I'm 45ft up, with another 15ft still to go; now is not the best time to freeze rigid, but try telling that to my petrified, trembling body. I'm in North Yorkshire, a few miles outside Richmond. More specifically, I'm in the middle of an Army assault course, high above the ground, swaying in the wind, arms wrapped around a branchless tree. I'm perched on footholds barely an inch or two deep and they are the only thing holding me up. To put it mildly, I'm scared. But this is no place for shy or retiring types. Below me, former Royal Marine 'Skull' (as he is known to his pals) is bellowing at me, trying to get me to push on higher to a 'safety' position - a narrow plank of wood where I'll be met by another ex-soldier and harnessed to a zip slide. I muster all my courage and will my buckling legs to move a few more feet. I just about manage it. I'm shaken, giddy with vertigo but relieved I've made it. At the same time, though, a horrid thought goes through my mind. This is only the 'practice run'. I'll have to do it all again soon, and this time it will be against the clock.
The Krypton Factor
If this sounds more like something out of ITV1's Krypton Factor series, than your average day out on a team-bonding course, that's because it is precisely that.
The aforementioned trees grow on fields owned by events company Adrenalin, the team-building and motivation specialist that designed and now runs the assault course component on the just-finished Krypton Factor TV series. Everything I do today is exactly what Krypton Factor contestants have gone through in the past few weeks. In fact, the small group of brave journalists of which I am part are the very first members of the public to be allowed to complete the course. Soon it will be open to corporates keen to send their management teams. So will this unusual engagement-boosting event (which can take between five and 15 minutes to compete), really cut the mustard?
Those who find it difficult to understand the benefit of outdoor events will not have sampled anything like this. There's no problem-solving, no Lego-building - and definitely no building bridges across rivers. It's good old-fashioned 'facing your demons'. It's all about grit and determination, conquering fear, breaking boundaries and achieving things you didn't feel you could. While most events of this nature try to foster co-operation, this is very much a personal battle. Participants actually compete against each other. It's about winning, destroying your opposition and yet, strangely enough, because everyone is in it together, you find yourself wanting others to succeed too.
The all in it together feeling
Safely down from my tree, I feel exhilarated, and slightly chuffed that (a) I did it, and (b), far from being an embarrassment, my fellow journalists were whooping and saluting my efforts. The purpose of the trial run is to familiarise us with each of the assault course's stations - of which there are about 12 to 15. They involve everything from jumping waist-deep into cold, muddy water, leaping over barriers, rolling under them, hauling yourself up nine-foot walls, balancing across slippery wet beams, swinging on ropes, and scrambling under nets and tunnels.
Right now I confess I'm feeling a little caught up in the moment, I'm feeling highly engaged. Fear seems to be the source of the buzz. I'm happy my company want me to cover this story. In fact I couldn't be happier (or more scared).
Among the first companies that will be sending their teams on the course is Sage - which invited me here today. It was Sage that bought the rights to the Krypton Factor format, and it's thanks to it that the iconic 1980s programme came back on the small screen. Part and parcel of owning the show is permission to use the assault course.
MD Paul Stobart says: "We have virtually unlimited access to it. We plan not just to send our own management and other employees on it, but staff from our business partners too." A 'Business Brain' pod has already toured the country so Sage staff can try out the mental agility games for themselves. Stobart say sponsorship of the TV show has had "a huge galvanising impact. It's great to see them link it to what makes success in business," he says.
Just whether this has any long-term impact on my own engagement is a justified question. My fellow journalists are people I met for the first time today and, had these been colleagues, I think my feelings would have been stronger still than the ones I already felt I was developing for my current comrades. The camaraderie was infectious, even among near strangers. Just how powerful could this be among people who already know each other? As I swung from trees, became smothered in mud, and heaved my exhausted body around this gruelling course, the noise of their support was never out of earshot. My new-found colleagues were buzzing; they wanted to know which bits were worse than others. For my part, I wanted them to beat my time, and I wanted to give them the benefit of my experience.
There's a lot of waffle talked about team-bonding courses, with many stretched parallels between the world of work and problem-solving in the great outdoors. The cynicism is understandable; but if engagement really is about going the extra mile, then physically having to go the extra mile around a course that terrifies you, but forces you to find new inner strength is a much better use of time. I feel I can take on the world. Ever so briefly, I touched fear, but turned it into positivity that can never be taken away.
