Team Training

We gathered in Summit County at the end of October 2021. Here are some reflections on that time together.

I didn’t really know exactly what to expect. I knew we would work on our skiing. We would probably work on some teaching and we would spend time together. I was excited to get back on snow after riding plenty of bikes this summer!

Day 1, we had two tasks on snow: 1.) Use synchronized skiing as the vehicle to work on our skiing and 2.) Match our skis with our partner in the fall line. We were in teams of four and using our other partner pair to watch us and vice versa.

Here are some cool takeaways - by using synchronized skiing which has external cues (e.g. could other people tell if we were in sync with our partner), it helped us work on our skiing from a zoomed out perspective. In other words, there was feedback but it was around the task - not the fact that it was my first day on snow and my body needed a little bit of time to remember how to do this.

What was surprising to me was how quickly we came together as a team. I was a little bit like a “deer in the headlights” absorbing and taking in the information coming my way. There has been so much work on the Learning Connection framework - People Skills and Teaching Skills. It was enlightening to hear fellow teammates who have been instrumental in these areas present.

There were many key highlights throughout the week. We had an experience with John Jensen, a consultant, and I can’t really explain it other than, “you had to be there and experience it yourself.”

In terms of skiing, we mixed up the groups on Day 3 and the idea is that I should be able to jump in behind anyone and sync off of them. I should also be able to lead with such consistency that anyone can follow me. I got better at this as the days progressed.

On Day 4, we taught to our peers so they could gain some practice using the assessment criteria which will happen in Level 1, 2, 3 certification levels. I definitely wanted to teach to gain a little more practice, comfort, and confidence with my teammates. It was definitely a highlight to throw something out there. They could tell when I was adapting and shifting my strategy towards a different outcome than I initially laid out for them. That is the beauty of teaching. You have to pay attention and make decisions based on what you are seeing.

I am using this medium to jot down some of my thoughts and share my experiences. Many people are always curious as to what it is that we do as team members. Well, I am going to share my experiences.