CHALLENGES

#1: In order to be an effective leader at Ecolab you’ll need to be able to handle stressful situations and make clear-headed decisions. Later this week is International Yoga Day, a holiday intended to create awareness about meditation and its benefits. Get your team to the grassy area along the river just south of the lift bridge (near the flag pole). Once there, find the yoga and meditation expert that will lead your team through a short mindfulness routine. Once finished, the instructor will take a picture of your team while you all strike your favorite yoga poses. This checkpoint is required and will be open from 5:30pm to 6:30pm. If you arrive and another group is already there you can join in and the instructor will confirm once you have completed the full routine.

Connection Question For Challenge #1

#2: This past weekend many people honored the dads in their lives. To keep the love going, anywhere around town take a video of your team members hugging or high-fiving any male who is pushing a stroller as you give him words of encouragement such as "we believe in you", "you're awesome", "you're doing a great job", etc. Make sure your video shows the stroller at some point, although the child doesn’t need to be recorded.

Connection Question For Challenge #2

#3: Stillwater is considered the Birthplace of Minnesota because in 1848 the first territorial convention that began the process of establishing Minnesota as a State was held here in town. Find the plaque that marks the location of the actual birthplace and have someone take a picture of your team next to the plaque while you all reenact a scene you might find in a birthing room at a hospital. If your team doesn’t want the somewhat traumatic memory of portraying an actual birth on a Stillwater sidewalk, maybe you could use a nearby inanimate object as the newly arrived baby and take a love-filled family picture with it.

Connection Question For Challenge #3

#4: Old-time loggers here in Stillwater would warn of an arcane maiden who wished to distract the travelers with her serenade. Get to the brewery here in town that is named for this mysterious woman’s beckoning. Once there, find the tabletop game inside called Skeech. Take a video of anyone on your team rolling one of the metal balls into the 5-point hole, while standing at the standard release spot at the opposite end of the table. If a group of strangers are playing the game when you arrive, you can film any of them successfully dropping a 5-point shot and then your team celebrating wildly with them.

Connection Question For Challenge #4

#5: Anywhere around the area find an active military person or a veteran. Then take a video of them watching your entire team doing 10 push-ups, sit-ups or jumping jacks at their feet to honor their strength and courage. After you’ve finished recording, spend a few minutes learning more about their time in the service before you depart, as a small gesture of appreciation.

Connection Question For Challenge #5

#6: For more than 100 years, Ecolab has been Protecting What’s Vital by working to improve the health of people, planet and business around the world. Research shows that consuming raw garlic can boost your immune system, so take a video of all your team members each chewing a separate raw clove of garlic for at least 15 full seconds. Team members should be actively chewing the clove and not just holding it in their mouths. Disclaimer, although healthy this will likely not be pleasant, which is exactly the point. Because a team that suffers together, grows together.

Connection Question For Challenge #6

#7: Started and still based here in Stillwater is the Share With Others organization, who sells products to advance the front yard sharing movement such as Little Free Libraries, Little Free Pantries, and much more. The organization is run by family members of Todd Bol, the late founder of the Little Free Library. Anywhere along the way buy one small non-perishable item and then click HERE to see a Sharing Library located here in town. Take your item to this “pantry” and take a picture or video of your team leaving your item in the box for someone in need. As an added hint, you can find this box close to a place you would get some really grand pizza here in town.

Connection Question For Challenge #7

#8: Ecolab believes in the importance of water in protecting the environment, human health and economic development in it’s communities. To be more mindful of how Ecolab’s leadership must work together to achieve the company’s water stewardship goals, complete the “Water Walk” challenge. Get every team member a large (16 ounces or so) open-top paper, plastic, or foam cup and fill it with water. Then somewhere outdoors, line up shoulder to shoulder and have each team member balance a full cup on their head. Once everyone’s cups are balanced, hold hands with the team members on either side of you and take a video of your team working together to all take 10 steps forward without anyone touching their own cup (or another team member’s cup) or having it spill. If someone’s cup spills make sure to encourage them and then refill any spilled cups and start again as a team. After your team successfully travels 10 steps together dump the cups to prove they were full, and celebrate!

Connection Question For Challenge #8

#9: Some of the most important skills for Ecolab’s leadership to have are the ability to communicate effectively and work together with others towards a common goal. These skills will also help you successfully complete this challenge. Get to any intersection with a traffic light. Have someone take a video of your team as everyone is standing shoulder to shoulder in a tight clump/circle with your backs all facing in and your arms interlocked. When the light turns green slowly lower the entire interlocked group to the ground until you are in a seated position with your butts on the ground. Then work together to slowly stand all the way back up while remaining interlocked the entire time. To successfully complete the challenge, your entire interlocked team needs to be standing up again before the traffic light in the background changes to red. To watch a video of a group performing this maneuver click HERE.

Connection Question For Challenge #9

#10: Ecolab is proud to be a diverse company with a unique blend of cultures, histories and traditions! But in order for a company to be truly inclusive, everyone must listen to each other and understand the stories that make someone who they are. Take a video of your team and any stranger that has a tattoo while they explain what that tattoo means to them or why they got it. The tattoo must be visible at some point during the video.

Connection Question For Challenge #10

#11: Although Stillwater was always a lumber town and had considerable risk to fire, it wasn’t until the great Chicago Fire that locals realized a catastrophic fire of the same nature could occur here and action was taken to organize a trained and equipped fire organization. To honor the brave firefighters that protect this community, take a video of your team completing "Stop, Drop, and Roll" while any regulation/operable fire extinguisher is visible in the background. Be sure to yell each step of the fire safety technique as you all do it together and make sure the fire extinguisher is clearly visible at some point in your video.

Connection Question For Challenge #11

#12: Anywhere around the area, find an establishment that has an animal in it's name and take a fun team picture or video with everyone posing or acting like that specific animal while the establishment’s signage is clearly visible in the background. Please note you’re looking for a place with the animal in it’s actual name such as "The Friendly Giraffe" and not a place that lists an animal as something that is served there such as "Joe’s Fresh Fish Stand".

Connection Question For Challenge #12

#13: Being able to focus while surrounded by distractions is a skill that will help you succeed in your leadership role at Ecolab. This challenge will test how well you can do that. Click HERE to get to the brain puzzles and then select “Memory”. Then, anywhere along the way have at least two team members achieve a score of 50 or more points. Once you have your two super focused teammates, take a celebratory picture of them while they’re displaying their phone screens and the point totals are clearly visible. If needed, you can take an additional close-up picture of the two devices to clearly show the point totals (for bragging purposes of course).

Connection Question For Challenge #13

#14: Get to any clothing or apparel store and find two different items with enough in stock that every team member can be wearing the same two items in their own sizes. Then take a fun team picture with everyone wearing those items. For example it may be a wacky shirt, and a pair of shorts. Or maybe some cozy slippers and a large sun hat. As long as everyone is wearing the same exact two items but in their own sizes.

Connection Question For Challenge #14

#15: Over the years, we’ve found that the teams that bond the most are the ones that do something meaningful or impactful together. So here is your chance. Find a postcard that features this area in some way, or a fun greeting card, and purchase it. Then click HERE to go to the Love For Our Elders project, which is focused on fighting loneliness with love, one letter at a time. As a team, choose someone from their list whose story or background resonates with you. Then on your card include a fun or uplifting message and sign it. Take a picture with it to show you've completed your Act Of Kindness and then at some point along the way or after your event ends stamp it and drop it in the mail.

Connection Question For Challenge #15