“The ropes course very, very quickly broke down any social awkwardness you have when first meeting people, and also was very helpful galvanizing people to trust each other," says Jacques Kobersy, Emergency Medicine Chief Resident.

Testing Limits
Builds Commitment

The U-M Emergency Medicine Residency training program takes advantage of a unique outdoor adventure program to help newly arrived residents begin to establish rapport and build connections with one another. For the past six years, the program’s incoming residents have participated in structured “challenge” activities such as the High Ropes Course offered by the Challenge Program, a division of the Department of Recreational Sports, as a means of enhancing team cohesiveness and cooperation.

Challenge Program participants work with each other to solve structured problems that require collaboration, communication, and an understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses. Cooperation, communication, group decision making, conflict management, trust, and leadership are all explored in the context of the selected “challenge” activity.

According to the ER Residency Program Coordinator Chris Rupkey, “Our first-year residents arrive here from all over the country each June not knowing anyone. The Challenge course is something our department returns to year after year because it helps our new arrivals to build, bonds, trust, relationships, and friendships with one another that are really important part of the residency experience.”

Bill McKee, Assistant Director of the Challenge Program, serves as the gatekeeper for the fastest (and for many, the most fun) route to terra firma – a 300 foot “zip” line.

Eve Losman, Assistant Director of the Emergency Medicine Residency Training Program, is a keen advocate of its continuing value to the program as a team-building tool. “Our experience with the Challenge Program has been extremely positive. Our new Residents love it. The team-building exercises are just great and provide an excellent way to socialize and have fun outside of the hospital environment.”

Jacques Kobersy, Emergency Medicine Chief Resident, adds: “The ropes course very, very quickly broke down any social awkwardness you have when first meeting people, and also was very helpful galvanizing people to trust each other. I thought it was invaluable.”

Says Challenge Program Operations Director, John Swerdlow: “Challenge Program activities typically focus on team building, and groups, and how groups work together. The ropes courses (we offer two, one 40-feet high and one 28-feet high) provide a setting for individuals to challenge themselves with group support. A lot of the best team building happens with our low-ropes initiatives and elements. Because the activities are structured around the idea of exploring the ways that groups work together, even a brief 30-50 minute activity can provide an opportunity to observe how the participants function as a group and reveal what their weaknesses or strengths as a group might be.”

Asked about typical issues that emerge in group challenge activities, Swerdlow says: “Communication is huge. Commitment is also big. Issues around leadership styles are another subject that often emerges in group exercises.”

One of the most important “takeaways” from Challenge Program activities, explains Swerdlow, “is not only how they work together, but how they want to be.”