Two years ago, David Braner was traveling in England with his family when they visited a tourist site that required visitors to answer questions and solve problems in order to “escape” a room.
Braner said he realized this approach could work for companies, too.
So he created Newton’s Cube, a Naperville-based startup that offers participants a series of puzzles, tasks and clues that aim to promote team-building.
It’s almost like a “real-life TV drama,” Braner said.
Newton’s Cube says it offers a fun and unique approach to team-building through a “hands-on environment” in which participants experiment with new problem-solving and communication skills. Braner said the program includes a custom iPad application integrated into the experience.
Participants solve problems as a team inside a room called “the Cube.” For example, Braner said, one team might hear a sequence of sounds that it must convert into a corresponding message.
Participants are videotaped while they’re working so that they can learn how they functioned — or didn’t function — as a team.
Newton’s Cube shares the concept of Room Escape Adventures, a team-building activity that offers locations throughout the U.S., including Chicago, in which participants rely on teamwork, communication skills and creativity to escape a room.
Braner said his company adds learning and evaluation components. He said a facilitator might say to a participant who completed a segment: “I saw that you picked up several books and were about to say something but decided against it — then later, you were looking at some of the items on the desk and had the same behavior. What is keeping you from wanting to share your thoughts with the team?”
Braner said he left his job as CIO at Nitel, a telecom-management service, in February to start his company, with no outside investment money. He said he started with the concept of the U.K. tourist site and, as he envisioned during his vacation, worked to make it “more professional and couple it with more teambuilding, wrap a bow around it and go to market.”
He said he started accepting paying customers in October and that members of five companies, including Bosch Tool’s leadership team, have gone through the experience. He charges $400 to $600 per person depending on the number of people doing the course and on what they want to learn. Participants can focus on the behaviors of a cohesive team, for example.
“I think the approach with the riddle is a fun and smart way to approach dynamics and functions within any team,” Heiko Fischer, president and CEO of Bosch Tool, wrote in an email to Blue Sky.
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The approach aims to help corporate teams undergo transitions and develop trust, Braner said.
Braner said he hires facilitators for the program as he needs them and that “I’ve been aligning myself with good speakers and people who are good with the disciplines.” He said he plans to start hiring staff members once business picks up.
Fischer of Bosch Tool said he appreciated the input from Braner’s group and that he has signed up another division from his company for Newton’s Cube.
“This is a good starting point to work on concrete measures for how to become a better team,” he said.