TrueNorth and Associates

Home

Links

Team Navigation!™
"Adventure is a personal journey of discovery....." Ian Adamson

Navigation is the art and science of moving with map and compass.

Orienteering is the competitive sport of Navigation, using special Orienteering maps.

Team Navigation!™ is a set of group navigation skills and tools, utilizing the international sport of Orienteering. These group navigation skills/tools create realistic challenges for adult and youth teambuilding involving: rotating roles, group decision-making, problem-solving, listening & communication skills, strategizing, pushing comfort zones, etc in a fun-outdoor adventure activity using maps, compasses & treasure chests! We prefer outdoor settings, but we can adapt to indoor settings.

We use Team Navigation!™ with:
Corporate Teambuilding
School/Youth Groups
Navigation Classes/Lessons

There are many direct parallels to business & personal life

Contact Jeff Coates, (317) 876-1871, Email: truenorth360@comcast.net, Website: www.truenorth360.com

TrueNorth uses Orienteering, A Lifetime International Sport, As a Methodology for Team Navigation!™

Team Navigation!™ TeamBuilding
Team Navigation!™ creates team experiences in sharing responsibilities, collectively making
decisions, solving problems, and moving toward common goals. However, optimum team performance is determined by how teams deal with normal challenges in communication, roles, sharing of information, conflicting goals or visions or behaviors of group members, etc.

These team skills parallel navigation skills taught during Team Navigation!™, and fit very
well into discussions and learnings about team performance and efficiency:

Balance Fun with Outcomes
Competition vs Cooperation
Focus vs Peripherial Vision
Relationships vs Outcomes
Left vs Right Brain Processing
Control vs Letting Go

Seeing the Forest Despite the Trees
Taking the Road Less Traveled
Situational Team Roles
Enabling Others
Left vs Right Brain
Technical vs Intuitive Decision Making

Reacting to Mistakes
Lead vs Follow
Taking Risks
Visualization
Shared Visions
Recognition-Celebration
Challenging the Process
Defining Success
Behavior-Value Alignment

Scandinavian Origin of Orienteering
Orienteering is a popular Scandinavian sport in which individuals or small groups,
use a map and a compass to find “checkpoints” in wooded terrain. It can be
recreational activity for families interested in a leisurely walk in the woods, or it
can be a competitive sport for adventure athletes running through the woods to
locate the checkpoints.

Regardless of the competitive nature, orienteering is truly a lifetime sport for all.
The navigational skills are very transferable to Team Navigation!™ activities,
and create meaningful parallels to real life and work situations. It is an outdoor
adventure that connects you to nature, and you learn lifetime skills while having fun!

Orienteering Format
A standard orienteering activity or event consists of an orienteering map, which
has controls (or checkpoints) that are marked by circles. There is an actual start
and a finish. The control circles on the map are located at distinctive landscape
features, which is further defined in writing by control descriptions called clues,
listed on a clue sheet, that further helps the orienteer find the checkpoint.
The orienteer searches for actual control flags, which mark the location that is
circled on the map.

To verify actually finding the control flag, the orienteer carries a “control card” that
is inserted into a punch that is hanging on or near the flag. Each punch has a
different-hole pattern that verifies of holes in the paper, and is the validation that
the checkpoint was truly found.

Route Choices vs Life Choices
The unique aspect of the sport of Orienteering is the opportunity for each participant
to determine his/her own "course". The unique route between each of the "controls"
is not specified, and is the choice of each participant.The route choice is entirely up
to the orienteer; this element and the ability to use navigational skills to navigate through
the forest are the essence of orienteering. Orienteering is often called the "thinking person's"
sport, or "cunning running"..

Most orienteering event formats, though they don’t prescribe specific route choices,
they may pre-determine the order the checkpoints are to be found. Staggered starts
and maps may be used to ensure that each orienteer has a chance to do his or her
own navigating. There are other popular formats, such as the “score-o”, which has
a large number of checkpoints scattered throughout the landscape, and participants
try to get as many checkpoints as possible during a fixed timeframe. This is a popular
format for teambuilding, as it works well with team choice, team decisions, and
team roles.

Lifetime Navigation Skills

Beginner Navigation Skills	Intermediate Navigation Skills
Orienting the Map Thumbing Folding Pacing Measuring Distances Map Symbols/Colors Basic Compass Use Mapping Resources	Understanding Differences Between Map Scales Understanding Route Choice Differences Recognizing Terrain Features to Map Map Margin Info Group Navigation Roles UTM Plotting How To Avoid Getting Lost Competitive Compass Use

Team Navigation!™ Treasure/Scavenger Hunts

There are many different formats for orienteering events. One fun way is to design
an activity centered around a treasure or scavenger hunt theme. These fun type of
events work well with you and/or adults, and involve the same skills of navigation,
the same group dynamics, but add a real element of fun & intrigue!

This format generally involves a map marked with circled control locations, just
as the standard orienteering event. But at each control location, there is some sort
of clue, puzzle, or challenge that the group must solve or perform. As the more
control locations are found, the number of clues increases! Finally at the end, the
groups have to work together to put together all the clues they have collected,
which identify the location of the key to the Treasure Chest! Youth and adults find
this format a lot of fun!