Team Champion is our rowing program in which all participants – grouped into teams between 5 and 8 – will learn the fundamentals of rowing with the help of experienced elite level rowers and coaches. Each team will be placed in a rowing shell and will be educated on the mechanics of the boat and trained on how to row an eight–person boat efficiently and with grace. As the day progresses and tactile feedback is used to improve the individual rowers’ skills, focus and attention will then be shifted toward working together as a team. The day concludes with a 500–meter race between all boats and medals will be given out accordingly.
Team Champion highlights all of the major components of inspirational leadership, but the rowing metaphor is particularly useful in assessing team dynamics, achieving flow and balance, and learning to modulate oneself in the context of a greater team or organization. Rowing well demands not that participants pull hard, but that they pull together. This lesson–which translates well to many business situations–becomes tangible in the boat. Participants learn that locking into the team objective, rather than their individual agendas, ultimately makes the job easier for everyone including themselves. Individuals grow their inspirational leadership skill sets in the context of aligning, motivating, and celebrating a team.
