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Show a) FIs Huge 2nd Anniversary Issue - November 1996 GETTING YOUR BEARINGS IN A CRAZY WORLD: ORIENTEERING Without overtly insulting your intelligence, let me tell you a little about the compass. The exact year is a mystery to compass historians, but sometime before the 11th century AD mariners began floating a piece of magnetic rock or iron in a small bowl of water, which they discovered would point to Magnetic North. This funky device gave them a reliable and a compass. The goal is to complete a prescribed course, or map out a new course matching prescribed parameters, within a specified time ‘period. Orienteering racing began in 1918 in Sweden as an attempt attract young men to competitive track racing. The sport spread throughout the world after W.W.IIL: currently there are Orienteering fed- bearings regardless of the direction of erations their travel, the wind, the visibility, or compete in an annual Championships. Probably any other factor previously used for to in-dozens of countries, who Using outdoor environments and physical challenges in the corporate world is not a new phenomenon. described the saiiCHOtS of their eighty-hour work weeks with terms _ like “roadkill,” “body count,” and “casualties.” I’m still a novice at organizational work but this smacked Many of poor teamwork to me. ever, resulted1 in serious fun, as well. as serious learning. companies now regularly attend Outward Bound ropes courses. Skiing and golf seminars are becoming: commonplace. Some consulting firms, our own included, use practices | - from martial arts such as Aikido to World - teach companies about personal masevery © tery, balance, and team building. navigation. The earth’s magnetic field armed forces training program in the Most of the existing programs, how- was a more reliable constant than even the North Star. Eventually scientists divided this device into the four world includes some form of orienteering and survival training, right ever, use the experiences as a sort of _down to those paramilitary organiza- recess, a vacation or weekend experience that participants enjoy but then Cardinal points (N, S, E, W), then the © tions known as the Boy Intercardinal Scouts of America. stuck in the same habitual ruts. I recently experienced a revolutionary milieu for orienteering: the exposed SW), points, (NE, SE, then ultimately developed NW, the 360 degrees of the circle that the modern compass uses today. and Girl return to work Monday morning Our orienteering challenge the problematic teamwork corporate world. In my other life I and relationship norms these financial There “are- hemisphericalywork for an organizational consulting | thoroughbreds experienced working domed compasses, flat-domed com- ~ firm which uses’ unconventional,” “together. On a questionnaire they passes, hand-bearing compasses. “out-of-the-box” methods to teach filled out to describe recent work There are also some sexier versions, companies important eperaine norms dynamics, the participants had such as the Binnacle- based, the such as trust, interdePelorus ey: and. > thependence, teamSilva(Ooooh!). work, and_ shared Fraught with historical sigvision. Last week we nificance, the compass is sadly going worked with a team — the way of the Dodo in terms of mass of financial forecastappeal. Modern technology has elimers from one of the inated the need to learn its uses. Road “big three” automomaps and signage, trail maps and bile manufacturers ' markers, nautical charts, radar, and LORAN have allowed us to find our way anywhere on the planet, except of course in Boston. The new Global Positioning System satellite devices can pinpoint you within several feet anywhere on the globe, and you can fit a. GPS ima ‘Shirt; pocket. _ Unfortunately this new technology likens the compass to your appendix or your tonsils: you can remove it and live without it, but you were meant to have it in the first place, and it can be quite useful. I’m not only talking about winning that Pathfinder badge in the Cub Scouts or becoming an ace at Easter Egg hunts. For instance, the ‘sport of orienteering is based almost ‘exclusively on expertise with a compass, and it is an exciting and illuminating practice that everyone should try. | | Orienteering pits individuals or teams against unknown terrain, forcing them to navigate using a map who are faced with the enormous chal- lenge of redesigning the company’s triedand-true forecasting system by January 1, 1997. Informed their work of issues ahead of time, we designed an orienteering course to mirror the teamwork dilemmas they experience every day. Normally a_ threeday seminar with twenty-odd financial wizards would. be about as much fun as drinking nonalcoholic beer while fishing without a- hook. ine orienteering challenge we put them through, how- Page 13 Once armed with compasses, maps, ropes (for measuring distance), whistles, and our cryptic directions, the team initially mimicked the fragmented teamwork it habitually practiced at work. Among the majority of couch potatoes in this group were two ex-marine ringers who had often relied on compasses to stay alive in Viet Nam. They immediately became the team leaders, and with minimal planning flogged their “grunts” into frenzied action. The ringers navigated quickly and efficiently, finding clue after clue until discovering a trap we had placed. informing them that the compass bearers had been struck by lightning and were now either blind or paralyzed. This was no small setback, as the marines had neglected to | |