Building Compatible Groups Workshop - Mountaineers Seattle Program Center

6:30-8:30pm in Goodman B

When we go out on a trip, we hope that the people who join us will become a team that works together toward common goals. We aspire to be part of a team built on a foundation of trust and mutual support. This is even more true when the trips are long, hard, more remote, less certain, or - in any way - call for the members to be more interdependent.  

You may have had a trip where the group did not come together as a team. People had different ideas, wanted different things, did not agree, and did not wish to help others. These make for disappointing experiences, especially when we have invested considerable time and money to get there.  We can do better.

As leaders, bringing together a group that has the potential to form into a cooperating, trusting team starts with clearly articulating your goals for the trip, your expectations of members, and your style in doing a trip. Expressing this clearly gives potential members a clear understanding of your intention, and you can then use this framework as a tool to screen and bring members into alignment. Finally, any conflict during the trip may be easier to discuss and resolve because all members started with a common understanding of everyone’s goals, expectations, and style.

The greater clarity with which you are able to describe your trip, the more likely you will get what you want out of it. With clarity and some confidence in our ability to screen people, we can broadcast our trip plans to a wider audience and meet more people who want to do the same trips that we do.

In this evening  workshop, participants will learn how to frame their aspirations for a trip as goals, expectations, and style. We will write them out and discuss how to express the various features of a trip that are important to you. Time permitting, we may practice using our goals, expectations, and style as the basis for screening potential participants.

I suggest everyone bring the idea of a trip, real or imaginary, that you can use as practice.

This workshop will be of most use to leaders planning “bigger” trips, but everyone who wants to go on trips where there are shared goals and a sense of teamwork and trust will benefit.