Team Development Center

Shaver’s Creek customized team development and leadership programs enable group members to learn about one another, build stronger connections, and enhance organizational dynamics. We give you an opportunity to step away from your normal routine to dedicate time toward learning and personal growth through meaningful engagement and experiential activities. Whether you are a department staff, business group, sports team, student organization, or other type of work (established) team, we can provide a tangible experience with applicable takeaways and learnings. Our talented and diverse corps of facilitators makes it possible for us to design a team development program or staff retreat geared specifically to the strategic goals of your group or organization.

Program Design

From social engagement and networking programs to full-day staff retreats, our programs are designed based on a client assessment that enables us to facilitate specific goals. Team-building activities can focus on skills critical to successful team performance: cooperation, trust, effective communication, commitment, and leadership. Through experiential activities and shared observations, our skilled facilitators will guide the group through a conversation about what they learned and how to apply the experience back to their “real-world” situation. Participants gain a greater awareness of the group process and learn skills that, when transferred back to their home environment, can promote stronger relationships both internally and externally and improve performance.

We believe all programs should begin with a foundation of connection. From there, our programs take you on a journey through activities to help unleash the fullest potential of your team. Along with fun and engaging activities to better understand team dynamics, we can facilitate content that helps develop and define:

• team member leadership styles using various models
• purpose or “Why” statements
• strategic thinking toward personal and organizational goals

Here you can find some sample agendas for team development programs. Perusing this page can give you a better understanding of our program flows.

Scheduling a Program

The Shaver’s Creek Team Development Center provides programs year-round. Please email the team development staff at teamdevelopment@psu.edu to discuss planning a program or retreat for your organization or team. We custom design programs based on your unique goals. Shaver’s Creek staff, along with contract facilitators, are trained professionals from a variety of backgrounds who will guide your team through a meaningful experience. Chris Ortiz, program director, and Stacey Budd, program coordinator, are available to you every step of the way — from planning to delivery of your program. You can find out more about them on our Meet the Staff page.

When exploring a program date, please note that we prefer to have a booking window of 4 weeks, minimum. This gives us enough time to mobilize our contract facilitators to fulfill your program needs.

Pricing for customized programs is dependent on the program design, location, duration, and number of participants.