leadership and team building competencies

yesterday we had a special one-day class called "team building: leadership and team competencies". it was one of those day-long management/team building workshops full of trust games and group discussions, etc...

first we had the trust games, where 4 groups of 6 students each were picked out. 2 of the groups were leaders and 2 were followers, then we switched after 30min. the purpose of the lesson was to lead your group member through a list of 6 different tasks (from pouring a glass of juice to lighting a candle) without talking to them, while they are blindfolded. take a moment to think about this; imagine having to explain to a person (who is completely blind) to pour a glass of orange juice and walk it to you 10 feet away and hand it to you for you to drink, WITHOUT TALKING TO THAT PERSON or making any sounds with your mouth. it's really not as easy as it sounds.

in the first round i was a leader and my partner was a blind follower. first i had to have him pour the glass of juice and hand it to me to drink. then i had to have him light 3 candles with match sticks (BLINDFOLDED). then i had to have him touch and feel a flower/rose and then have him draw that rose on a piece of paper. then i had to have him run (while holding my hand) across a field. then i had to have him jump a rope 3 times, and finally have him run around a tree 3 times in each direction.

well, first came the glass of orange juice. i found the best way to communicate with my partner (armond, fom usc) was to play out what he was supposed to do with his own hands so that he would understand. i couldn't very well show him with my hands because he was blind, and i couldn't talk to him, so what i would do is act out what he has to do, using his own body. i would put the glass in his hand, then remove it and put the bottle of juice in his other hand hand and act out the process of pouring juice into the glass with his two hands (this was the only way to have his brain register everything, as if it was happening internally within himself). then i had him put back the bottle and while holding the glass of juice, walk over to where i would be and reach his hand that had the glass in it out toward me at which time i would take it from him. that's all he had to do. so after i used his body to act it out, i then tapped on his back and he understood this meant "start". he did it without a hitch and we completed the first task without a hitch.

next came the lighting of the candles. when the prof. was telling us about this one, we were all confused how we would stop people from burning themselves. i have to say that this particular task was not well thought out by the profs. not only that but it was obvious that lawsuits were not part of the culture here. i thought to myself if this was in america, it would have just been a lawsuit waiting to happen. think about it; a blindfolded person who is supposed to trust the school and his partner is burned without even knowing he was in danger of burning himself. that's bad shit. so again, i acted everything out with his own hands so he would understand what he had to do. i let him touch the candles; when he touched the wax and wick he knew it was a candle. i put all 3 candles in his hand, and then shook a box of matches so he would hear the sound, and then put it in his other hand. i opened the matches and took one out and acted out lighting the candles using his hands. he got the idea. the poor guy spent more than 10min (literally) just trying to light these damn candles in the wind. the profs. told us that we weren't supposed to help them during the lighting so i couldn't do anything but laugh (which i did repeatedly). he ended up burning his finger. i showed my disappointment with this task to the prof. it was obvious it shouldn't have been part of the activity.

next i had to have armond draw a rose on a piece of paper. so i gave him the rose, had him smell it and touch it and then gave him a pen and let him feel the paper. he wrote "flower". to tell him that's now what i wanted him to do i took his own hand and i made a "thumbs down" signal. this told him he was wrong. i gave the rose back to him to inspect and then gave him back the pen. this time he wrote "smell, rose, flower". first i laughed, and then i again made the "thumbs down" signal on his own hand. next o put the pen in his hand and holding his hand i moved the pen in little circles (to replicate the rose's pedals). this time he got it and was successful.

next i had him run across a field holding my hand. except he thought we were supposed to skip, so he ended up skipping the whole way, while i was laughing my ass off running with him. i really wish i had gotten that on video.

next i had him jump over the rope attached to a couple trees. this was easy, i just took his leg and i put it on the other side of the rope, and made the #3 on his hand. he got the idea.

i did the same thing with the running around the tree and he got it without a hitch.

NEXT came my turn to be blindfolded, with a completely different set of tasks. we walked to the other site and i put my blindfold on. first he hands me an object. without a doubt i could tell this object was a rubber ducky. he then handed me a pen and let me touch paper, so i knew it was similar to him and the rose. so i drew a rubber ducky. he put my hand in a "thumbs down" position so i knew i was wrong. he handed me the duck again and then gave me the pen again. this time i wrote "rubber duck" and he put my hand in a "thumbs up" position.

next he gives me an orange (i was able to tell by the texture and the smell). he held my hand with the orange and used my other hand to act out peeling it and then reaching my hand outward as if feeding him. so i went ahead and peeled the orange and then took a piece and reached it out. he took it and put my hand in a "thumbs up" position.

next he gives me what feels undoubtedly like a hammer and puts my other hand on 3 nails in a piece of wood. so i slammed the nails into the wood. no problem.

next he lets me touch a piece of paper and then takes my two hands and puts them in the position of a flying bird. this made me understand that i had to make a paper airplane. i made it and then he made me act out throwing it, so i did and he put my hand in the "thumbs up" position.

next he gives me what feels like clothes. a pair of sweat pants and a sweat shirt. i put them on over my clothes and he gives me the "thumbs up" signal. all fairly easy. i'm glad i didn't have to light anything with matches, blindfolded.

in other news...a group of us went to Zurich on tue, we had lunch there and we went to a church and an art museum. then 3 of the guys and i just hung out in a restaurant/bar while some of the girls went shopping. we then came back to st. gallen. it was fun. however, it was raining and that was a bit of a downer, but nothing we couldn't handle or get over. on our trip to zurich, we spotted the endangered armenian night owl.

in yet other news, my indian flatmate has two of his indian friends in town to visit him and the first thing they did after they put their bags down was raid the kitchen. i swear it looks like an indian food manufacturer that's been breaking the laws of good food sanitation and production in my kitchen.