Up in the treetops: ziplining, paintball great for teambuilding.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: CONFERENCE & CONVENTION

If you show up at Treetop Adventures, ready to fly through the trees on a zipline, or shoot a round of paintball with colleagues, you're advised to check your ego at the door. Fostering team cohesion only works if everyone remembers the Sault-area outfit's adopted motto: "the collective ego is greater than the individual ego."

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Established five years ago in Goulais River on the family farm, Cindy and Murray Joseph and their three kids host visitors who come looking for adventure in all four seasons. Activities include ziplining, paintball, human foosball, an obstacle course and educational teambuilding exercises.

The activities have become popular amongst the corporate crowd looking for novel team-bonding exercises that get their employees out of the office and working together, Cindy Joseph said.

"It's an excellent corporate bonding experience because nobody's an expert," she said. "If you go golfing with your corporate team, you've got the golfers and you've got the people that don't golf. If you go skiing, you have those people that are experienced. Well, this is something new and nobody's an expert, so everybody comes out and they're on an even playing field."

In the five years since opening, the Josephs have worked slowly and steadily to build capacity. In 2011, Treetop Adventures received the Business Development Award from the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce. This year, the company received funding from Entrepreneurs Francophone PLUS to rebuild its website in a bilingual format.

Improvements have been made to the activities. The "mega zip," billed as the fastest zipline in Ontario, received a new braking system, which reduces the intensity of the ride, making it more palatable to a wider range of guests.

The Josephs have also added a rating system and detour ladders for the zipline course so that clients can bypass certain segments of the course they find difficult. Since implementing the system, Joseph said 100 per cent of the clients are able to complete the course.

Guests love the two paintball courses that have been added, and Joseph said she now gets more corporate clients interested in paintball than ziplining.

"Everybody loves to 'shoot' their boss, right?" she laughed.

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Joseph also facilitates educational teambuilding exercises that help assess personality types within a group. When given opportunities for self-reflection...