Building Teams

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ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As COVID-19 health restrictions ease, more and more businesses are turning to team-building events to help improve employee communication, motivation and confidence.

After two years of pandemic living and working, businesses that are slowly bringing employees back to an office or an onsite work environment encounter various challenges that team-building events may help solve. Many employees, especially those hired during the pandemic, may not have had a chance to meet in-person until recently.

“COVID-19 fundamentally reset how, where and even when employees operate,” explains Ann Arbor-based entrepreneur Ethan Linkner, co-founder and managing director of Mudita Venture Partners. “Developing relationships through team-building is an easy way to build trust, regardless of location or a face-to-face interaction.”

At TreeRunner Adventure Parks in West Bloomfield and Rochester, the goal is just that: to set the stage for employees to reconnect, grow their relationships and, most importantly, develop trust as Linkner says. Multiple times a week, both locations host team-building events at their forested adventure parks to integrate people back into the workforce and build cohesion.

Jeremy Fishman, president of TreeRunner Adventure Parks, is no stranger to building teams. He was the director for the 2019 JCC Maccabi Games & ArtFest at the JCC of Metro Detroit. The Congregation Shaarey Zedek