Leadership ouch!

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You want to go rock climbing because you think it's fun, or because your kid challenged the neighbourhood brat, saying "my daddy strongest" or words to that effect, and now your company thinks it's a jolly good idea too. And all because a management guru decided it's better to head outdoors instead of to a corporate classroom. But is it really?

Yes, according to Komal Gandhi of Step Consulting, a corporate training company. Nor is he the only one who thinks so. Several management trainers have tied up with adventure companies to incorporate adventure activities into their training modules.

Such programmes help build high performance teams, says Akshay Kumar, general manager-operations at Mercury Himalayan Explorations. He should know, his company offers outbound activities like river rafting, rappelling, mountain climbing, trekking and so on at various locations.

Simply put, these corporate training companies combine team building and other programmes in various adventure activities. (Now you know the secret behind the camaraderie that exists in the army.) Here's how it works. Various sets of colleagues from an organisation are put in unfamiliar surroundings.

This helps break down barriers. Individuals get to push and recognise their limits. For instance, each person is asked to jump off a 20 foot cliff into chilling water below. Some do it easily, others manage it after some persuasion, and a few simply back out.

Similarly, a rock climbing team is given equipment and must help each other in lieu of an instructor. Other activities might include crossing a rope bridge, climbing an 80-ft tree, tent pitching with only one person being allowed to see and speak (all others are blindfolded!).

At Camp Wild in Dhauj, 60 km from Delhi, Tejbir Singh Anand, director of Holiday Moods Adventures, organises management development programmes. Dhauj has all three "" land, water and air "" adventure options available.

So a programme could start with mountain biking or dirt biking and end with raft building and lake crossing. Paragliding is also part of the activities. These activities are meant to help nurture leadership qualities as well as remove fear.

Kumar organises something a little more exciting as well "" an off-road self-drive jeep safari in the sands of Rajasthan with Mahindra Scorpios, Boleros and Ford Endeavours (all four-wheel drives).

Here, even as 4WDs get stuck in the sand or mud, the idea is to see the who helps whom out, how teams unite (or don't) to come out of a sticky situation.

At certain locations, Kumar creates a fake minefield and asks participating teams to execute a plan to cross the minefield (this requires extreme teamwork) without anyone "dying". Uh oh.

The debriefing session after the activities opens up a whole can of worms "" of the fears and frustrations of each individual. Everyone gets to hear these. The intention is to understand problem's from each person's perspective and understand why someone succeeded or failed.

Sure takes the fun out of a holiday, but heck, at those astronomical prices (trust us!) it better be good for you as a future CEO.