New Outdoor Training Zone at Collbató Campus
High impact learning
What challenges are you willing to take on? This is the question asked to all Master and MBA programme students attending the new Collbató Residential Training Campus outdoor zone, which makes EADA the only European school to have such installations. These range from 5 to 8 metres in height, and enable learning through overcoming challenges and action games while promoting personal and collective values.
Action-oriented
“By overcoming challenges at heights, psychological fears and limitations are tackled thanks to the support of other team members, as participants venture to do them because of the support from course-mates”, Carles Brugarolas, Professor and Head of the Department of Strategy, Leadership and People at EADA, explains. He adds: “These activities are action-oriented and allow skills such as self-confidence and trust in others, self-control, cooperation and collaboration, and the ability to assume risks and start new projects, to be learned”.
For example, one of the tests consists of jumping into a void and being suspended for a few seconds from a considerable height. “In this case, reflection involves how to do it and who jumps first,” Brugarolas says. Another challenge is walking vertically along a narrow bar. According to the EADA professor, “to move forward, the decisions taken by the team are important, as is the concentration capacity to do the test properly”.
Testing management skills
The aim of the new Collbató outdoor zone activities is for participants to experience the strategic decisions that must be taken in a company. As Brugarolas argues, “it’s perfect training for testing management skills, because all the games, exercises and challenges posed do not force anyone to do them. It’s always the participant who makes the final decision to take part, in what way and how much of challenge he/she is willing to take on”.
As well as the high level of safety in all activities, students get expert feedback and have the option of viewing their exercise via video recording. “This is very important because it allows skills to be enhanced and attitudes to be changed”. For example, “based on these exercises, they’ll know how to delegate more in their company or have more self-confidence to kick-start new initiatives”.