In April I will once again be joining True Patriot Love as a guide on one of their fund and awareness-raising expeditions. As a life-long climber and guide, I have been involved in all of the True Patriot Love mountaineering expeditions to date. As a team-building and leadership development expert, I also bring essential team development and team-building skills to the expedition.
This expedition will bring together a team of ill and injured Canadian soldiers and civilians to accomplish a task that will require planning, teamwork, trust, communication, determination and so much more. It is something that would be overwhelming as an individual, but possible with the support of a team.
As part of the leadership team, I will also be helping to monitor the mentorship program which connects soldier and civilian in a mutual coaching developmental relationship. We have seen huge successes with the mentoring program on past expeditions and I expect we will see the same again on this expedition.
We will be trekking to Everest base camp and climbing a small mountain called Kala Patthar 5643mas part of our acclimatization. We will then set our sites on the summit of Lobuche East 6145m.
In our Summit Team Building programs, we focus on helping individuals, leaders and teams develop skills in goal-setting, communication, trust-building, strategic planning, coaching, change management, emotional intelligence and so much more.
Part of my role is to help the team prepare for the expedition. A primary focus is on physical training which is essential. However, a critical element that is often overlooked is the mental training. Emotional Intelligence is a huge factor in building success in a mountaineering expedition and in life in general. I always say that your physical fitness gets you to base camp, but the difference between success and failure on the mountain will come down to emotional intelligence.
Take a look at this short video to learn more about True Patriot Love and the April expedition to the Himalayas.