Using the Outdoors to Facilitate Personal Change in Managers

Describes an empirical research study focusing on a specific form of personal development for managers – the use of the outdoors. This development activity is believed to enhance managers′ understanding of themselves and the ways in which they interact with others, enabling them to operate more effectively in today′s turbulent business environment. Four outcome hypotheses were tested: increased self‐awareness, increased ability to “learn how to learn”, positive changes to individual′s self‐concept and increased use of “openness” behaviours. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used in testing the hypotheses. Although discrepancies arose between the qualitative and quantitative results, they do indicate that participants in the programme realized higher levels of self‐esteem and reported increased use of “openness” behaviours six months after the end of the programme.