with team-building skills.
Newport sailing company helps
firms work together
On a sultry August afternoon last week, two classic 12-metre yachts raced at a clip through Narragansett Bay, their sails snapping and billowing, the surf spraying the two crews as they worked in concert – trimming the jibs and easing the main sail to ride a southwest breeze.
But the crews were not professional sailors. They were executives from Nortek Inc., racing sailboats owned by Newport-based Seascope Yacht Charters as a dual exercise in relaxation and team building after a grueling two-day marathon of boardroom strategy sessions.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
Learn More
Since 1976, Bob and Elizabeth Tiedemann, the husband-and-wife team that owns Seascope Yachts, have been customizing outings for Fortune 500 companies and smaller firms on the waters of Newport and along the New England coast. The company provides pleasure sailing, family outings and fishing – but corporate business comprises 95 percent of their business.
In their “Your Own America’s Cup Regatta,” a hands-on team-building program aboard their rare vintage 12-metre yachts, the Tiedemanns have custom-tailored an “America’s Cup” experience that brings members of a company closer together, said Elizabeth Tiedemann. The team-building sailing program has been featured on the Discovery Channel, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and in Town & Country magazine.
“They naturally bond, and the fact that they are all in casual clothing helps – no suits, ties and dresses. They’re in tight quarters and there’s close movement, which is taboo in the office, of course. But on a boat you can’t help it,” said Tiedemann.
The Tiedemanns allow corporate groups to select from three levels of team-building exercises aboard the boats. No prior sailing experience is necessary in the team effort required to race the yachts, said Tiedemann.
The race boats also serve as videotaping platforms to record the event, and the Tiedemanns provide a spectator boat for non-sailors to watch their colleagues work together and compete against one another. At the end of the day, groups typically discuss the day’s racing over cocktails, according to the Seascope Web site.
On one memorable team-building trip, Captain Bob Tiedemann threw his crew – a group of 15 salespeople from a small medical equipment company – for a loop when he informed them they could not speak to each other as they worked to sail the boat, according to the Web site. That made sailing infinitely more difficult, since particular tasks must be completed first before others can be taken on, and decisions must be made as to the right way to go about completing each task.
After a few minutes, the frustrating exercise was over, but Tiedemann recounted on the Web site that he hoped a lesson is learned: No one person can run the ship; only through the judicious use of information from all quarters can the vessel stay afloat. The parallels between these exercises and team members’ jobs back on land are intentionally obvious, wrote Tiedemann.
Nortek brings executives from its subsidiary offices throughout the United States and Europe to Seascope Yachts for team-building exercises about six times a year. On Aug. 5, Nortek Chief Executive Richard L. Bready was joined on a yacht by seven other executives from the company’s Rhode Island headquarters for a boat race against eight presidents, general managers and financial controllers from Nortek subsidiaries in Oklahoma, Minnesota, Montreal, London and Missouri.
The group of executives had just spent two days discussing corporate strategy at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Goat Island. Now it was time to blow off some steam with a little friendly competition after the two days of weighty discussion, said Jane White, director of human resources for Nortek.
Stepping aboard the gleaming brass and polished mahogany of two fully restored former “Cup class” 12-metre yachts, the Nortek teams were met by Captain Bob Tiedemann and two professional mates per boat. The Seascope crew gave a safety speech, a quick sailing lesson, and then assigned the Nortek executives positions on the boats. Then the race was on.
“Every summer we bring the senior executives from all over the U.S. and Europe
to Rhode Island for strategy meetings, and we host them in Newport because it’s
a nice location for some grueling meetings. We want them to have some fun as
well, and what better opportunity than to go out on the bay for a race? They
really look forward to doing that,” said White. “It’s relaxing, but it’s more
active than just sitting on a boat. These are high-pressured people and they’re
still competitive. They really enjoy the racing element and work well together
on the boat to try to make that happen.”
