Come on in the water’s lovely! In a steep mountain river in North Wales, a participant realises he may not have done his wetsuit all the way up.

Flying Leap. 50 feet in the air, it takes courage and commitment to jump from the top of a telegraph pole.

Going Dotty. Staff at a primary school attempt to solve the infamous Dot Puzzle which has provided plenty of frustration for Totem clients this year.

Squeeze. A participant smiles after wiggling his way through a narrow gap in the rocks with the descriptive name of “The Nutcracker”.

A good plan is the key. Many participant learn that having a good, flexible plan is the key to succeeding at complex tasks. This map contains annotations for the next 36 hours of activity.

Between a rock and a hard place. Using natural features to provide problems with real boundaries to solve. In this case something as simple as getting the whole team into a fissure requires teamwork, planning and a sense of adventure.

Home from home. A happy group make themselves at home in a remote mountain hut.

Power Shower. Apprentices brave the cold to experience “the most powerful shower in Wales”.

Helping Hand. One participant helps another up a slippery step in the Old Dungeon Ghyll in the Lake District.

The World’s Largest Shopping List. Planning food for the rest of the group is a big responsibility that requires teamwork, communication, resource management and marker pens.

A long way down. The hundred foot abseil into an abandoned slate quarry is a highlight for anyone who plucks up the courage to go over the edge.

Duck and Dive. Those that choose to tackle “The Sump”, a gap between two boulders filled with fast flowing water, describe it as “scary but a massive sense of achievement afterwards”.

Maneuvers in the Dark. Removing the sense of sight means that this participant must trust his colleagues to guide him safely through a woodland.

Into the Wild. A group make their way into a remote valley to complete tasks before returning to base camp the next day.

Build your own boat. Given barrels, planks and ropes, this group have built their own craft, complete with crane to raise a 200kg treasure from the bottom of the lake.

Concentration. Making her way along a rope bridge, this participant transfers her precious cargo to her teeth so she can use both hands.

Stretcher Carry. As part of a simulated rescue, a group carries one of their members along a forest track. Instant feedback on the success of the teamwork is provided by the ‘casualty’ , often at some volume!

Musical Challenge. One of our technicians plays the bagpipes and so an impromptu jam and lesson sprung up. This participant is discovering it is a lot harder than it looks.

Journey into the fog. A team row out of the fog on a misty day on Windermere. They covered the full length of the lake, over 17km, in just under three and a half hours.

It’s not always outdoors. Participants describe themselves through coats of arms containing only pictures, no words allowed.

Splashdown! An inelegant but effective shallow water entry during a canyon journey.

The Spider’s Web. A Development Guide briefs the team on their next challenge, escaping through the spider’s web without being caught.

Up and Over. With some support from her team, this participant makes her way over the high bar.

Waterfall Walk. A participant steadies herself as she crosses a waterfall in the Afon Ddu in North Wales.

Technician Mischief. One of our staff team plays with a participant during a blindfold walk.

Water-borne Journey. After building their catamaran, these participants are exploring the shores of Llyn Padarn, just below Snowdon, looking for “encryption devices”.

Rations. Active people are hungry people. Just a tiny section of the amount of food needed for a 6 day course.

Row your boat. It is difficult to think of an activity that illustrates the need for teamwork better then rowing, in this case out on Windermere in the Lake District.

Innovative Reviewing and Reflection. As well as unique and exciting activities, we are constantly looking for new and interesting ways to draw learning from them. This technique allowed the group to re-walk a journey made the day before, past key locations and to describe the emotions invoked.

Nearly at the top. With one more move until he makes it, one participant is too focused on the task in hand to enjoy the view of Snowdon in the background.

Advice for Apprentices, from Apprentices. Asked to leave advice for the next group of apprentices through a similar course, this team produced an excellent list of guidance that could equally well apply to the workplace.

