The photo above tells the story of Dylan Lewis from the Motley Fool and Holly Travis from Intel Corporation. Both participated in the LeaderSurf leadership development program. Here you see Dylan applauding his new friend Holly’s success at riding her first wave. This image embodies the special culture that is developed during the LeaderSurf program.

When you assemble a group of total strangers from different organizations, geographies, ethnic backgrounds and levels of experience you never know how it might turn out. Well, that is what one would think, but my experience tells me otherwise. I have been running the LeaderSurf leadership development program for the past three years. The program is a week long leadership development program for business leaders. Corporations sponsor their employees to attend the program to improve their leadership capabilities.

LeaderSurf is not like any other leadership development program that I have experienced and that is fully intentional. I have come to believe that organizations confuse leadership and management all too often. To me management is about delivering predictable results, whereas leadership is about individuality, pioneering and unpredictable results. Therefore, the LeaderSurf program does not provide a uniform result for all participants. As a leadership development program, I expect each participant to approach the program as a learning journey with results that are unique to them. While all participants are exposed to the same content and experiences, the program is very much learner centered and focused on self-awareness. The daily agenda includes a morning icebreaker, a classroom leadership module, business challenge sessions, one on one coaching sessions, a mindfulness activity and a surfing lesson. Yes learning to surf is an important component of the curriculum.

Participants first meet at the airport in Liberia, Costa Rica where they are greeted by Donald Stone from the LeaderSurf staff. They spend the next two hours together in a van en route to The Gilded Iguana Hotel in Nosara, Costa Rica. I consider the van ride part of orientation and I am purposely not a part of that portion of the program. When participants first enroll in the program, I hold an introductory call to set expectations, explain a bit more about the program and to address any concerns. Many participants ask about the other participants and I am purposefully vague about who else is attending. I want people to show up and be who they want to be for the week. If I shared the participant info in advance, everyone would have Googled or viewed profiles on LinkedIn in advance. I much prefer the natural and organic way in which the participants come together. The two hour van ride provides a forum for sharing who everyone is, where they are from, how they ended up at LeaderSurf and their excitement for the week ahead.

Once at the hotel, I greet the group, get everyone registered with their rooms and then we gather for a more formal orientation. During orientation, I ask each person to introduce themselves by answering the following questions:

• Who are you and why are you here at LeaderSurf?

• What do you get paid to do?

• What are your hopes and expectations for the week?

• What has surprised you the most about Costa Rica thus far?

• When was the last time you learned a new physical skill and what was it?

These questions are very deliberate. They set a tone for the week and require participants to model authenticity from the start. “What do you get paid to do” is one of my favorite questions for corporate leaders, because in the business world people tend to hide behind titles. For the LeaderSurf program, I am not concerned with status, instead I want to know what value each person creates for their organization. These questions start to form the foundation for defining one’s leadership brand. The hardest question for participants to answer is the last one, “When was the last time you learned a new physical skill and what was it?” Learning a new physical skill requires vulnerability, something that accomplished business leaders are often uncomfortable with. This is the reason that surfing is a component of the program. If leadership is a skill, then learning to be better at it requires vulnerability, risk taking, grit and resilience.

I started this post by saying when bringing a diverse group of people together of a week of learning and development, one might not know how it will go. Having run the LeaderSurf program seven times, I can say with certainty, that every time the program has gone amazingly well. All participants have gotten along, been fully engaged and have had an amazing growth experience. After the first few programs, I could have chalked the success up to luck, but seven programs forty plus participants have proven that it is not luck. I call it a recipe for a winning culture. This could just as easily apply to a company culture. My full time job is running a human capital consulting firm, Groove Management that helps organizations to improve their cultures, set cores values, align leadership teams, coach executives and drive for greater performance. I apply very similar tactics to the LeaderSurf program to the ones I suggest to Groove Management’s clients.

Building a winning culture requires deliberate actions from leadership. Let me share my deliberate actions that I take that have created a winning culture at LeaderSurf every time. Many of these tactics can easily be employed in a company setting.

The Bumpy Ride- LeaderSurf starts with the participants sharing in a two hour van ride. The first hour is on smooth pavement, but the last hour is on a rutted dirt road. This experience transforms the group from strangers to a team. A shared experience is the first key to building a winning culture. While the ride is uncomfortable, the fact that everyone is in it together sharing is the discomfort brings the group together. Complaining does not help, so no one ever does until the ride is over.

Authentic Introductions- The orientation and introductions are done in a very deliberate way that removes ego and requires participants to share personal facts about themselves. To build a winning culture, participants needs to be free to be themselves and they must get to know each other on a personal level. The personal introduction questions set the tone for the week.

Family Style Meals- All meals at the LeaderSurf program are eaten together. Dinning five days in a row, three meals a day with the same people greats a special bond. Mealtime conversations allow people to build stronger personal connections, to learn about each persons families, their jobs, their interests outside of work and of course their food preferences. Encouraging teams to dine together builds stronger cultures and should be encouraged in more companies.

A Day of Giving- During the LeaderSurf program we spend a day giving back to the local community. We call the day LeaderServe and the focus is on teaching servant leadership. Participants travel to a local school where the group builds and installs a swing set for the community. By expending sweat equity, the group bonds even more as a team and feels a greater sense of purpose and accomplishment together. In a corporate setting, it is important to make time for teams to give back to the local community. This builds a servant leadership culture and shows that there is a soul to the company.

Learn to Surf- At LeaderSurf all participants participate in daily group surfing lessons. Learning to surf is challenging, but super fun. Learning a new physical skill with others creates a special bond. Participants become comfortable being uncomfortable and share in each others failures and successes. This creates special moments and shared memories. I would encourage more companies to bring in outside experts to teach classes on random topics to employees. Pottery, fly fishing fly tying, coding, crafting, homebrewing, etc. Creating these shared learning opportunities builds a more cohesive team and culture.

Sunset Reflections- We end each day at LeaderSurf with an activity call sunset reflections. The group watches the sunset from the beach together and each person is asked to share a learning from the day. Taking time each day to reflect on learnings is something we need to spend more timing doing. It is a great approach for taking inventory of new learnings. This point of reflection and group sharing strengthens learning and authenticity.

The Gift of Feedback- On the last evening of the program the group participates in an authentic feedback session where each participant shares two pieces of feedback with each of the participants. The feedback includes: What I appreciate most about you and what I think you could do to be even more effective. This genuine open feedback is extremely powerful and cements the relationships between the participants.

Another Bumpy Ride- The program end with another bumpy ride back to the airport. The road smooths after the first hour and the group can relax and reflect on the amazing week together.

This is the recipe that I have used for each program with the same outstanding results each time. It is deliberate and sets the tone. As Donald Stone explains the initial greetings start with formal handshakes and end with giant hugs by the end of the week. If you can take your culture from handshakes to hugs you have moved the needle and modeled authenticity. I hope your organization has the opportunity to send you or another leader to our unique program. If that is not in the cards, reach out to Groove Management to learn how we can help you apply our recipe to your company.