The session aimed to bring a team closer through team building games and encourage thinking beyond obvious solutions. Various games helped participants realize the impact of individual biases and difficulties reaching consensus. They learned the importance of discipline, patience, clear boundaries, and grassroots leadership to achieve targets. A task requiring inventive use of resources demonstrated how thinking outside the box and team synergy can ensure success. Further games showed how accepted norms can limit growth and the importance of collaboration over competition to build trust and win-win situations. Key learnings included that teams can exist despite differences, followers impact effectiveness, collaboration is needed in tough times, and sharing information is vital for team building.

1. “Together we win”
HR Strategy facilitated by Shyam V Iyer
6th April 2011, Whalwan Guest House, Lonavala
Objective:
This session aimed at bringing the team closer thru team building games and to provoke the team to think beyond obvious.
Process followed:
The session started in the afternoon on 6th April 2011. The effect of individual values, beliefs, prejudices in making stereotypes and generalizations were shown to the participants thru the game – The Sailor and the Girl. This also made participants realize, how difficult it is to generate consensus in the large scale and how, in the group, some members feel alienated and marginalized even after the best effort by the leader.
Then the group was engaged with the wayward flock game – in the debriefing, the participants talked about experiential learning about value of discipline, patience and task and time boundaries in achieving targets. They also talked about how the person closest to the leader reaches the target 1st. Also, they realized that the leader needs to come down to the grass route to take the team to achieve target. They also talked about the realization that non-existence of explicit command/ guidance by the leader does not always mean that he is neglecting his subordinates – in fact in most cases it can mean that the team is doing well.
The team was then taken thru ’20 team tasks’ to experience how we gather resources from outside conventional/ perceived boundaries to complete a given task. Inventing resources was learnt as a concept to achieve your task. Going out of your conventional way and thinking out of box helps in meeting up with your goals. Team synergy and enthusiasm levels displayed were the stepping stones for the team’s success. Every one played as an engaged employee.
Then the Group was engaged in the candle game to show what holds us back in setting and achieving stretched targets and how accepted norms of performance holds us in the ‘comfort’ zone. Target setting has to be with some past years performance, data and benchmarking with the best. Target by definition should be stretched.
Lastly ‘Win-as-much-as you-can’ was conducted to show how competition and ‘win-lose’ mentality can affect basic trust and why, , trusting others are important to create a win-win situations. The concept of co-petition (collaborate yet compete) was explained in details.
The salient learning was:
1. Team can exist in spite of individual differences
2. The followers are equally responsible for effectiveness of the team
3. Trying time calls for more collaboration and team work
4. Achievement of any great task calls for working with heart
5. Sharing information is a vital step for team building
6. Listening is a critical managerial skill