…but it can go a long way.

Unique Team Building Approach

brandon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:34:10 +0000

Brandon has a unique approach to his team building sessions. His passion for helping people challenge themselves is refreshing and will serve both managers and employees alike. I would highly recommend Brandon if you want to your staff to think beyond the obvious and become more creative and critical thinkers.

-Mark, Team Building Participant

Team Building Testimonial

brandon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:31:30 +0000

Our company partnered with Ascent because of their leadership expertise and knowledge. Shortly thereafter, we asked Brandon to participate in our monthly speaker’s series…he blew the roof off! He was well prepared and very “keyed” into our audience. The attendees not only learned something but had a great time learning! I highly recommend Brandon’s company!

-Deidre Hughey, BuzzBuilder

Ultimate Sales Training Testimonial

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:46:34 +0000

Ascent Adventure Consultants has teamed up with my company on a couple of training sessions to to provide the Experiential Education for our trainees. It was a great partnership and they are easy to work with. The clients love their engaging and creative ideas. Everyone, including me, left happy!

-Tim Moore, Dancing Elephants Acheivement Group

A Meaningful Wilderness Experience

brandon — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:45:19 +0000

It’s amazing to see how many articles have been popping up all over the internet and in print media lately about how having a wilderness experience, whether its climbing, hiking, camping, kayaking, backpacking, etc., can greatly impact your life for years to come. I read another article this morning, this time out of Austrailia, on how having a wilderness experience gives a new perspective on life. They theorize that it’s because when out in nature, you realize how small you are and that you are part of something far bigger. Check out the article here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/03/2616497.htm.

Now I’m trying to theorize why this topic has all of a sudden jumped in popularity. About 1 month ago, I started weekly posts on how the Climbing Experience applies to all of life. Then articles started appearing all over the place. Of course I’d like to think that people saw me as the trend setter! But, for a more realistic theory, I’d say that it’s because we’re in the middle of this recession and people are making big life decisions, people are feeling stressed out, and also because we’re halfway through the summer and people are really wishing they were outdoors on some adventure.

I’d love to hear people’s comments on why you think this topic has gained such momentum as of late. Comment below!

Trust Your Feet: The Climbing Experience Applied to All of Life

brandon — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:50:26 +0000

A few weeks ago, while guiding a trip at Table Rock NC, one of the ladies mentioned how she kept having to tell herself “Trust Your Feet!”, and that is what got her to continue to move forward. After the climb, she mentioned how that thought and concept really could have a good life lesson to it! I gave it some thought and wanted to share with you all some thoughts on how this climbing concept and experience translates into all of life.

She had climbing shoes, with “sticky-rubber” on her feet, which enabled her to stand on and obtain friction on rock and rock features that she wouldn’t have been able to use otherwise. But because she had specialized shoes for the task, she was able to accomplish her goals. I think we all have simliar experiences in life, but instead of convincing ourselves to move ahead, we give up, thinking that failure is imminent, due to fear of the unknown, and due to us doubting our abilities. Often, we have the tools we need to accomplish a task, but fear taking that next step.

Here’s an example:

It is your first month on the job, and you are given a new assignment at work to design a new product that would appeal to a key market in your location. You are given all the information you need….very detailed market research, an unlimited budget for developing the product, a team of people to help put your ideas into place, and books on what NOT to do when developing this product. Even though you have all the resources you need, you continue to have the thought of “But I can’t do this….I’m brand new. I have no idea how to develop a product. People won’t like it,” or whatever else your thoughts might be that cause you to doubt. So ultimately, the project is delayed.

So how does the trust your feet concept apply here? Well, in climbing, even though my client looked down on the cliff and saw the tiny holds, or featureless rock faces, she did not say “these holds are too small, I can’t move on,” but rather she said “Trust your feet.” She knew that even though it LOOKED impossible, it was NOT impossible because she had the right tools designed for that very purpose…to stand on small holds and featureless faces. She trusted her feet! AND she climbed to the top of the climb.

So here’s some key application points for you:

Ask yourself, “What areas in my life do I feel like I’ve hit a brick wall? Are there resources I have that I’m not taking advantage of? Are there people I should be trusting that I’m not trusting in right now?
Pick a project that you are working on right now. What is the main thing you dislike about it? Is it because it seems impossible? Do you see the Trust Your Feet concept coming into play here at all?
What are some of the things you fear in life? Are you simply not taking advantage of the proven tools around you to help you overcome that fear?

Management Tips Learned Through Experience

brandon — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:29:59 +0000

One of the most common issues that I see arise among the groups in team building and leadership development programs that we facilitate is that managers begin to realize that they need to make changes in the way they organize and structure their days and tasks so that they can more effectively manage their teams.

Here are some great key points of application that I have seen teams develop:

Share information regularly with employees and other team members.
Prioritize. Learn to focus on the things that have the most value. Of you devote equal time to everything, you are sure to miss details and feel overwhelmed.
Be optimisitic. Instead of looking at every project and assignment as drudgery, find ways to enjoy working together as a team, and find ways to turn seemingly meaningless projects into advantageous activities. In a book I read called “Organizational Communication” by Steven Corman, he discusses this very thing and gives the example of “If you are required to give a presentation, think about how you can use that platform to subtly champion your own cause as well.”
Be humble. Many mistakes come about when you think your team is perfect. Be willing to admit to mistakes. You’ll never learn how to improve if you think there’s no room for improvement.

Just a few quick thoughts I wanted to share!

The Climbing Experience Applying to All of Life Part 1

brandon — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:20:10 +0000

The rock climbing, mountaineering, and outdoor adventure experience has so many applications to real life. It is my joy to be able to help individuals see this through our climbing courses, and through the team building and leadership development programs that I conduct. There is nothing more satisfying when I can almost instantaneously see someone’s life change for the good as a result of something they have experienced through climbing and/or team building.

Over the next several days/weeks, I’m going to post short (one paragraph, or even less) blurbs on how climbing translates into all of life.