While corporate headquarters tower ever higher in Taipei, Taiwan, just across the Taiwan Strait in Shanghai, China, factories manufacture their goods. These two countries, split politically for so many years, have become closer due to shared economic interests. But change this rapid is not always easy despite the new era of “cross-strait relations.”

To facilitate positive change, several corporations have turned to the world’s newest Outward Bound school in Taiwan. When properly facilitated, corporate training courses can become a critical mainstay of Outward Bound schools worldwide.

Come on over!

To help Outward Bound Taiwan (OBT) address these and other challenges, OBT Director Ping-Huang Liao invited Mike Gass, professor of kinesiology and renowned outdoor educator, to help out. It was an offer Gass couldn’t refuse.

“When I go on my sabbaticals from UNH, I usually travel to develop my knowledge base,” says Gass. “I was thinking about going to Mexico or Spain. But after talking with Ping, I knew I had the most to offer there.”

In January 2009, Gass began his five-month journey promoting OBT through more than 40 presentations at schools, mental health centers, teacher training workshops, and corporations. Four translators took turns accompanying him. In Shanghai alone, he spoke at six universities. To top it off, he was the keynote speaker at the 2009 Adventure Learning Conference, attended by professionals from 24 countries.

Joining him at the conference and other points along this journey were long-time colleagues in the field of experiential learning, including UNH’s own Pam McPhee, executive director of the Browne Center for Innovative Learning.

Metaphors in action

Gass is known for his use of metaphors to frame experiential learning activities. Before an activity, the facilitator can proactively induce clients to examine how the activity can become a metaphor by mirroring a particular dynamic.

For example, at a teacher workshop in Tai-Dong, Gass presented an experience to ask the staff to examine how they could become a more supportive team. Staff members were taking turns inching across the high, risk-taking elements and steadying the supportive rope elements.

However, there was one teacher who was very doubtful of his ability to be successful with the experience. Gass worked with the teacher and got him to focus on his capabilities and motivations. “I helped him to create a solution-oriented framework for himself,” says Gass. “He was able to access the strengths within himself.”

Gass also worked with the rest of the group. He asked them to see if they could develop appropriate ways to communicate their support to their colleague. They began to find these ways to support their colleague and soon the reluctant teacher was participating. “Once such a positive dynamic gets going, it’s self-escalating,” says Gass.

When an activity is thoughtfully framed by a facilitator, and the dynamics of the activity fit the underlying task, the learning is indeed in the moment or experiential. Gass has done numerous studies that show positive, lasting effects for a variety of groups using these methods.

But for Te-Hsin Chang, Gass’s primary translator for OBT, the way Gass could work with groups was amazing. “I would look at him and say, ‘How did you do that?!’” recalls Chang. “He is like a magician.”

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