Merliners in collaboration to solve a tough challenge
That was 6 hours of playing hard continuously, even during lunch time, we also had a task to complete. In total, I participated in 6 different activities with 6 different teams; therefore, I had chances to talk and know more people, especially in my nest Merlin. Besides, I also learned some lessons about teamwork:
Lesson 1: Communication is the most essential factor that contribute the success of the team
Although I participated in many group work activities that needed a lot of discussion when I was in high school, sometimes I still struggled with the same kind of activities in Team Building Day. I could recognized a significant difference between the working process of the team who fully understood each other and the one who did not. For example, in the Crossing Crocodile River Game, my team easily understood each other, thus we built a thorough strategy for the game, well collaborated and won the game. Meanwhile, in the Building Spaghetti Tower game, I didn’t fully understand my teammate’s proposed strategy and he seemed not to understand my feedback. Thus we weren’t convinced by each other and didn’t do anything right until the last minutes.
Perhaps I didn’t well communicate because most activities with intensive discussion I joined in high school were academic-oriented and I felt more comfortable expressing academic ideas than expressing seemingly simple, action-oriented ideas. Another reason was during the academic discussion, I could use textbook to ease our explanation while during the Team Building activities, and my means of communication were simply speech and gestures.
In conclusion, effective communication is very crucial in teamwork. I didn’t do well in some activates because I didn’t succeed in expressing my ideas as well as understanding others. I need to improve my English communication skills in aspects other than academics. Fortunately, I had chances to observe to learn from REDbird members who are good communicators.
Lessons 2: ALL team members need to contribute to the team plan and fully concentrate on finishing it
During the lunch time activities, each REDbird group had to taking 2 creative photos and 1 video. I was willing to contribute my ideas and I believed my teammates also actively participate in the activity. However, our task didn’t run smoothly, even though we reached a complete plan. I noticed that some team members did not contribute in the planning process and not fully focus on finishing the plan. The same situation happened in the Bucket Challenge: one team member told me at the end of the game that he should have a better strategy. I realized that a person’s nod or his/her silence can’t be regarded as acceptance. It is better to encourage them to express their opinion so that he/she will felt engaged with the team and the whole team will have a better vision.
Lesson 3: Sometimes an experienced leader is needed to unite the team
This was a factor which contributes to the victory of one of my teams. We succeed in the Building Human Tower because we had Nadia, a senior member, in our team. She played this game before and thus had many experiences. Using those experiences, she could easily manage team discussion, as team members trusted her and felt willing to express their idea with her. She could also unite and guide the team to effectively implement the common strategy.
The Team Building Day had lots of fun and useful tips for building teamwork skills. I hoped there would be more this kind of activity in the future.