People Experiences Conversations Applications
Team Solutions Florida
This is the most challenging page to put together. Our programs center on the people in the circle — their experience, their conversations, and what they carry back to real life.
During a session, my role is to set the stage, design the initiatives, and ask questions that open things up. Then I give the group room to work. The discoveries, challenges, and wins belong to the participants. On the drive home, my tongue usually feels like it went through a workout from holding back more commentary than I gave.
Team Solutions Florida draws from a deep network of experienced facilitators across the region. Depending on the size and goals of your program, we bring in people whose skills, backgrounds, and styles best match your group. What they share: a commitment to people-first programs, meaningful shared experiences, real conversations, and practical applications for work and life.
Greg Affleck is the quiet Rock of South Florida’s ropes and challenge course world. He built Florida International University’s TRAC Ropes Course in the mid-1990s and continues to manage and oversee the program today. He designs, inspects, and builds ropes/challenge courses, and he brings that same level of care and craft to the sessions he facilitates.
Over more than 30 years, Greg’s team-building experience has grown from an extensive adult and juvenile therapeutic background. He has led programs with US Olympic Sailing and done deep group work with special needs and “at risk” students for the Dade County Public Schools system. Greg has a calm, tuned-in presence and a rare ability to ask the one question that unlocks the whole conversation.
Greg’s proudest achievements are his daughter and son. His daughter is a George Washington University graduate with honors and is working with the Irish Embassy in Washington, DC. His son is building a career in AI development and internet security after his time at UCF. His photo is hidden somewhere on this site… there may or may not be a prize if you find it.
Greg and I are very different in style, and very aligned in principles and corew values: every group is unique and deserves our full focus and effort, every single time.
Everything we do is grounded in experiential learning. The principles are straightforward and deeply intentional.
We start with the people in front of us: who they are, what they care about, and what they want to achieve together. From there, we design experiences and initiatives that create shared moments, honest reflection, and useful insights.
Our focus stays on four elements:
People – the individuals and the group in the room today
Experiences – the activities and challenges they move through together
Conversations – the meaning they create from what just happened
Applications – how they carry that meaning back to their work, their team, and the rest of their lives
Many participants arrive used to classroom-style lectures on communication, leadership, and teamwork. Our programs give them something different: real experiences, shared with their colleagues, guided by thoughtful questions and space to reflect.
As facilitators, we guide the process, keep people safe, and help the group see what their experiences are revealing. The goal is simple: turn a powerful day together into clear, usable steps that make a difference at work and beyond.
I came to team building through lifelong experiences. I’ve lived my life in teams.
Before I was born, my father was a Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Rangers fan. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, he moved to Baltimore, converted us into Orioles fans, and spent my childhood on the sidelines as my Little League and soccer coach. Eventually I made my own version of the big leagues, working for the Orioles when they won the World Series in 1983. From early sports teams to that championship season, I grew up inside groups of people chasing shared goals.
About 20 years ago, I was introduced to ropes and challenge courses at Tim Eberle’s Leadership Ranch in southwest Missouri. That’s where I built my foundation in experiential learning. Through the Ranch, I joined one of the finest challenge course environments around: the Missouri Children’s Burn Camp (now the Midwest Children’s Burn Camp), working alongside founding director and children’s author Linda Hansen and former St. Louis Fire Captain Larry Conley of LDC “Glue.”
After relocating to Southeast Florida and meeting Greg, I happily drove farther and earned less just to work with him at FIU’s TRAC Ropes Course as lead facilitator on the Biscayne Bay Campus. Years of programs and thousands of participants later, COVID shifted everything to virtual.
In 2021, Florida Atlantic University recruited me to lead their Challenge Course into the post-COVID era. In 2024, I stepped away to focus on growing Team Solutions Florida, return “home” to FIU, and support other challenge courses and experiential organizations in the region.
Alongside all of this, I’ve stayed immersed in teams through the arts — first theater, then Rock & Roll and Blues bands. As a professional harmonica player, I’ve spent time in Los Angeles recording studios, but my real passion is live performance. From bars to festivals, the most meaningful shows so far have been three tours with guitarist Matt Ward for the U.S. Military’s Armed Forces Entertainment. I still play with Blues and Rock & Roll bands throughout the region whenever I can.
I also put my BFA in Graphic Design to work on visual projects and branding whenever the schedule allows.
Since every group has unique circumstances and requirements, a single pricing policy is not effective. Considerations that affect pricing include number of participants, travel time, location, and duration of the program.
Use the form below, email or call us to begin the conversation. Phone, Zoom or in-person discussion is usually the most effective option to zero in on the most appropriate program for you and your group.
Thanks for your consideration…
Suggested Resources
There are thousands of books on leadership, communication and topics around personal interaction and effectiveness. Here are three. You may not have been exposed to two of these books. The other is a classic, a pillar in the field. You can decide ….
“The Leader Who Is Hardly Known” - Self-less Teaching from the Chinese Tradition.”
by Dr. Steven Simpson -
This book uses Tao teachings to touch on concepts that speak directly to facilitators, educators, anyone looking to guide others through experiential programs of personal discovery.
The book consists of short vignettes that follow a theme, easy to pick up, read a few chapters as time allows, then return to it as time allows.
“Why We Do What We Do”
by Edward Deci,
Postulates that three elements, used together, motivate people. They are:
* Autonomy - people want a say in the process to feel accomplished with the results.
* Competency - as they get better at the required skills, as they understand the project it becomes more satisfying.
* Community - people gravitate towards groups, large or small, that share … something. Goal, preferences, interests, a hometown …
We see these elements play out with most groups. Many books touch on these elements. This is one version that resonates.
“Emotional Intelligence”
by Daniel Goleman
Would be on the Mount Rushmore of books in this genre.
If you haven’t looked inside the pages, it is highly recommended…
People Experiences Conversation Applications
All images are from actual programs. No stock photos.
