5 Reasons Why Sailing Is Great for Team Building

At Sunsail, we offer corporate team building events that help with teamwork and good communication, both things that will help the dynamics in your team and can help your business to run more smoothly.

Sailing is a great activity to help you improve all the important skills needed in your day-to-day work life. It can also help your team and colleagues improve in certain areas as each member will have an important role to play when on deck. Our team building programmes are designed to help you to develop the skills you would like to improve. This means every trip is unique and you get the most out of your experience with us. We invite you and your team to take advantage of our special introductory package, which includes one day out on the water for a group of up to ten people with skipper and crew, beverages, and wet weather gear.

Below we offer 5 reasons why sailing is great for team building.

Improving communication

When sailing communication is one of the most important skills you will use. It is important you all always know what everyone is doing. This means you will have to work well as a team and make snap decisions together. It also means you will need to speak and communicate clearly. When sailing you will rely on gestures and communicate quickly and clearly if any problems arise. As some people in the group may not be confident in what they are doing, supporting one another is also key. Sailing will put your communication skills to the ultimate test.

Problem-solving and leadership

On the water, you never know what problems may occur and so often you will have to come up with a plan quickly and resolve issues together as they arise. Problems also need to be solved in an efficient and safe way. This means everyone will need to know their specific role. There will also need to be someone taking it upon themselves to lead and instruct people on what they need to do. Problem-solving means people need to trust and follow the person giving instructions to overcome the problem.

Encouraging teamwork

When sailing it is important that everyone pulls their weight and encourages everyone to work together. On a yacht, there is a job for everyone, so it is important to encourage and support your team. This could be helping someone overcome a weakness, or something as simple as making it known when someone has done a good job. Sailing is the perfect activity for this as it focuses you to work as a unit and with everyone’s strengths in an environment outside of most people’s comfort zone. Encouraging your team will improve your work atmosphere.

Building a new team

Sailing is also great if you’re a new team. Aside from the obvious ‘breaking the ice’ benefit, you will be able to find out how each team member works and where they are best fitted within your team. It is also a perfect place to identify everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Sailing is a great way to find this out as you’re put in a usual environment with people who need to come together. If you opt for one of our two-day team building sessions, you’ll be staying overnight on the yachts. This can help to bring you closer together as a team outside of work as you enjoy some well-earned drinks and food after your first day out on the water together.

Improving productivity

When you sail with us it is important that everyone takes part and works together. This means everyone taking on the same amount of work and sharing the workload. People will quickly understand that if they are more productive it will help you learn faster and improve faster. In an environment like sailing, everyone must be productive, and you will notice if someone isn’t pulling their weight.

These are just some of the ways sailing can help with nurturing teamwork and building on the skills you use for work, but there are many more. Click here for more information about our corporate team building programmes.

First time booking offer: £950 + VAT!*

Interested in testing the water? Why not take advantage of our first-time booking offer? This special introductory package includes a full day out on the water for a group of up to ten people, professional crew, soft drinks, and wet weather gear.

No previous sailing experience required – Sunsail skipper and first mate provided!

*Only available from our UK, Portsmouth base. Other exclusions apply. See terms and conditions.

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