About a month ago, we gathered at the course for a week to meet and train a new group of facilitators. These people arrived eager to learn, ready to be challenged, and excited to grow. A few of them had experienced Challenge Discovery before or had a son or daughter that had done it in the past. A couple had never heard of it until very recently. All of them had sought us out, applied and interviewed, and were ready to learn everything about Challenge Discovery. As a group of staff, we had been planning for our first training class of 2016 for a while and we were excited for it to begin.

Training lasted all day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, with different veteran facilitators coming in and out to share their wisdom with the new trainees. Throughout the week, the trainees went through a typical program (from the eyes of the participant), learned the appropriate technical skills, discussed the many different initiatives we have, and discovered why we do what we do. We had a group of staff that was ready and eager to take a group of students through one of our programs. They understood what was different about Challenge Discovery. The realized that there is nothing like it in Richmond and that typical ropes courses don’t offer the level of facilitation that we do.

One of our trainees remarked:

“I had a blast during our training week! It’s amazing how similar the Challenge Discovery experience (as a former participant) translated into the staff development and training. Entering the week as complete strangers, we quickly broke the ice and began working as a team to learn not only about the company, but about ourselves as well. By the end of the week, our group really felt like a family, something that has carried over into the broader Challenge Discovery team and helped us in our new roles as facilitators! “

Training is a fun week where we see individuals grow and teams form. It is where we see facilitators learn exactly why we’ve been around for 30 years and why we’re the leading team building company in the area. And at the end of that special week, we have a new class of trainees that are ready to facilitate programs. Are you interested in becoming a facilitator? We are having our second training class of 2016 during the week of June 27^th. Check out our website for more information.