Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Grosz.
Hi Karen, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story began with a teacher telling me I was too stupid (her words) to go to college. I believed her. Then I met the right person, and several more after that, and began living a life of what I call Nexts. One goal, one person, one job, one challenge after the next, always with the goal to learn and grow.
Eventually, I became a corporate trainer, learning not just how to present, but how to move people to action, how to help people work in cooperation, not competition, and how to travel. When I’d learned everything I could from that job, I hit my knees and demanded my Next, saying, “You better show me what you want me to do next, and you better be clear about it.” Ten minutes later, I kid you not, I was overwhelmed by the idea of having people paint collaboratively as a team building experience. I hit Google, spending hours trying to find what I was thinking, to no avail. Finally, I found Tunisian art rules for art they use to communicate in times of conflict. I watched that video 400 times, tested the idea with my family two days later, two days later I tested the concept with a group of twenty, and three days after that I had my first real team. So, we went from zero to in business in one week.
The concept brought every thing I had learned, every Next, every life ideal full circle. That was 15 years ago and I never am more me than when I am in the middle of a team building experience with a team.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The first few years were like a rocket. We got to the point that we were doing three events per day, traveling to exciting clients like Sam’s Club and Walmart’s home office, and living the entrepreneurial dream.
Then, another business we owned needed my attention. Then we had a family death, then a tragic accident all lined up for slow it down distractors. After each distraction I had to start again. Find the passion, the clients, and the faith to go at it again. Just as I was dragging this business uphill, almost ready to gain momentum, Covid hit. During Covid I wrote my 5th book, Quiet Leadership, and in it I talk about The Red Ds: Death, Divorce, Disease, Disaster, all of those D words that derail us. Looking at my own list of Red Ds I had to ask myself if Canvas Creek was still the right thing, especially during Covid- that was a bleak time for team builders! Every time I asked that question I find a reason to go forward, a team to help, a connection to my mission. After Covid, we did not come back with the same breakneck pace, but today Canvas Creek is an even deeper (no pun intended) experience.
In stage two of our experience, Believe, teams are challenged, and they have to decide, while working together in silence, if they will quit, if they will go back to the original plan, or if they will collaborate and create something bigger and better. I think all businesses have those moments, as we have had several times at Canvas Creek. Each time I thought this through, quitting was not an option. Pivoting, recreating, adapting, that is what we have done with every business challenge. It’s how we ended up in the Phoenix Valley!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Canvas Creek Team Building ?
Imagine walking into the board room, or the cafeteria, and the floors are covered by a blue tarp, the walls have plastic on them, and there is a stream of tables on top of which sit large blank canvases. Unnerving? Exciting? Are you rolling your eyes, or clapping your hands? That feeling is stage one of our process, Begin. Some people aren’t happy about what they see, others are, and all are sure that not only can’t they accomplish this task, neither can ‘the bozos’ on their team. So, they begin, with hesitation. They are given roles, but not guidance, the team decides what to paint, what they might be proud of displaying. Then, the magic of stage two happens, Become. During Become the team has this realization that what they make will be better if they actually collaborate.
That realization is what transfers back to the office. We need to collaborate, and communicate, and adapt to change instead of fight it. They have Become a stronger team.
When the team decides the art is done, usually after 60-75 minutes, they will protect it from harm. This is powerful, and translates to protecting the team, and their mission. Afterwards, they display the art and tell it’s story with humor and passion. They talk about what they now Believe about their team. Again, this transfers back to the work environment, even if everyone is remote, this feeling of “look what we can do…together.”
So, the short answer is collaborative art, but the long answer to what do we do is so much richer. This art translates into murals, public art, family art, and most important shored stories of conquering a challenge together.
We are mobile, so we work wherever your team is gathering, and after working with 90,000 people we know how to finesse out the best results, and never ever leave a paint stain.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I go into almost every conversation thinking that person will be a mentor. Maybe for 10 minutes, maybe for 10 years. In the beginning, I think the most important thing you can do as either a coach or a mentee, is be fully in the conversation. Lean in, take notes and most importantly, ask the person the question they want you to ask.
That is a skill, listening, understanding, being aware that your mentor has a story or lesson they really want to tell you, you just need to find the question they want you to ask them. It is like turning a giant key in a giant lock. The knowledge will be revealed when you ask the right question, with the right heart.
In my latest book, Begin. Become. Believe. A leadership journey for teens, I talk about how we are listening, we boomers and millennials, (I have one foot in each camp). When a young person asks our advice or better yet comes to us with an idea for making the world a better place, we are listening like never before. We know, from years of being in the game, that the game needs new players, and you and your idea just might be the idea to get behind.
Pricing:
- Our events are priced by bid, but begin at $600 per canvas and are adjusted according to the needs of the team.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://canvascreekteams.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/canvascreekteams
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-grosz/