More than eighty students signed up for the day and spent it building contraptions that Heath Robinson would be proud of. Machines that sorted coins, threw table tennis balls and climbed ropes, along with a few puzzles, codes and a research paper. There were some extremely inventive solutions to some of the challenges but ultimately victory went to the team that was organised, managed their resources, knew when to give up on a project, used the strengths of team members and kept track of time. These are all the behaviours that major employers are looking for today.

It was such a success that the University in-house magazine ran an article on it and asked for our top tips for students who have to attend assessment centres. Here is our advice for those who find themselves applying for a job where a centre is part of the process.

Five Top Tips for Assessment Centres

• 1. Get involved. You don’t have to be the leader of the group, or even the loudest, but we are assessing your contribution, if you don’t contribute, we don’t have anything to assess.
• 2. It’s not about whether you win or lose it’s how you play the game. Employers don’t care whether you can build a newspaper tower, solve puzzles or guide a colleague blindfold around a course. What they are interested in is the process you go through to get to your result. They want to see you communicating with others, sharing your part of the team’s workload, contributing ideas to discussions and how you work out solutions that are not immediately obvious.

 

• 3. Look after yourself. Assessment centres can be long drawn out affairs, typically at least a day, sometimes as many as three. Make sure you eat and drink plenty all day, if you are hungry or dehydrated you won’t perform at your best. Get plenty of sleep the night before and, if you are there for more than one day, don’t be the last person in the bar!

 

• 4. You are always on assessment. Every interaction I have with you as an assessor makes an impact on me, that is from the minute you walk in until you leave. Be polite, help out where you can, don’t be rude about anyone when you think they are out of earshot. If you are willing to do so on assessment, my assumption is you’d do it in the workplace as well.

 

• 5. Don’t put others down. While you may all be competing for the same job, you won’t win points with the assessors by bad-mouthing or putting down other candidates. Almost all employers want team players, not lone-rangers and we are very adept at seeing through games like this. Give praise to others where it is due and it reflects well on your ability to function well in the modern work place.

We’ve been in North Wales all day, whittling sticks, chopping wood and building shelters as part of a stone soup bush craft session based at Boulder Adventures. Everybody has brought along ideas and we’ve shared them, improving practice and making all of us safer. Claire (above) seemed rather attached to her shelter and didn’t want to come out.

More Photos

We are pleased to confirm that we will be holding our 3rd Invitation Day on January 9, 2010 at the Link Centre in West Swindon.

The aim is to enable people aged 14-19 to come along and try their hand at a free indoor rock climbing session, and to find out about our residential course, “Fire Me Up!”. There will be an opportunity to sign up for the next course on February 2010.

This will also include a presentation about Inner Flame and a chance to hear stories and experiences from previous participants from our past courses.

Numbers are strictly limited, so please contact us as soon as possible. To secure a place, you need to register by calling us on [redacted], or email me at info@innerflame.org.uk.

Thank you!

Inner Flame are a great charity (as well as being one of our clients). Their aim is

Their  “Fire Me Up!” course is a challenging residential experience for people aged 14-18. It’s about achieving success by:

• Making positive choices
• Taking action towards personal goals
• Building skills and self-confidence

Having met some of the course participants, I can say that they have an extraordinary amount of success.

There is plenty of of information about the course at www.totemdevelopment.co.uk/anythingcouldhappen

In summary, it is an open outcome course with no fixed programme. We aim to draw together a diverse group of people, put them in beautiful surroundings, and provide challenging activities to create a powerful learning experience. It is aimed at people who are interested in their own personal development and who want to explore their own learning in an exciting and challenging environment.

Since we use Agile Programming, we can’t guarantee what you’ll be doing on the course but previously we have guided blindfolded partners; hunted foam animals scattered throughout the town; created art out of slate; abseiled and climbed; had round table debates; created codes and built a bridge across a lake.

We couple this with meaningful, engaging personal and group reflection and review to ensure that participants come away having learnt from everything they have done.

Some comments from previous participants:

“Thought provoking and loads of fun with plenty to take away to think about and hopefully apply!” -James

“A month of life packed into 48 hours!” -Eeva

“Thought-provoking; knackering but fun and challenging” -Billy

Mark also wrote a short piece about his time on the course, which you can read here.

