Strawberry Outbound: Helping to Create an Amicable and Productive Workplace

We are living in exciting times, where we no longer have to sit in a cubicle and slog through nine hours straight. Taking care of our mental health and increasing productiveness have become of utmost important for companies.

In accordance, special sessions are set in motion to reduce stress and provide the best scenarios to channel our minds to produce the best work. And in tight office scenarios, corporate outbound training might help.

Such training programs are carried out by experts like Strawberry Outbound. In the following interview with the CEO, Somit Doshi, we will learn about the company and how it is helping its clients by continuously innovating its programs to create a meaningful environment for employees.

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its inception and the overall journey till date.

Strawberry Outbound dates back to 1998 pioneering experential learning in India. Over the years the operations has taken many dramatic changes from incepting and running company retreats for outbound training to introducing new activties to bringing globally acclaimed team formats.

2. What are the values, vision, and mission of your company?

Values – Integrity and Evolution.

Mission – Hope to play our part to make the world a happier place.

3. How do you diversify your training programs based on the needs of your clientele?

Diversity is mandatory. The needs of the client are directly dependent on the team size, duration in hand, season, objectives, team profile, and budgets. We had to offer a wider range of services than now included fun engagements for a shorter duration, longer haul for leadership engagement, bonding trips for new teams, trust-building sessions to intense team dynamics offsite.

4. According to you, what are the loopholes in the current corporate outbound training environment?

‘Loopholes’ might not be the right choice of words. Evolving companies might want to pay greater attention to Safety Standards and Insurance.

5. How does experiential learning help your clients overcome their challenges? How does it help to create a better environment in a workplace?

It’s a case of bringing teams to be natural, comfortable and drop inhibitions. Once we achieve this stage, we can look at real situations and real responses. Only if we know what is inside each one of us, we can really work to create a meaningful environment.

6. Share your views on the latest industry trends in the Outbound Training Market. How are you keeping up with them?

The industry is constantly evolving and highly dynamic. You could get outdated in a year. Its about being on your feet constantly striving to take your programs to the next level.

7. What are your future plans for the company? Where do you see the company in the years to come?

Strangely, we stay away from ‘Setting targets’. We believe is we handle our today to the best we can, the future will take care of itself. The pressure is off and positivity kicks in.

Fortunately, no global entity can ignore India. With more companies setting up operations in India each day, the opportunity is huge. Like I mentioned earlier, we just like to be a happy company playing its part to create more happy companies.

About The CEO

Mr. Doshi started his venture of Strawberry at a time when it was hard to comprehend the concept of outdoor learning in India. The initial years for him and his team were hard in India. In the subsequent years, for the longest time, no more than 3-4 companies began to offer the same service. Hence, Mr. Doshi took initiative to ‘invent’ and ‘outgrow’ the company with experimentations with new activities and formats to meet the needs of the niche market. Today, the company’s success is the result of his and his team’s decisions and approaches.