Mahikan Trails truly is ahead of the pack when it comes to team building. With an ex-British Soldier who specialized in team building with the military, and blending these skills with some traditional Canadian skills, we offer something out of the ordinary. Our expertise is often called upon by other guiding companies requesting our Technical Director to create award winning programs for them as well. Please click on the specific headings of your interest!
Our pride and joy is in our unique team building programs. Our expert has his back ground from 21 years of serving in the British Military, where team building came from. In fact, his experience is so vast, that several other guiding companies in the area hire him to create their team-building programs; but rest assured, as part owner of Mahikan Trails, he saves his best ideas for this company!
To activate our Team Building module we pass teams of participants around a series of sites where the groups are asked to complete a task. Each task requires the group to work together to complete it within a specific time frame where they will need to draw on mental, physical (nothing difficult or strenuous), logistical, decision making and problem solving skills coupled with an ability to adapt and improvise in order to succeed.
Having completed a site task successfully, the group will be given a reward. The rewards from each site will help them in the final challenge where all the groups get together for a skills race that once again involves full team participation and some friendly competition between the teams.
The British Army Engineers needed a way to teach their small working units in the field to bond regardless of rank, experience or education so that they could complete any task they were given with maximum efficiency.
They created a series of tasks (Command Tasks) that could be completed in thirty minutes in a controlled environment using minimum physical effort and time management with a maximum of mental effort using decision making and problem solving. These tasks ensure that a team must work together allowing all of the personnel involved to have maximum input and full participation.
This method became so successful that the whole of the British Army adopted the system. Corporate groups in Britain (UK) became aware of the success of the methods of these Military command tasks and they too adopted these tasks to bond their managers or workers into cohesive working teams.Mahikan Trails employs an ex British Soldier who was trained extensively in this style of team building. He has successfully trained both military and civilian groups for the past eighteen years.
Team building challengesCSI Nature
A hiker has found the remains of an animal and it is up to you and your team to identify who the victim is and who did it! Full of ambiguities from the "witnesses" to the clues, your team must unravel the mystery before the competing teams do! This is a fast paced, fun filled logistical challenge where your team must use their best communication skills, resources and common sense to gather the clues, question the witnesses and piece it all together!
Quest for Fire!
Each task can earn your team "tools" that will be needed in the final race. Construct and raise a tipi, get you and your team across a raging river to retrieve a tool and come back safely, a logic problem to cross a dangerous swamp where you can't touch the ground, another gaping chasm but this time given a unique set of tools to accomplish this (and you may only use these specific tools), construct a pack for carrying more tools, and… The final task: This is where it all comes together, with the pieces of equipment the teams have won at each task; they now have a race to complete the quest for fire.
Both the Trail of the Métis Trapper and the Quest for Fire can be run as one and two day programs, the itineraries above are just an example of what we can offer. We are able to develop new programs to suit clients, so if there is a specific requirement you have please Contact Us.
Trail of the Metis trapperTrail of the Metis Trapper, is just a small sample of our team building programs outlined below: Each of the tasks; if done successfully will earn your team "hides" or "pelts" that will be necessary for your final race. Be vigilant once you get them, you could potentially lose one of them at the next task!
Rescue your canoe, and then get your equipment & supplies across a gaping chasm. Care must be taken here, red herrings abound everywhere! This involves using an improvised winch system (learned on day 1) to retrieve the canoe which is full of equipment that is necessary to get the team and all equipment across a gaping chasm. The chasm is not easy to cross, since the equipment and supplies used must be put together in a specific way in order to fit across the gap; so logic and full team work is necessary.
Task 2:Get your team stealthily through the forest without setting off the booby traps. Watch out for the spider web!!! Teams move through a strip of the forest laced with trip wires that (well we can't tell you now can we? Rest assured though, it is a game of cunning an fun!), there is also a "spider web" to get through in order to retrieve the "hides."
Task 3:Get your team across the river, check your traps then get back using the equipment you've been given. Careful it's not as easy as it sounds! A similar challenge to Task 1, in which the teams have limited equipment to cross a notional river, they then need to find the trap to check what animal is in it and retrieve the pelt, then get back to the start. There is some other equipment that may or may not needed which the group must decide upon quickly and take what is needed, but there are consequences!
Task 4:Rescue a lost pack from the mineshaft and get back safely! This requires some ingenious thinking; the teams must work out how to get across a series of fences that are rather high - no going under or around, and no touching them (mock electric fence), this is done to retrieve a lost pack which has the pelts in them. This is a logic problem that requires some physical effort.
Task 5:You've worked very hard to earn your pelts, and you are on your way to the trading post to trade your ware; but now you are faced with killer bears. You must defend your hard work from those killer bears that smell your ware. This is a task that requires observation skills and physical dexterity. The teams must use primitive weapons to defend the cache, but first the team must find the hidden weapons (not so easy) using observation techniques.
Task 6:You work for the Hudson's Bay Company, and have learned that two trappers from the North West Company have run into trouble and dropped their firs. As expert trackers you must use your skills (learned on day 1) to track these trappers to find their dropped firs so you can keep them. This task means you must also take care to leave no human tracks for them to follow you!!
Final Race: Trail of the Metis trapperThis is where it all comes together, with your pelts you have to purchase the equipment needed for the final race (careful, tricks abound here!), those teams who don't have quite enough pelts, will be given the opportunity to use their observation skills to find the necessary equipment, but will be given a time penalty. Trapper goes to work relay is a race where all teams compete against each other to determine who the ultimate trapping team is!! The tasks for the competition will challenge you in a whole new way!
Four Engineers and their truck went missing. They were later found on the side of the highway with an engine that had broken down. All four were found in the truck dead from hypothermia. They had cigarette lighters and 40 gallon drums of diesel on the back of the truck and they were surrounded by bush! Perhaps some basic knowledge would have saved their lives… This can happen to anyone!
The Oil and Gas companies that travel around the world and in particular the Northern parts of Canada, have the challenge of traversing wild terrain and extreme temperatures. These factors can make a working situation become hazardous, and having the skills to counteract the forces of nature can change the likelihood of a negative situation into a positive one. Mahikan Trails is proud to offer a program focused on these skills:
Survival SkillsPlease note, the program is designed to be instructional so for those who are looking for concrete skills sessions, the above itinerary is quite suitable. However, the above skills can also be implemented into a team building day to make for a fun and informative day out, although we won't be able to cover everything in the itinerary.
We are able to develop new programs to suit clients, so if there is a specific requirement the client has, it is likely that we can accommodate!
Create your own
Don't see what you want? Tell us what you need and we'll help you create it! Our wealth of experience and your creativity can combine to produce the ultimate experience for your team, in the exact way you want it!
Out of date on your first aid or perhaps looking to put some first aid components into your team building? Let us put a program together, tailored to your specific needs. We offer standard first aid recognized by the Canadian Red Cross, and of course are able to update your CPR up to a level C.Contact Us to find out how we can incorporate this program into your activities.
For guides who are a step or two beyond the standard level of First Aid, Mahikan is pleased to recommend one of the best Wilderness First Aid courses going. Practical skills geared for the guiding world and training excellence can be found on their website: Slipstream Wilderness First Aid
PricesHalf day programs Contact us for details.
Full day programs Contact us for details.
Please call for details concerning our more highly focused and specialized programs that run as full or multi days.