Team Building Events

Just returned from the beautiful beach of Bali, where we are staying since last one week for our official meetings. Till now, I was more than happy enjoying the Sunrise on the Beach, everyday morning.. 

But today, the agenda said - Team Building Session, post lunch. We were instructed to meet at the beach at 2pm. ok..

But once we walked to the beach, we realized, what it means to be at the Beach at 2pm.. till you are in shade.. you enjoy the breeze but the moment you step out in the sun.. it hurts, it's even difficult to open the eyes..

Somehow, it seems to be a Bad Idea, to do some kind of activity at the Beach in the afternoon session.. We started by choosing the teams and then the instructer started with some stretching exercises and we went through 4-5 games..

The mind, seems to be, not devoted to the task during the first game but as we progressed it seems mind just forgot the scorching sun and the natural instinct, to Compete and Win, took over and we all enjoyed till the very end..

Observations > A few were ready to jump in to take decisions, make strategies.. others were supporting with new ideas for better performance.. a few were doing the hard tasks required to be done by tough guys.. others participating in other tasks as integrators with whatever help they can do.. So, it seems, everyone was playing their part as per their strength, to add some kind of Value, to remain ahead and to push the team towards the Winning Post. This all was going on, even when we did not knew many of the team members properly and no one was giving instructions to individual members.. wow great.. that's really is working as a Team.

I think, such team building events are good exercises to bring the best out of individual members. These should not be taken lightly and in fact should be closely watched by the management and even HR, to understand the capabilities of the individuals and then delegate related/similar official tasks to every individual. We can easily find New Leaders, people who are good in making strategies, hard and soft nuts.. This can easily drive to the Best possible Resource Management within an organization. Such exercises also throw up, unexpected results, showing up faces of individuals, who can not gel in a team and are not good team players. HR should be able to mark such individuals and put in some correctional programs, so that everyone plays/works as a Team and Build a Stronger Organization..

..I enjoyed this thoroughly and my advice to all .. please always try to be the part of such exercises or organize such things regularly for your teams and enjoy the Game. 

Life is a Project

Recently, when I posted a few pictures on my Facebook account, which I took while on a walk along the Singapore River, I received many calls from my friends asking for my whereabouts..

Surprisingly, I was stationed at the same spot, working in the same company and almost doing same things which I was doing for last many years. The only difference was I had de-activated my Facebook account for almost 4~5 months and so none of my friends noticed any activity from my end..

Actually, a few months back, I had landed in a new interim role to handle a short term project. It was something which I had never done in my 25 years of career. I could sense a lot of learning experience opportunities in that Project, so I accepted that role as a Challenge to myself than any other person.. 

I was in a situation, where there was absolutely no hand over and no one to mentor me, for the day to day work.. with a very few supporting minds and many critics, in the vicinity, to pounce on chances of my failure. In fact, many were ready to take a bet on my failure.

The only good thing for me is the support of my superiors, so I decided not to let them down, with my failure and took every criticism with a smile, accepting my inexperience but taking firm steps to move forward slowly & taking firm decisions, based on logic and basic Business sense.. 

During all this, I tried to put this Project on top priority and stopped doing all other things which can be neglected.. like I de-activated my Facebook account, even reduced frequency of accessing my personal mails and many such small things, which saved me a lot of time to focus on my core priority and believe me, it helped a lot..

Now I am back to my normal grind, with that Project finished.. I am really not sure, what I did and how I performed against the expectations but it was not a failure.. so I am starting back many a small items in my To-do list, including writing this Blog.. I enjoy to jot down my thoughts but my love for my work pulls me back, many a times and forces me to stay away from such low priority items.. 

That's Life, it's full of activities, take each activity as a Project, mark a Priority for each activity and try to focus on a few top priorities.. no one can do all the things simultaneously. Better to focus on a few Key Activities and perform successfully. The sense of achievement boosts your morale, enhance your experience and keep you ready to accept new challenges, in your every day Life. Always try to depend on your Basics, to guide yourself out of tough situations..

I did it, you can also try to do the same.. Enjoy the Moments, try to make each Moment memorable, so that you can cherish those memories, when you sit back and relax.. Enjoy the Life!!!