The course fee includes all food and accommodation for the weekend, as well as the training, activities and any materials used. We will be based at the well equipped and friendly Bryn Du Mountain centre.

If you are interested in attending the course, please let us know which dates (11-13 or 18-20) you could attend and which one you prefer.

If you have any friends, colleagues or family who you think might be interested, please do not hesitate to forward this to them.

If you want to know more about this unusual course, please feel free to contact us.

The Four Hour Work Week

Tim Ferris

978-0091923723

Tim Ferriss has trouble defining what he does for a living. Depending on when you ask him he might answer: ‘I race motorcycles in Europe’, ‘I ski in the Andes’, ‘I scuba dive in Panama’, ‘I dance tango in Buenos Aires’. He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the ‘New Rich’, a fast-growing subculture that has abandoned the ‘deferred-life plan’ and instead mastered the new currencies – time and mobility – to create a new way of living. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing first class world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with no management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint.

Recommended by James

“Made me think about what I wanted to achieve from life aside from looking towards retirement”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Three Cups of Tea

Greg Mortenson

978-0141034263

In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants’ kindness, he promised to return and build a school. “Three Cups of Tea” is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome.

Recommended by Nick and Eeva

“Taught me not to accept the limitations and that with perseverance it is possible to achieve anything”

“A great, inspiring story”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Complete Prose

Woody Allen

978-0330328210

Complete Prose brings together Allen’s three outrageously funny collections, Without Feathers, Getting Even and Side Effects. A collection of 52 pieces of writing displaying Woody Allen’s own brand of humour.

Recommended by Billy

“A book that shows you that everyday life is not only ridiculous but funny.”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Quarantine

Greg Egan

978-0575081727

It’s late in the 21st century and bioengineering is now so common that people are able to modify their minds in any way they wish. Now, you can be whatever you want to be, and do whatever you want to do. One night, thirty three years ago, the stars went out. ‘The Bubble’  appeared in the sky, isolating the solar system from the rest of the universe. For thirty-three years, humanity has lived with the religious cults and terrorism which spawned in the wake of the darkness. We are now alone. Humanity has been cut off Quarantined.

Recommended by John

“Mind-bending ideas about the nature of identity”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Let My People Go Surfing

Yvon Chouinard

978-0143037835

Part memoir, part manifesto — legendary climber, businessman and environmentalist Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia, Inc. describes his life and his start in business as an itinerant climber selling pitons from the back of his car. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman offers a look at the guiding principles that Chouinard used to build Patagonia into a global business — a business that has an environmental mission and is a fun place to work.

Recommended by Sam

“This book made me realise that making a profit was a tiny part of running a business”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Effortless Mastery

Kenny Werner

978-1562240035

Effortless Mastery is a book for any musician who finds themselves having reached a plateau in their development. Werner, a masterful jazz pianist in his own right, uses his own life story and experiences to explore the barriers to creativity and mastery of music, and in the process reveals that “Mastery is available to everyone,” providing practical, detailed ways to move towards greater confidence and proficiency in any endeavour. While Werner is a musician, the concepts presented are for every profession or life-style where there is a need for free-flowing, effortless thinking.

Recommended By Mark

“I’ve taken stuff from it about mental processes and performance”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

McMafia

Misha Glenny

978-0099481256

For three years, Misha Glenny has been recording the stories of gun runners in Ukraine, money launderers in Dubai, drug syndicates in Canada, cyber criminals in Brazil, racketeers in Japan and many more. During his investigation of the dark side, he has spoken to countless gangsters, policemen and victims of organised crime while also exploring the ferocious consumer demand for drugs, trafficked women, illegal labour and arms across five continents. The journey begins with an appalling and inexplicable murder in England’s stockbroker belt and continues with stories that are often horrifying, sometimes inspiring, usually bizarre and occasionally funny. But together they build a breathtaking picture of the shadow economy that has grown so fast that it may now account for about 20% of the world’s GDP.

