Team Building Programs For MBA Students I Odyssey Teams

By: Kim Clary, Director Of Client Success

It’s a rare and unique blessing in this life to not only enjoy your craft but to also enjoy your colleagues—and even your clients!

Joe Stephens, Assistant Dean & Director, The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, is not just a client but a dear friend. Building a relationship with Joe and his family has been full of joy. Over dinners, country two-stepping, and the Mister Rogers movie, my colleagues and I have had the privilege of forging wonderful relationships with Joe, his family, and his tremendous colleagues (Rebecca Gutierrez, Robert Alanis, Ariel Brown, Andrea Kehoe, Misael Mendoza-Valdez, Teresa Phillips, and Stephen Limberg).

Odyssey Teams has partnered with Joe over the past decade at University of Missouri and UT Austin to bring powerful philanthropic team building programs for his MBA students. Joe has been a part of the Odyssey Teams family well before I joined the gang. His belief in our work has led to dozens of transformational corporate team building programs for his MBA students.

This August, we partnered with Joe to provide three Helping Hands programs and one Life Cycles program – we were in Austin a lot! Joe eagerly shares the Odyssey Teams goodness with his students and at our insistence, he invited wife and two daughters to attend a Helping Hands session right alongside the students.

I was not surprised to discover that his family is just as amazing as he is. I had the privilege of partnering with his eldest daughter Caroline on an exercise about why it was important to the students to finish strong. Joe asked me to change Caroline’s question to, “Why does she want to learn Chinese?” I was so impressed by her answers. She wants to learn Chinese so that she can become an international business consultant, command a healthy salary, enjoy going to work every day, raise an amazing family, and impact the world.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t spoken to very many eighth graders with this kind of global mindset. Caroline is growing up in a powerful culture of learning. Watching Associate Dean at Texas McCombs, Steve Limberg, interact with Joe and his family during The Helping Hands program made me a little bit jealous of the immersion into the pool of brilliant minds that Caroline and her sister Cate are receiving at such a young age.

Every single colleague of Joe’s absolutely loves him and his family. We are so grateful for “frients” (friend/clients – I just made up a word : ) ) like Joe.

If you’d like more information on team building programs for MBA students or other student groups, please email me at kim@odysseyteams.com

“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

Team Building Programs For MBA Students

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WHY THE BEST COMPANIES HIRE ODYSSEY TEAMS

There are many reasons why 80% of our business is repeat or referred clients. Companies have been relying on us to power and inspire their workforce for decades.