The Safety Conscious Team Builder (Part 1)

As team builders, we’ve all been exposed to the goal of ‘creating safe learning environments’ for our groups. The semantic of this statement is important, especially when facilitators (educators) tell their participants “you will be safe during this activity.” Safety is not something we can guarantee if we are programming adventurous, risky experiences – no matter how small or great the risk may be perceived.

So how do we approach the concept of safety when we want to encourage participants to take risks and feel confident in doing so?

I’d like to build a conversation together, through a series of posts and comments, about the ways we consciously plan for and manage both the physical and psychological safety of our groups. 

The rekindling inspiration for this conversation comes from Dale Le Fevre’s book, Best New Games, Updated Edition (2012). His short section on “Be Safety Conscious” turned on the switch. I like this phrasing – Safety Conscious.

Here’s our question: What are some of the safety conscious behaviors of an intentional teambuilding educator?

I’m going to get us started with some of the behaviors Le Fevre shares in his book (bold quotes), then include some of the thoughts I have about them. In academic terms, we stand on the shoulders of those before us. Let’s see what's been said, then add to the story.
 
Physical Safety Behaviors

“Examine the play area for potential dangers that need to be noted or removed.”

This is an obvious behavior when working outdoors. We’re looking for trip and collision hazards, soft spots and slip potentials (e.g., mud). And don’t forget animal droppings!

When working indoors, especially in a space you are not familiar with, don’t assume the ‘gym’ is hazard free. Take a walk around. Recently I came across an anchor attachment sticking up from a gym floor – a possible trip hazard. For my workshop I place a small piece of duct tape over it to smooth it out the trip edge a bit and give a slight visual reminder of the issue. (I removed the tape after the workshop.)

As for “need to be noted,” I’m thinking this is about the hazards that need to be pointed out to the participants so they can be aware of the issues. Inherent risks are often part of an adventure – like ‘mud’ for example. If participants are not mindful of their actions, they might get muddy. Being safety conscious is not about removing ALL the risks we are aware of – if we do (as Karl Rohnke would say), the experience will no longer be an adventure. Informing participants of possible risks gives them some of the responsibility to mitigate them.  

​Hazards are part of an adventure; they inform our decisions about where to play and what we’re able to program in the space available.
 
“Make sure players remember that the idea is to have fun and not play so hard that they hurt themselves [or others].”

La Fevre comes from the New Games (Foundation) movement started in the 1970’s. “Playing games” for the purpose of cooperative play and human connection was the New Games’ platform. I translate the idea of ‘Play’ for our teambuilding conversation as being together, learning about each other – connecting, and tackling challenging tasks so we can learn and grow. We don’t want to play so hard, physically and psychologically that we hurt ourselves or others.

The behaviors we want to encourage and remember about having fun together, while learning, will be included in a Full Value Agreement, or other ‘group norming’ process. (The original Full Value Contract process was introduced in, Islands of Healing: A Guide to Adventure Based Counseling, by Schoel, Prouty, and Radcliffe, 1988).

As educators, our safety conscious behavior here is to provide time during a program for you and your group to create the norms agreement and continuously manage it. You will guide the process, inviting participants to discuss and agree to how they want to be together – what will they do and say to make their experience meaningful.

Personally, at the onset of a program, I facilitate a norms agreement discussion that produces a few behaviors the group members will agree to. In my experience, the physical safety types of behaviors are easiest to develop at first. We write these down. With agreements in hand, we do some activities to give the group some time together and then revisit the initial agreements to see how they did. During these ‘check-ins’ we can change, add or subtract from our agreements. Over time, groups tend to add psychological safety related behaviors. This participant-centered process contributes to the investment of the group and their willingness to participate in the experience. This involvement also influences the overall psychological safety of the group. When participants are involved in creating the ‘rules’ (as they see it), they know they have some of the power to change them. 
 
“When a game gets too rough, you can stop it and either change to another game or change the rules to make it safer…make only one change at a time or it can be confusing.”

The safety conscious behavior of stopping an activity is going to be very subjective on the team builders part. This choice is refined through experience. It’s easy for me to see participants running too fast during an activity, increasing the likelihood of collisions. I’ll call a “Freeze” right away. We can discuss the situation and agree to slow down, or we can add the rule of ‘heel-toe’ walking to slow the pace.

In other cases, it might not be the speed of the participants, but the interactions that might be unsafe. For example, the way the participants are verbally communicating with each other. Here’s what I’ve learned to listen for when it comes to the idea of breakthrough or breakdown (letting the activity play on, or stopping it): When participants start verbally attacking each other, and not the problem, there is a breakdown, and I stop the activity. Otherwise, heated discussions about a task are not bad, passion drives action. Respectful disagreements are good to understand and practice within a supportive facilitated environment.

Another option, as noted, is to change the rules to mitigate a safety concern (one change at a time). La Fevre states: “Asking the group how to change the game to keep it [safer] gives the group ownership of the game.”And I would add, helps them remember the change. If they made the rule, there’s a better chance they will follow it.

I like it when my participants can recognize how to change an activity to make it more playable for everyone. They learn to see and understand how change can be a good thing. Providing this option to change a rule is yet another behavior that contributes to psychological safety. Participants may be more willing to stay engaged with the group during challenging things if they continue to see they have some power to change things.
 
“When it looks as if a player is hurt, move the group away and make sure someone looks after the person…if the person is truly hurt…see to it that [they] get the necessary help.”
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When preparing for a teambuilding program, do you include an EAP – an Emergency Action Plan? This plan contains the behaviors that need to take place if someone gets hurt. Including you. These plans are easier to make when additional staff are on site, like at a camp for example. But what about the teambuilding programs that are held in hotel conference rooms or conference center? Who will the facilitator call for assistance? Having and sharing this information with your group is a safety conscious behavior.

I like to share the EAP with my groups. I know team building educators that don’t like to share this information because of the potential anxiety it can (could) cause. But think of this: schools practice fire drills so the students are ready. I don’t ever remember being afraid of school fires because I practice the drill. So why not prepare participants for a possible situation where help is needed. For me, sharing the plan is all about physical and psychological safety. It can provide some peace of mind when participants know they will be taken care of if something happens. It’s as easy as an index card with the name and the number to call (and what phone will be used), or who to call for when using a walkie talkie. Sharing the plan with the group also prepares the group to get help if you need it.

I also want to note that when I'm working solo, my plan includes moving my group a short distance away from an injured participants (so I can keep an eye on them) and asking them to sit quietly for a moment while I check in with the person. In most cases, as La Favre points out in his book, the injured person just might need to catch their breath before rejoining the group. In other cases, I will stay with the person until help arrives to be with them. Participants see the facilitator’s behavior and note the care taken. Then I’m sure to take a few moments to check in with my group to find out how they are doing and determine when they are ready to get back to the program if it's appropriate to do so.
 
I have yet to meet a team builder who doesn’t want to create a safe learning environment for their groups. Being conscious of the physical safety issues common to the experiences we provide, and practicing the behaviors needed, will contribute to this goal.

In Part 2 of, The Safety Conscious Team Builder, we’ll look at the additional behaviors La Fevre offers related to psychological safety.
 
We would love to hear from you. Add one behavior to the Comments that supports safety conscious teambuilding.

All the best, 

Chris Cavert, Ed.D. 

Resource: If you're up for a little fun scavenger hunt, dive into the (retro HTML) The New Games Foundation site; read about its history and discover lots of fun resources as well. For example, here are some GAMES you might be interested in. 

AI Disclosure: The header image is AI generated. Text content is human generated.

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