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| Team building is what it was all about in these 3 days.... |
The actual event was scheduled to start at 8.30am with the arrival and registration of participants. No, I am not on the organizing committee anymore, but coming early does have its benefits - one of which was securing a nice parking spot in the multi-level car park of the Ramada Plaza Hotel. Even though it was a weekday, and expectedly there weren't many tourists, with over a hundred participants, parking would definitely be a problem for late arrivers (hahaha, just like back at the main plant).
This year's team building was only for a day, so it was crucial to set the venue as close as possible to minimize transit time. The main objective of this event, as the title suggests, was to build a championship team. Not forgetting, of course, keeping the team together and delivering high performance results....
As time was limited, in essence the program was broken down into 4 activity sessions, with a great lunch (more on this below) and strategically timed afternoon tea break to break up the post-lunch lethargy.
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| A shout out and promotion for Iverson Upskilling Sdn Bhd |
Unlike last year's event, this year's team building was run entirely by Iverson Upskilling Sdn Bhd, which took care of practically everything except the photography. Thus, everyone has the opportunity to immerse themselves in the experience. Kudos and salutations to the new Infineon organizing committee for a great selection, and of course to the team at Iverson on a job well done. From Infineon, the highest ranking on the scene was Mr Loh JS, who had the honor of delivering the opening address as well as the closing speech. The main trainer was an interesting and colorful character who we have come to know as Zen for short (full name is quite lengthy due to a mixed Chinese-Iban-Spanish lineage). Zen proved to be the right person for the job - overflowing with energy and connected well to the team. I was really inspired by his confidence and delivery, and will try to enrich my own presentation skills accordingly.
The Ramada Plaza Hotel was surely no stranger to anyone familiar with Melaka, being here for many years (since I was a kid, as far as I can remember). Located in the old part of Melaka town, there were many interesting old-school eateries and shops in the surrounding streets for adventurous visitors and tourists to discover. Public transport would not be my first choice in getting here (luckily I have my own transport), but in this modern age one can easily invoke smartphone-based services (ie, Grab) to get around. Besides, there was always the option to carpool with the colleagues, if you find a suitable match. The hotel has a gym, pool on the 9th floor, the Zest Cafe on the ground floor (highly recommended, best mixed buffet in Melaka, IMHO) and a Chinese restaurant with Dim Sum on the 1st floor. I have never actually stayed in the hotel before (being local, no need to spend unnecessarily), so I do not yet have a hotel room review.
Back to today's event. We started the day with the mandatory safety briefing from the hotel staff, covering the key points on fire safety and evacuation. Good to see this is becoming a norm....
After the introduction and opening by Zen and JS, we started the day with some stretching exercises to warm up. Throughout the session, there was a lot of emphasis on inter-personal interaction. A good method to employ here was to ask everyone to get up and go around high-fiving each other in order to start the mingling. By asking the audience to pair up with someone new, this mixed up the crowd who would otherwise naturally gravitate to the usual clusters. Sure, bonding with the usual team is good, but looking at the big picture, teamwork extends beyond the usual project / lunch-group. As the number of employees in Infineon Melaka alone steadily approach 5 digit figures, it's important to be able to tap this vast network and not impose personal limitations.
There was also a session on self-reflection, where we were asked to associate ourselves with one creature. For this exercise, mythical creatures like dragons and pegasi (plural of pegasus?) were allowed, but those that were too abstract were not (that disqualifies the entire cast of Pokemon). Next, we had to list down the three traits that we had in common with this creature. Finally, the fun part, to make this creature with clay that was placed under our seats (where you usually found the life-jackets if you were in an airplane).
Besides physical activities, we had also a personality test according to the Mind Styles (tm) Model developed by Dr Anthony F. Gregorc. Briefly, assessing ones affinity to four main learning categories defined by matrix of Perceptual Abilities (Concrete vs Abstract) and Organizing Information (Random vs Sequential). This, we arrive at CR, CS, AR, AS traits. Of course, this does mean the entire population was stratified into one of four stereotypes, but rather, their relative mix / tendencies. Zen used the analogy of someone learning to swim, with each of the personality traits using an approach reflecting that particular mind style, so the team could better understand. For instance, a CR personality would use a trial-and-error approach (jump into the deep end of the pool first, and then try to learn swimming), while the opposite AS personality would research the topic inside-out (reading, coach, YouTube) before every getting wet. As the assessment is to find one's dominant affinity relative to each of the mind styles, one usually has two or three dominant styles. For me, I'm slightly more inclined to CS/AS (tied) with CR just below. Lowest is AR. Again, nothing wrong with the results, as each person as his or her individual style. What's important is to recognize our own tendencies and preferences, as well as to be aware of others (especially the opposing styles - don't blame them, it's just the way they are).
That was the only session where we had to think hard. The rest was a lot of physical stuff (considering everything was indoors), with even a line dance-off, where we were given a short time to compose a short sequence (but no idea what music would be played later). Fortunately, all the songs fitted well to our 8 count steps, just with different tempos - imagine the chaos if they had a 3 count waltz beat played instead!
Focusing on the outcome is equally important, and it's essential the successful endeavors are recognized and celebrated in order to positively reinforce the behavior and continue to fuel the passion for excellence. Especially in the East where people have the tendency to down play achievements or even humbly brush aside the fruits of their own labor, instead of taking credit where due.
Of course, what would a team building be if not for a grand finale event with one massive collaboration? For this, we were broken into 16 teams and given the task to build sections of a bridge (with certain height and width requirements) that would be later joined together to form a single long structure, some of us took turns attempting to drive a remote control 4x4 all the way from one end to the other. Fortunately, somehow, our makeshift structure of manila cardboard, paper cups and sate sticks held together with glue and strings!
Well, in end, everything went smoothly and we managed to finish our event shortly before 5pm – a full hour earlier than planned. Nicely summarized by JS in the end, it was really a fun, energetic and uplifting experience aligned to the goal to bring the team closer towards being faster, more stable and innovative.
What I liked about this event was it was well planned and executed by Zen and the Iverson team, who managed to shoehorn the entire program into the time-span of a typical working day. It never felt rushed or behind schedule, and at the same time managed to cover the key aspects of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning within the activities. I've said it above in paragraph 6 and i say it again now - a great job done by the Infineon Fun Organizing Committee and also Zen and company for uplifting our spirits and rekindling the bonds between team members. As a senior member of this department, I know most of the other colleagues, but there are still many new faces and people to know. Most of all, it has been a long time since I fully joined as a participant, as usually I'm on the organizing committee.
On the cons side... hmm, I'm really stretched at my keyboard to think of something. Reason being, no real downsides or cons IMHO, and not about how to best phrase it diplomatically. The venue was good (plenty of parking when coming early), food and refreshments was good, planning and execution was good as well. If I had to improve on something, perhaps I would dare recommend it to be a 2D1N event, with an overnight stay and some free time (just like last year). Well, I think that could always happen in the future....
Speaking of future thoughts, at the end of this event, my key take-away points are the personality test, inter and intra team collaboration and of course, having fun with the team. We had a rich and diverse mix of people, from various backgrounds, levels and seniority. As Zen pointed out, putting together a team of champions does not necessarily guarantee a championship team (look at English Football as a good example) - the key, you guess it, is in working together, recognizing our strengths and celebrating our achievements!
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| Some of us grew especially fond of our clay-ations, like this little guy now permanently on display back at the office.... |
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