Recommended by Billy

“An interesting look at organised crime and how it crosses over with the legitimate world”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Who Runs this Place?

Anthony Sampson

978-0719565663

Anthony Sampson has spent forty years dissecting the power-structure, with unique access to people at the top, to produce his best-selling Anatomies of Britain. Now in this intensely topical book, he surveys a much more troubled scene with more anger and impatience. He looks at the whole panoply of power, from an embattled Number Ten to the murky intelligence spooks, from corporate boardrooms to banks and pension funds. Everywhere he talks to the people who really know their inside workings.

Recommended by Sam

“After reading this book, I found it a lot easier to look beyond the headlines and have a better grip of the stories that appear in the news”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

He did a fantastic job of describing his experiences, which we’ve presented below. There is also a PDF available for download if you want to print it out and give it to someone who would be interested.

ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN

PARTICIPANT PROFILE :

MARK MORLEY-FLETCHER

About Me:

I’m 30 years old and work for the Civil Service as an analyst; my background is originally in Theoretical Physics.  I live in London and I‘m a keen musician in my spare time, but I also spend a reasonable amount of time playing sport and other general outdoor activities.

My Experience of Anything Could Happen:

I didn’t come on the on the Anything Could Happen course with a clearly defined goal in mind – rather, I was keen to see what new things I could learn about myself in an unfamiliar learning environment; I was sure the course would throw up some interesting development opportunities that I was previously unaware of.  I also thought that a weekend of outdoor activities in Snowdonia would be enjoyable in its own right.

As such, I didn’t have any firm expectations of the course.  I guessed it would probably involve various team building activities along with some more ‘challenging’ outdoor activities along the lines of abseiling, but I wasn’t sure how it would all be tied together or how learning points would be drawn out of it.  This was another reason I was interested in the course as I was keen to find this out.

The course packed an awful lot into two days, but some of the main activities included: guiding blindfolded partners; hunting foam animals scattered throughout the town; creating art out of slate; abseiling and climbing; round table debates; creating codes on a chessboard; and building a bridge across a lake.

Each of these activities threw up interesting points, with some of the most revealing being the ones which I had initially expected to be less interesting.  For example, I didn’t feel particularly enthused by the idea of slate art, but after being left to get on with it on my own for a while I found myself really getting into it – it ended up being one of the most enjoyable activities for me.

There was definitely a consistent theme to this and it helped me realise how much I can get out of things I wouldn’t usually consider doing once I actually start to engage with them.  I also found it very interesting to compare how I approached those less familiar things with how I approached more familiar activities – I think I learned a lot about myself from the similarities and differences in approach.

Overall though, the biggest learning experience for me was the time devoted to group review after all the activities.  In the past, I’ve not been particularly inspired by discussions after various development courses; they’ve tended to identify one or two “key” points (usually identified by the leader before the exercise even started) and then moved on.  In this case the discussions were longer and I realised that the first few ‘obvious’ learning points which came up were not always the most revealing.  Reflecting within the group rather than just individually led to a lot more ideas coming through.  Also, there was no “right answer“ for us to take away and in some cases, people got different insights from the same activity.  Overall, one of the few regrets I have about the weekend is that there weren’t more hours available in the day so that we could have spent longer on these sessions.

These in-depth reflection sessions were the biggest thing I took away from the course as I determined to think about what I can learn from different situations and experiences more frequently, and to spend longer doing it as well.  On top of this I’ve come away with some more specific insights into team work – both on how I go about it myself, and how other people’s approaches can affect things too.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend, packed full of all sorts of different activities (to the point where it felt much longer than just two days) which has provided me with some very deep learning experiences.  I’d recommend it to anyone who’s keen to challenge and find out more about themselves – compared to many other development courses it really has the potential to give you some very individual and personal insights.  Be prepared to throw yourself into it though; since the outcomes and learning points aren’t fixed, what you get out of it will depend on what you put in.