Next Step Builds Teams

Next Step works with YOU to develop an experience that builds YOUR team. We start where you are and lead you to take the steps for closer collaboration.

Team Building icon Next Step Adventure, colored dots connected by a circle

We use a framework that blends fun, mindfulness, creativity, safety, goals, and feedback as a foundation for working together effectively.

We have a BIG toolkit that includes food, art, games, puzzles and discussion to create a team building package that fits YOU.

Real Colors Personality Inventory

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Real Colors® is a dynamic workshop experience based on the Myers Briggs personality test. We use a simple inventory to help your group:

  • Understand themselves and those around them better
  • Uncover motivators specific to their own temperament
  • Increase their own efficacy through self knowledge
  • Improve understanding and communication with others
  • Practice working with a group that has a lot of different personalities; it can be a challenge

Imagine stepping back from potential conflict to remember where you’re coming from, and where the other person is coming from. How would it change things if you could clearly communicate your thoughts and ideas to clients, friends and family? Picture yourself having a unique level of insight into the things that motivate you and others. Envision achieving what you want from life, both personally and professionally.

Blog posts related to Real Colors
  • Collaborate
    The cover on the New Yorker this week made me really sad. It seems the light of the Lady of Liberty has gone out. I just signed up to lead an effort in support of immigration and refugee rights. Not …
  • Strengthen Relationships
    Whether online, at work or at home, I measure the quality of my life by the health of my relationships. How am I feeling about the people and organizations I connect with? What am I accomplishing through those relationships? Are …

Want your group to work more effectively together?

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Poverty Simulations

Poverty is a reality for thousands of individuals and families. It’s easy to overlook, and unless you’ve lived without an ample income, it’s hard to understand how it feels on a day to day basis. A Next Step Poverty Simulation bridges the gap from misconception to awareness through interactive immersion experiences, and help your group to:

  • Increase awareness of the challenges of living on less than a living wage
  • Develop empathy toward people who struggle to live with insufficient means
  • Inspire participants to be advocates for those who are less wealthy
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Poverty simulation conducted by Next Step for a corporate team in a conference room

Your simulated “community” will be a large room. When you walk in, you receive an identity and a role you’ll play throughout the simulation. Stipended volunteers provide the “services” you and your neighbors will need through the “month” of the simulation. Just like in real life, limited time for getting to work, school, paying bills and securing services will challenge you to feed and care for your family, stay honest, and remain true to your values. We use the MACA Poverty Simulation, but if your group is small or spread out, Next Step developed an online simulation during COVID that may fit your needs perfectly.

Blog posts related to Poverty Simulations
  • Day of the Girl
    October 11 is International Day of the Girl. This is an opportunity to celebrate the power of girls, discuss the challenges girls face worldwide, and take action to advance the rights of girls everywhere. The statistics are staggering: International Day …
  • Awareness, Understanding, Perspective, Change
    A poverty simulation is an interactive experience where folks try to survive the day-to-day realities of living with a low income.
  • Soulmates
    As I plunge the depths of art and yoga, as I travel more, and find new next steps, it’s great to have a team member that can finish my sentences, and pick up my work where I leave it.

Would you like your team to develop more empathy for people?

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Communication Skills

Sometimes it seems we’re all talking past each other, if we’re talking at all! We need community more than ever, and we need to find ways and places to discuss the stuff we really care about. Our Next Step Team can help you

  • Use mindfulness techniques to focus on what’s most important to you
  • Pay attention to your intuition, and learn to trust it
  • Write your memoir or your resume
  • Learn to listen to feelings, and express your own effectively
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Communication Skills

Our Team brings education and experience in counseling, education, youth development, grant and technical writing, and communication skills

Blog posts related to Communication Skills
  • Storytelling with Drake Students
    Martha and I bundled up on a very snowy morning in early January, and drove to the Hotel Pattee in Perry Iowa. Lopso, the resident dog greeted us warmly at the back door. His name complements the fact that he …
  • A Mindfulness Practice – What? Why? How?
    Well, as strange as it may sound, my mindfulness practice actually makes it easier to keep all those balls in the air. It helps me remember that only one thing happens at a time.
  • Helping Student Athletes Navigate Emotions
    Whether we need to run away, stand up for ourselves, or have a good cry, rushing away from “bad” feelings might keep us from experiencing life in a healthy way.

We may not have the answer, but can we help you find the next question?

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Retreats

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Abbie Sawyer at the Central Iowa Yoga Retreat

We always start our retreat planning with some questions. Who will we be working with? How do they feel about this upcoming retreat? What do you want to have happen at the retreat? Are you looking to boost your staff’s morale? Do you want to create deeper bonds to promote effectiveness? Or just give ’em a break from the every day every day, get away from it all & have some fun?

  • We use YOUR organization’s interests and direction…
  • To plan a multi-faceted day of work and fun…
  • That is OUT of the ordinary

Your retreat can be a day or a series of days. It can include anything and everything from art to cooking, from games to hikes. From Real Colors to yoga.

Blog posts related to Retreats
  • Awareness, Understanding, Perspective, Change
    A poverty simulation is an interactive experience where folks try to survive the day-to-day realities of living with a low income.
  • Retreat Dreaming
    We’re less than six months out from the 11th annual Central Iowa Yoga Retreat. Check out the early bird pricing now through November 26th, 2022! We can’t wait to see you all there!
  • A Mindfulness Practice – What? Why? How?
    Well, as strange as it may sound, my mindfulness practice actually makes it easier to keep all those balls in the air. It helps me remember that only one thing happens at a time.

Can you find the time to get away from it all, even a half day?

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