The LFM Quarterly // The Team Building Edition
LFM’s Team Trek Field Report
In late February, the entire LFM Capital team made the journey to Team Trek in Tumbling Shoals, AR for an entire week of team building, leadership training, and good old-fashioned bonding. Team Trek has been building people and connecting teams since 1994. The LFM team had been once before, in 2019, however, the team has grown considerably since then!
Before the Trip
Ahead of the trip, there was a great deal of anticipation. Not often is the whole team together, much less for an entire week! The cherry on top was virtually no internet connection. Rose Purrington, Investment Support Specialist, who joined the team in the Fall of 2021, was optimistic.
“I think this will be a fun experience for the team! It will be good to learn a bit more about each other in a setting outside of work. I am also excited to see some team members be in a rustic outdoor setting.” Rustic was right! Our entire team stayed in cabins (and slept in bunk beds) at Team Treks' 800-acre Learning Center.
Dalton Gullett, Associate, who also started last fall, was looking forward to building stronger connections with everyone on the team. He said, “This will be a fun bonding experience, and a good way to spend quality time with the team.” He was not without any apprehensions though. “I am least excited to find out how loudly I snore.” David Juneau, Business Development Associate, who just celebrated one year at LFM, was “most excited for the cliff rappelling and social time after our activities with the broader team."
After the Trip
One topic the LFM team was looking forward to tackling was communication. “When an issue arises, it’s often some sort of miscommunication,” said Rose. She hoped this program would help with the flow of ideas and better the team’s communication and respect for one another. Regarding the objective of the upcoming trip, the team was aligned. As described by Dalton, “the purpose is to build deeper and stronger relationships across the team and use that connection to reflect as well as to recalibrate our goals. David perfectly summed up the “why” of it all when he said, “our firm has grown dramatically over the past year and a half, and along with that comes many different obstacles. This is a good way for our team to get out of the office, away from technology, and focus inward on where our firm wants to be in 10 years and how we get there.”
We were actively engaged from 6 am until way past our usual bedtimes each night. On the first evening, our team sat around the bonfire making smores (more on s’mores down below!) With a makeshift bedsheet projector screen, the story of LFM was told from the beginning to the present day.
After that, each day was structured into a mix of strategic team-building activities, discussions reviewing the activities, and strategic planning sessions. This all built up to the final full day, when we “separated into three groups, completed our tasks, and then came together as a whole large group to complete the final task," said Rose. She was referring to an action-packed day of separate missions involving saving stranded astronauts. We were equipped only with maps, compasses, safety gear, and a few walkie-talkies. One mission required repelling down a 50-foot cliff, while others infiltrated a terrorist hideout by climbing a tower. These were full mind and body challenges! There were lots of laughs, and everyone participated. Getting 100% participation all week was huge,” Rose recalled.
At Team Trek, the facilitators create dynamic situations, occasionally high-pressure, that may not be anything like the ones we face at work at first glance, but the same principles apply. Then, after completing the challenge (successful or otherwise) the team regroups and reviews in real-time, a luxury not always afforded in day-to-day life at the office.
After the week, David felt we “improved our ability to communicate within the larger team and developed a better understanding of which modes of communication that people prefer.” Communication, as predicted, was an underlying theme throughout the week. “It helped the team grow by breaking down barriers and helping us to connect and know each other better,” said Dalton of the experience. Rose’s takeaway was that “it’s actually really fun to be in the woods with your coworkers for a week.” She was also reminded that you just don’t know what people are bringing to work with them. Opportunities, like this retreat, help foster a secure environment for sharing and being vulnerable.
Dalton left Team Trek not only with the new information that his snoring sounds like logs being sawed, but he also gained “a whole new understanding of each of my teammates and a much stronger sense of connection with them. I have significantly more confidence in my role and comfort with speaking up and contributing.”
Was it worth it? Rose has a tough answer to beat. “At the end of the day, we all just want to be in an environment that helps give energy – work is where we spend most of our time, so we might as well continue to make it the best place we possibly can.”
S’More on how we like our S’Mores!
ABOUT LFM CAPITAL
LFM Capital is a private equity firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. The firm’s mission is to partner with portfolio company management to develop and build world-class operations through a combination of manufacturing and operations excellence and targeted growth and expansion strategies.