Hi all,

I was offline for two days last week. But it was one of the best experiences in my life. What happened those days? We have a Team Building program at Udaya Samudra Beach resort Kovalam, Kerala, India. The entire program is setup by the HR guys of my company and free of charge for sure!!!

The UDS resort is about 100m. from Kovalam beach and by the sea shore. They’ve got good rooms, staff and a beautiful receptionist!! The sea was a bit shaky due to the monsoons and thus we missed the seawater games. Anyway the swimming pool of the resort was fair enough.

The Team Building Program

The team building process is managed by two HR consultants from B’lore. They performed well with a variety of programs and exercises.

Day 1:

Ice Breaker – Who’s Who

The first session, brief intro & Who’s who. Trainer’s intro.

Musical Chair – Introductions

A musical chair game is arranged to get everyone to the mood. Three of the participants will miss the chair each time and are suppose to introduce them.

Making Teams

The total 54 people are spitted to 4 groups & names are set for each of them. Me belongs to the Scorpions!!!

Multi-Way Tug-of-War

Then the show began. Most of us have seen the 2 way Tug-of-War, i.e. the game in which two groups pulling a Rope in opposite directions. The team which managed to drag the others a mark towards them will win.

But this one was different. From the central knot there is a total of four ropes for all the four teams. Each will be pulled outwards from the knot n 90 degrees each other.

The point of this game is that nobody will win if a perfect 90degree angle is maintained between the ropes. So it’s the time to learn the power of team work and planning !!!

‘Train’ing

Here come the human trains of the four groups. Initially all the members of the train get blind-folded. Just before that we’ll be instructed with the destination and there we go. The train’s movement was controlled by non verbal commands. Each team needs o set up it’s own command set. We just made it with the help of some smart guys with a thin fold covering their eyes.

The second game was a bit different. Here also all members are blind-folded except the last person. At the starting point he will be presented with a route and he should lead the train to the destination safely using nonverbal commands. We finished it perfectly.

What I’ve learned: In a project or company if the leader is able foresee the traps and pits in the way to the goal, the team will be fine as long the there is a better communication flow between the team members.

More to come. I’ll them tomorrow. Feeling sleepy now!!

Mine Maze

Treasure Hunt

Camp Fire