Sailing analogies in business are common. Plotting a course. Taking the helm. Navigating rough waters.
The people at the Center for Organizational Advancement (COA) see those similarities, and are offering a team training experience that takes advantage of them.
The center, along with the Wisconsin Lake Schooner Education Association, is offering half- and full-day programs that include hands-on sailing experience aboard the tall ship S/V Denis Sullivan, a 137-foot craft modeled after the three-masted schooner Moonlight, which was built in Milwaukee in 1874. The ship is reminiscent of the craft that plied the Great Lakes at the turn of the century.
The Denis Sullivan was launched in the summer of 2000, and returned recently to the Port of Milwaukee from a tour of duty that included educational cruises in Florida and the Bahamas.
COA, a division of Rogers Memorial Hospital, Oconomowoc, offers a variety of team training for businesses and special events.
Cooperation among job functions
To get a tall ship to function, it takes a concerted effort of several individuals. Training participants will work with the ship’s crew and experience the dynamic of these relationships first-hand.
"There are certain responsibilities with groups of seven that do a rotation," COA manager Rochelle Behling said. "There are certain things that everyone has to do to get the ship ready and to get underway."
Even experienced sailors start from ground zero when they step onboard, according to Behling, erasing any sense of superiority a team member may have.
"When most people get onboard, even if they have sailed a small boat before, they have no idea what to do," Behling said.
The parallels between sailing and operating as a team in the workplace are undeniable, according to COA outreach representative Tom Laughlin.
"Like a business, the boat can’t move forward unless everyone works together," Laughlin said. "Sailing is the absolute best training I have seen."
Laughlin stressed that the excursions aboard the Denis Sullivan cost more than the center’s other team challenge programs, but participants get to to operate a $5 million craft aboard Lake Michigan. A half-day training session for between 10 and 15 participants will run $5,069 and $5,449 including lunch and an afternoon snack. Sessions will be available between May 1 and Sept. 22. Interested parties can call 1-800-767-6702 extension 305 for more information.
May 24, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
