Why Academic Team Building Is Vital For Tomorrow's Leaders

A story about how an Odyssey Teams philanthropic team building program enhanced a top-tier MBA program. Twenty years later the program is still reverberating through the community.

Why Academic Team Building Is Vital

Philanthropic team building isn’t just for professionals once they enter the workforce. Intentional learning through group activities at graduate level programs can elevate the entire program by creating professionals who see the larger picture and understand how small actions can have profound impacts on communities.

In 1995, a business school brought Odyssey Teams’ Life Cycles to their students because the school wanted to teach leadership in a way that would have a profound impact. We’ll call the business school ‘WU’ as they are still using this Odyssey Teams program in their curriculum and want to keep elements of it a surprise for their current students.

The Impact On The Students

Odyssey Teams’ Life Cycles is a day-long workshop that shows students how their work and actions affects others in a way that creates a permanent cultural change in a future leader.

For the past 10 years, WU has been jumpstarting their business school orientation with Life Cycles to create the collegial environment that demands collaboration, instead of competition, from their students.

The Impact On The Community

At the end of every Life Cycles program, a representative on behalf of children who have just received brand-new bikes speaks to the students who have just built the bikes. At WU’s 2019 Life Cycles orientation, the youth organization representative was a bike recipient from the same orientation at the same university, ten years ago. His name is Kevin.

Kevin is the son of immigrant parents and didn’t have a lot of money growing up. “My mom reminds me of the only time I had ever asked for a toy, which was a Scooby-Doo plush doll, and it breaks her heart to this day as she couldn’t afford the only gift I had ever asked for. I also remember always passing by the bikes at Walmart and knowing I couldn’t have one because of our financial situation,” Kevin explained.

Kevin still remembers being a Boys & Girls’ Club kid at WU’s orientation and being shocked when he saw the brand new bikes roll into the room. He promised himself to never stop riding the bike because he was so grateful to the people provided it.

The gift of the bike from the 2009 business class, has never left Kevin. That experience is also part of the reason why he now serves as a staff member at that Boy’s and Girl’s Club.

The Legacy Created

One WU dean said that seeing Kevin and hearing his message of vulnerability and the importance of giving back was incredibly poignant. He shared with the future graduating class that this program and their efforts shaped his path in a big way. The energy spent during the Life Cycles program can expose a child to a whole new realm of life possibilities.

With Odyssey Teams’ Life Cycles program, WU is communicating to their future business leaders, that there is always a person or another community behind every product and mathematical model.

By incorporating philanthropic team building into academic programs, students get inspired to think beyond themselves and become more fully-developed business leaders.

Contact Odyssey Teams to receive a complimentary consultation on bringing Life Cycles, or another philanthropic program offering, to your academic institution. You can also reach Odyssey Teams at 800-342-1650.

“Odyssey Teams left us with a common language in which our company can build upon to achieve greatness.”

Pete Brunner, BCSI

“Thank you very much for your help in making my meeting so successful and connecting the dots to all of my key messages in such a meaningful way.”

Tracy Tannenbaum, Heritage Homes

“Much to our delight, our participants had a terrific experience with the Helping Hands activity… and spent the remainder of the conference talking about it! The program that Odyssey Teams has developed is by far the most memorable, fulfilling, and moving “teambuilding” experience we have participated in.”

Brandy L Szever, Vanguard

“Thank you and your team for two great days of training. I couldn’t be more pleased with the training team you assembled, the content and how the material was received by the participants. You listened to our challenges and geared a program that got right to heart of some of our key management/organizational development issues. It was amazing to sit back and watch the light bulbs go on for our managers. I look forward to them taking the learnings back to the work place and applying them.”

Christine Stout, Premier Retail Network

“So many employees have approached to say how moved they were by by the bike build. It was such a positive lesson on working together and asking for help. The afternoon left a mark on everyone who participated in such a positive way.”

Cindy Silva, Ariat International Inc.

“Thank you for putting together and facilitating a fabulous collaboration exercise in Orlando. We’ve done a lot of different team-building activities and other types of exercises through the years, but this one was simply extraordinary. I have lost count of how many participants have grabbed me or emailed me to tell me how impactful it was to them on a professional and personal level. I was showing my kids last night the pictures we took on our iPhones, and they were amazed.”

Elana McFann, United Healthcare

“Odyssey Teams touched our team members, and our team members are taking that feeling and making positive action.”

Gretchen Chismar, Honeywell

“We really had an opportunity to know each other better and to have some fun together in a way that increases our commitment to work together effectively. But the biggest payoff of all was the combined feeling of having accomplished something with such an impact to people around the world.”

Jean E. Deering, Wells Fargo

“Odyssey Teams touched 970 people who are at an impressionable point in their lives. I’m confident that the wisdom and emotion Odyssey shared will positively impact their entire careers.”

Jenna Ballestrino, Microsoft Academy for College Hires (MACH)

“Our team unanimously voted the 3 hours with Odyssey Teams was the most beneficial part of our entire meeting.”

Julie C., BCD Meeting & Incentives

“The Helping Hands event structure + the personal connection to the prosthetic hands have left a lasting impression on our team. Many people still reference the event 90 days later.”

Megan A. Westman, GE Lighting

“The mosaic exercise is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done in Corporate America! What a beautiful outcome from such a simple but effective exercise.”

Jen Matlock, AbbVie

“Mission accomplished! The Odyssey Teams session exceeded every expectation I had. It created a unity with our teams and connected people in meaningful and thought-provoking inner-soul searching ways.”

Michelle Stokes, Merck

“Odyssey Teams wowed everyone. Feedback from executives to new team members has been phenomenal and the lessons learned will be lasting.”

Ralph S. Henderson, AMN Healthcare

“We found that working together for a worthwhile cause gave us perspective on new ways to use our talents to use for the good of others while learning important lessons about our own capabilities. Thank you, Odyssey Teams.”

Tim Somers, Pernod Ricard USA

“In my opinion, Odyssey Teams’ keynote and facilitation set the foundation and tone for an impactful two-day, staff retreat—I’m not sure we would have gotten to that level without Odyssey Teams kicking it off!”

Megan Moser, University of Pennsylvania

“Odyssey Teams provided the perfect foundation and jumping-off point for what our meeting was designed to accomplish. Helping Hands became the metaphor for how our team aspires to work together.”

Julie Person, Shire

“We’ve sung Odyssey Teams’ praises to everyone we know. Odyssey Teams has the unique ability to impact a group at the core with the right amount of humor.”

My-An Le, Kaiser Permanente Great Los Angeles

“Since the program, I have caught myself being myself and working on being a better person, husband, father, co-worker and friend. Perspective is everything…”

Dan Link, SDCDA

“Having experienced team building events all over the world, I must admit that nothing will top the experience we had with Odyssey Teams. Building unity, teamwork, collaboration – seeing real people, extending beyond themselves to help others, has been priceless.”

Kristen Muckleroy, Fiberlink Communications