44 | MAY 12 • 2022

business SPOTlight

member says team-building events have
been a core offering of their business
since 2014, but that the need signifi-
cantly ramped up during COVID-19.
TreeRunner Adventure Parks, which
operates four aerial adventure parks
(three in Michigan and one in North
Carolina), offers a safe and socially dis-
tanced outdoor activity that lends itself
well to the pandemic and current times.
“We’ve built it up and grown it more
since COVID-19,” Fishman explains,
“because we saw the inherent benefit to
a lot of office spaces and overall work
dynamics.”
So, how exactly do team-building
events in a forested aerial adventure park
setting work? There are two ways to go
about it, Fishman says.
The first offering is a traditional
team-building event where employees
do fun and challenging ground activities
that Fishman says help boost confidence
and create new bonds. After the one-hour
ground activity, employees have a chance
to climb in the trees and connect with
nature — a respite from the challenges of
working in an office and other daily work
stressors.
A second offering is known as team
development, where one of TreeRunner
Adventure Parks’ staff members works
one-on-one with a group of employees on
various exercises specific to the goals of
that group, like improving trust. One way

to improve trust, Fishman describes, is to
do blindfolded ground exercises that rely
on the guidance of others.
“One staff member will be blindfolded
going through an obstacle with another
person helping them through it audibly,”
he explains.

TEAM-BUILDING CAN
WORK FOR ALL BUSINESSES
All types of businesses and industries
can benefit from team-building events,
Fishman says. So far, TreeRunner
Adventure Parks has seen a wide range
of customers, from engineers to medi-
cal offices to Chrysler. The parks “really
blow people away,” he explains. “They’re
amazed at how wide-open and how large

they are. You’re really in with nature.”
One team-building event in particu-
lar stands out to Fishman as a success
story. Fifteen engineers from an engi-
neering company who had previously
only worked remotely and never met in
person visited this past fall. “You could
see an incredible and very quick shift in
their team,” he says. “We had them play
a name game right off the start, to really
recognize one another and break down a
barrier that they had in the relationship
since working together.”
After booking a team-building event
with TreeRunner Adventure Parks, busi-
nesses have a chance to create specific
programming for the goals of the experi-
ence. They can choose to focus on com-
munication, problem-solving or other
goals as the core of their event. “Once we
have that information, we can create a
plan of action that our staff will work on
with you to enact the changes that you’re
hoping to see,” Fishman describes.
Even after COVID-19, Fishman says
TreeRunner Adventure Parks has no plans
to discontinue team-building events, and
that there will always be a need.
“We foresee team-building becoming
more of a core part of our year-round
business,” he explains, noting that events
peak in warmer, summer months. “We
can do this in the winter at the office
space and try to elicit similar responses,
even if it’s snowing outside.”

Jeremy
Fishman

Companies can improve
trust and communication
with team-building events.

Employees love the
out-in-nature setting at
TreeRunner.

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