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Local Company Gives Business Training a Breath of Fresh Air
By Andrea Di Salvo
(Reprinted with permission of AVA Magazine.)

Picture yourself kayaking through the stillness of the Back Bay waters. You’re in the kayak with a coworker you’ve never talked to before today, and the two of you are paddling in perfect tandem. A river otter swims up next to your kayak. In the distance you see a bald eagle circle over the water.

Later, on shore, you walk blindfolded as that same coworker guides you wordlessly over the rough terrain of a hiking trail. Your trust is stretched to the max as you rely on subtle gestures to show you the way, but, as you’ve already learned today, you’re able to rely on your coworker to keep you safe. Most importantly, you know that trust will last.

What kind of experience produces that kind of trust and cooperation? The kind offered by EnCompass Adventure Programs. EnCompass offers everything the name implies—training programs that use adventure to instill work and life skills.

One of the company’s specialties is doing business adventures with companies who are looking for more effective methods to train employees. Those methods can include anything from climbing to kayaking to urban orienteering, and can take anywhere from a half a day to a week or more.

According to Bob Callahan, one of the owners of EnCompass, doing a business adventure is a unique and effective way to strengthen work teams and learn valuable workplace skills.

“A business adventure motivates and enables; it helps employees deal with stress, learn more about each other, build communication, strengthen the team and create an atmosphere of camaraderie through challenge and new skills and new talents,” says Bob Callahan. “We help companies find ways to embrace those activities and instill those skills and talents back at work.”

EnCompass’s owners, Bob and Shawn Callahan, are used to working with businesses to achieve a variety of goals, including communication skills, trust and leadership. An important part of their work is discovering a company’s specific expectations so they can tailor an experience that’s a good fit. Every program starts with need assessment and goal setting, and contains progress evaluations along the way.

“Adventure initiative gets you closer to a potential problem of trust, communication or leadership, but in a way that can be examined and looked at in a fun, safe environment. Just name a problem that shows up in business culture, and I can show you an answer,” challenges Bob.

Encompass’s unassuming office on Drakesmile road in Virginia Beach doesn’t radiate adventure. Nor do Bob and Shawn look like people who have paddled through the Everglades or climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. But for this father-and-son team, living on the edge of adventure comes second nature. That’s why they’re now using adventure programs to stretch the boundaries of corporate training and team building. But why – and how – do you use outdoor adventure for training?

 “Our business uses a visual, exciting, unique backdrop, being an activity that’s not typical of training,” says Bob Callahan. “It’s rare you find this in a conference room talking didactics over communication.”

The Callahans don’t only talk the talk. Bob and Shawn each have their own impressive list of credits, and both are accomplished athletes. Bob explains that they continue to push themselves because they want to “lead from the front.”

“I’m never going to ask you to do something I can’t do,” he says. “Leading from the front and pushing people and being trusted requires that you’ve been there and that you’re willing to go there again.”

Despite their accomplishments, though, the Callahans don’t expect the same level of endurance from their clients. They say many first-timers approach their programs with trepidation, expecting it to be like military basic training, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“This isn’t boot camp,” says the Marine veteran. “We take people where we find them. We’re careful not to push people in directions they’re not ready to go. I don’t expect you to be a marathoner; I don’t expect you to be an Ironman. I expect you to have fun, be safe, and push yourself as best you can. When we get there, we want it to be your reward, your success.”

At the same time, Bob Callahan says people don’t give themselves enough credit.

“People set their physical and psychological limits so low that it protects them from failure,” he says. “We get a chance to push that a little bit while they’re having fun and they’re safe, and they can see they’re capable of more than they thought.”

Bob’s interest in Adventure Based Counseling (ABC) began when he became a juvenile probation officer in Virginia Beach. It was during his 12 years as a probation officer that he started using ABC programs to help youth. He and a friend, Tim Robinette, founded Adventure Alternatives to help troubled and endangered youth. Soon, however, the business expanded to include corporate trainings.

“Some workplace struggles are similar to the struggles families have; they’re just called by a different name. People started seeing these changes in their kids and their families, and they wanted those changes for their workplace,” says Bob.

Mike Moore, who now works as a foster care case manager, worked with Bob in the juvenile court system. Moore also saw the possibilities for corporate training. “It’s so stressful for people in the private sector,” Moore explains. “You have a tendency to work against each other to meet your goals, and [adventure based programs] open insights to being able to work better together in the corporate world and show people that when the company does well, everyone does well.”

Jerry Teplitz has taken several business groups to EnCompass, including the Young Presidents’ Organization and a national top management team. The trainer and consultant says he always knew the potential was there to help corporations.

“It’s outside their known realm. It puts people outside their comfort zone in a safe way so they can learn and grow and build team cohesiveness. I wish I had more clients willing to try it,” he says.

When Robinette retired, Bob invited his son, Shawn, to partner with him in the business. They reincorporated the business as EnCompass Adventure Programs, the name it has today. The pair continued to do both human services and business adventures.

Pete Hangen, who works for the City of Virginia Beach, says he helped the Callahans with several corporate trips. Hangen relates the story of working with a group from the textile industry, a group with a poor record of wearing their safety glasses.

“We went into a cave and turned off the lights for five minutes,” Hangen recalls. “They got to experience what it was like to be blind.” According to Hangen, the group had a better safety record after the experience. “Experiential learning is such a powerful tool,” he concludes.

According to Shawn and Bob, ABC builds teams much better than traditional office parties and seminars.

“We can work together, and I can despise you,” Bob explains. “If we went to the traditional ‘drunken office party,’ I’d tell you so to your face after a couple beers. I might not know what a great person you really are. Helping people see the best in each other is the other reason this works.”

The Callahans also related the story of one company who did their Metr-O program. They took the group to Norfolk, divided them into groups, and gave each group a map and compass. Each group had to use its map and compass to find as many locations as possible in Norfolk and Portsmouth – and they only had three hours. There were also team-building exercises along the way.

“It turned into the Amazing Race for these people!” Bob exclaims. “They were laughing and smiling… Once when two groups crossed paths, one guy tried to bribe the ferry captain to pull off and leave the other team behind!”

One of EnCompass’s other specialties is structuring programs for stress management. In fact, they help corporations by using some of the same stress management methods used to help public safety workers deal with trauma.

“People are so busy working together that they don’t always see the stress in each other. There are some experiential things you can do to deal with stress and learn more about it,” explains Bob. “People who are stressed out aren’t very productive. They waste time, they get lethargic, they call in sick all the time. Learning to recognize and deal with stress is helpful. If your life’s better, you’ll be a better worker and a better person. You can watch their faces change. It’s more than a vent; it reaches down inside you and grabs you.”

Today, the Callahans continue to do consulting all over the region, even nationally. “We help train staff so they can be better at what they do,” says Bob. Despite their past and present successes, though, the Callahans continue to strive for more excellence.

“We want to be better at adapting to and responding to clients, not just locally, but all over the country,” Bob says.

“This work is as exciting for me today as it was 20 years ago. There aren’t many things in life like that,” concludes Bob. “We love what we do, and we want to keep doing it.”