My love for teams was born high in the Himalayan mountains. I was young, naïve, and full of energy—running hard and stretching boundaries.
Alongside learning to hike peaks, I learned to overcome my own insecurities. I learned to risk trust and practice vulnerability while blazing trails and surviving on rations. In these intense physical conditions, I quickly saw my own glaring weaknesses and realized that no matter how determined I was, I couldn’t succeed alone. I needed a team.
Later, as I moved into a leadership role, I discovered the challenges of teams went far beyond the mountain trails. Communication could quickly break down. People’s motivations and expectations could be worlds apart. Trust and vulnerability—the very things that make teams thrive— took hard and personal work to build.
Life Has a Lot of Teams!
Over the next few years, life gave me a wide variety of teams: a family business, a pioneer-spirited NGO, a get-it-done startup, an established service company, an educational program, multiple church and nonprofit teams, and my own growing marriage-and-family team! Phew!
As I navigated these teams, I increasingly saw the need for skills – team skills. I observed that whether in business, marriage, or family, teams have the power to accomplish incredible things—or quickly fall into dysfunction. Simultaneously, teams are as different as the people in them, and navigating those differences can be both profoundly rewarding and incredibly challenging.
When Teams Start to Fray
Quite a few years ago, my own team was stressed, distrustful, and inching dangerously close to burnout. Our organizational health was declining—even though we were still accomplishing a lot. I found myself turning cynical and discouraged. It began to feel heavy just showing up.
Thankfully, our team—and our brave leader (can we give a shout-out to courageous leaders?)—recognized the need for change. We invited a coach. We committed to doing the hard work. And I’m still amazed at the growth that followed.
What changed?
- We learned how to communicate honestly and intentionally.
- We rebuilt trust.
- We addressed conflict instead of avoiding it.
- We developed skills we didn’t even realize were missing.
As clarity increased, so did trust. As trust improved, so did momentum. And as momentum grew, our organizational health—and our results—improved together.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered something unexpected: I love serving as a facilitator who creates space for honest conversations, breakthrough moments, and shared wins. I love designing interactive learning experiences where teams don’t just sit and listen—but actively engage, practice, reflect, and grow together.
I’m Not Here to Reinvent the Wheel
The Problems Aren’t Unique
And So, Team Verve Was Born
Out of these experiences came Team Verve. What is “verve,” you might ask? Verve is life. It’s energy, motivation, and passion. It’s the strength to endure when things get tough. It’s the magic that occurs when individuals truly work together.
We believe verve is the mark of any winning team culture.
A team with verve doesn’t avoid hard conversations—it engages them with respect. A team with verve doesn’t crumble under differences—it learns from them. A team with verve doesn’t pretend and assume —it builds rhythms that sustain both performance and people.
At every Team Verve event, the power of the team is put to work. Through engaging, interactive learning experiences designed to strengthen both performance and organizational health, your team will:
- Understand each other better
- Practice healthy communication
- Learn tools for conflict resolution
- Develop real-world team skills
- Strengthen collaboration
- Expand leadership capacity
- Build trust and accountability
- Improve overall org health
And yes, we will have a lot of fun doing it. Because team doesn’t have to feel heavy.
Don’t Climb Alone
Standing in the middle of New York City today, I’m a long way from those Himalayan trails where my love for team first began. But the lesson remains the same: none of us were meant to climb alone. We need healthy and strong teams to succeed.
That’s the work I care about, and it’s the work Team Verve exists to support.
Are you ready?
