Specialist in
focused outdoor management and team development,
particularly for small and medium-sized businesses and teams in the
public and independent sectors.
Paul Cousins
Outdoor Management and Team Development
I am a psychologist specialising in focused team and
management development using outdoor activities as the medium to
enhance team dynamics. My service is particularly relevant to small and
medium-sized businesses and teams in the public and independent
sectors. To maintain professional balance I continue my clinical
practice, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. For further info
on my clinical work click on Psycholegal
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My management and team development programmes are
designed to meet the following objectives:
- Effective change for team members
- Development of team leaders or managers
- Improvement in organisational performance
- Team building
There is a core structure to each programme, but the programme is not
overly prescriptive. I have purposefully restricted the range of
outdoor activities to ensure that the focus remains on team dynamics
and objectives, rather than offer a cluttered programme of events which
lacks coherence. My work is in the mountains of western Lake District,
including Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England - perhaps symbolic
for teams wishing the reach the pinnacle in success! I offer two
programmes. The standard programme is based on two days group
experience in the mountains, using mountainwalking as the primary
medium to:
- Analyse individual leadership skills
- Become more self-aware
- Build self-confidence
- Practise leading a team
- Understand the effect of management or leadership
style on motivation
- Identify key areas for development
- Enhance communication skills to manage effectively
The advanced programme includes wild camping in the
mountains, which typically extends the programme to four full days.
Programme detail is set only after consultation with
you. Thus, the pre-programme meeting and participant objectives form an
important part of the programme design. Similarly, the review process
forms an inherent part of the programme, evaluation taking place either
in the workplace or by questionnaire returns after an agreed interval.
Either programme can be integrated into a longer
in-house training event, and Human Resource [HR] departments may wish
to involve their trainers in the programme or to attend the
end-programme review, depending on organisational structure and
development strategy.
And the rationale for using outdoor activity? Lack of
familiarity for most people with mountain terrain and the desire to
achieve a team objective encourages participants to look to one another
for support. The use of outdoor tasks can encourage team members to
work together more effectively, promote teamwork, become more empathic
towards each other, more consultative and open. Participants increase
their awareness of each other's strengths and skills, and the outcomes
are then reflected in team practice upon return to the workplace. It is
also based on the understanding that people learn more effectively when
involved in the process themselves, and that knowledge is consolidated
more effectively when experienced rather than taught.
Outdoor management or team development can be a powerful
development tool when matched to the needs of an organisation, and in
this respect my programme is relevant for teams wishing to:
- manage transition
- address motivation
- increase innovation
- challenge or modify existing leadership styles
- enhance team relationships
- manage crisis, or
- reward themselves for success
Conversely, the programme would not be relevant for teams wishing to
develop specific 'concrete' skills, which typically improve with
practice, for specific goal setting or short-term work planning.

Lingmell from Scafell Pike. Photo by Walking
Britain
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