Rocky Route to Business Success

Fancy a bit of frueling rock clibing or gut-busting trekking
 for the good of your employer as well as yourself?
an oddly-named company will be happy to oblige,
as Christopher Kao discovered.

In some ways it's a bit like being part of a computer game made real ... clawing one's way up swaying wooden poles, nervously inching blindfolded above 20-meter drops and rappelling a dizzying section of the Great Wall. Simply, challenges that most people would refuse to face, whatever the reward. So why do some of the world's biggest companies inflict such masochistic exercises on certain selected employees by sending them to a training organization hellbent on helping the firms cast off their self-imposed limitations?

Answer: I Will Not Complain.

Unusual name, unusual company. Which figures. But scratch the colorful surface at its Beijing office, and you'll find a deadly serious, highly successful training outfit whose clients include about 100 Fortune 500 companies and countless Asian multinationals. For many of these -- call them The Rejuvenated -- gone are the days when their executives sat around conference tables making inconsequential decisions in yet further feeble attempts to effect profitable changes.

Business theory (and not a little hard proof) holds that improved attitude and service lead to satisfied and loyal customers, which in turn results in sustainable growth and profits. But how does this process begin? Analysts point to open minds and a willingness to dump routine while something different is tried. But even then, there are times when a disgruntled employee dredges up the motivation to turn over a new leaf -- quickly atomized when those around him or her are unable to change. What then?

Answer: I Will Not Complain (equally well known as IWNC).

"If only one person is willing to change, then realistically there's not much that he or she can do,?says Beijing office general manager Jeremy Perks. "To effect change in an organization, you have to effect change in the team because it is they who ultimately drive the organization."

IWNC defies conventional methods of improving team performance, unity, and management with an array of props and tools, including tennis balls, rope nets and slingshots -- items that would seem more fitting to an elementary school field day than managers and employees of respected firms. But amusing as it all may seem, it's difficult to argue with the proven success of IWNC's constantly expanding list of upscale clients.

Explains Perks: "When a company comes to IWNC, our first step is to identify its root problem. I sit down with our senior trainers and the client's representatives to determine the problem and the goals we need to set. Our trainers then design, develop and conduct a program specific to the client's needs. The only baggage a participant needs to being is a Can-Do attitude."

IWNC trainers have a worldwide database of over 400 activities from which to choose when creating a program, allowing them to effectively tailor it to a particular group's needs. Various mixes of movement, music, color and other foci may be used to help boost an individual's learning process.

The action-based programs, usually held at IWNC's restored Ming Dynasty courtyard training center on the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall, are what first got the company up and running. High-ropes challenges, running trails, rock climbing and other outdoor tests of nerve and stamina became so popular that they attracted most of the attention, resulting in observers seeing the program as a glorified obstacle course which undermined its true benefits.

Since then, IWNC has gradually moved away from organizing solely action-based programs. "They are good for certain types of goals, such as improving individual confidence and motivation by getting participants out of their comfort zone," says senior trainer Michael Feng. "But they do not necessarily achieve other goals that groups may have set for themselves. We have expanded our style of training because different people have different ways of learning. For example, lectures are not as beneficial to visual learners as are the drawing of pictures."

Activities, complete with elements of imaginary limited resources and risks, are intended to be microcosms, or simplified versions, of real-life office situations. Adds Feng: "People often say that they know the importance of things like teamwork and trust to the office, but what they say does not always match up with what they do. They ask themselves:'Why should I trust this person?' Sometimes it takes a simple breakdown in the middle of an activity for them to see and understand it.

"It's a simple method but a strong metaphor."

Trainers, after watching how teams approach problems such as avoiding obstacles and where they place emphasis and importance, must decide whether participants have achieved their intended goal. There is no neat, clear-cut yardstick for the measurement of success. But if any organization is capable of putting a slide rule to it, it's IWNC.

Not everyone leaves the program having completed every activity. The more important thing, IWNC believes, is that people take something away from the experience. Group participants are advised to ask themselves questions such as:"Success and failure when working as a team is shared as a team, so what did we do that made us a success or a failure?" Because the group is composed of individuals working together, they might also ask themselves: "What did I personally do that contributed to this result?"

Following the activities, participants are encouraged to share their thoughts on their reactions and emotions -- what they have learned, how a particular activity related to their jobs, followed by a final evaluation of the results. "Activities are only important in the effect they have on behavioral change," observes senior trainer/consultant Ray Wang.

This said, it is not easy to convince everyone of the worth of experiential training. There are always a few stubborn and hardheaded participants who gripe and groan all the way through the program, abusing the purpose of the"sharing" period by using it as a forum to openly criticize those who forced them to get their hands and knees dirty. But those who enter with an open mind invariably find IWNC's methods to be fresh and challenging, and they leave the program eager to apply what they have learned.

IWNC's unconventional approach continues to win over more and more clients. This year it has seen an unexpected jump in program participants from Chinese firms, including a few state-owned enterprises. Managers of all types of business are, it seems, beginning to see the value of such training.

With each successfully completed program, IWNC moves closer to its long-term goal of closing the gap between today and where your firm is going tomorrow. And nobody can complain about that.