team building

Last June 10, 2007, the officers met at Forest Hill, grabbing the opportunity of wahtever is left of their summer break.
There were four team building activities prepared. The first was called the Shuffle. The officers were asked to form a single line side by side at random, standing on a long piece of wood. The instruction was to authorize only one person to speak while the others were to keep silent. Then they had to rearrange themselves according to their age, with the oldest at the right end down to the youngest at the left end. This was to be done without talking and without stepping on the ground but maintaining to trade places while standing on the very long piece of wood. One facilitator was then asked to make sure that the rules were strictly implemented. The activity aimed to impact the officers on the importance of communication, coordination, subordination and following instructions. After which, a short debriefing session followed where each person was given the chance to share his feelings while the activity was going on, what values he learned in the course of such and how these could be applied in the organization.


As the officers planned the activities for the entire school year, the value of cohesion and camaraderie was realized. As such, before proceeding to plan the next activity to cater to the students’ needs, it was decided that a team building activity purposed to foster a good working relationship and unity among the officers was made.
The next activity was called Focus. Each officer was given a designated spot in the gym. There were 30 wet sponges that were to be transported from one end of the gym to the other. The person who held the sponges had to toss them one by one to the next person who was at least two spaces away from him. Each sponge had to pass through each person until the last person at the end of the gym gathered them together in a bucket. The goal was to transport all the sponges without letting them hit the ground. The tossing and catching from one person to the other had to be simultaneously. They were asked to formulate a plan for 10 minutes and then were given two chances to implement the plan. As the name of the activity states, focus was the primary skill to be developed. One had to keep his eyes on the sponge he was tossing and then throwing, leaving the others to do the same with their own sponge. Planning also played an important role in the implementation of the game. The debriefing session then followed.
The third activity was called Group Carry wherein one person was to lie flat on the floor while the rest carried him up until all the carriers’ hands were stretched upward. They were to turn 360 degrees then slowly lower the person carried back to his feet. All the officers were to be given a chance to be carried. The activity aimed to foster teamwork as one officer could not be carried by one person alone. There had to be a strategy in positioning the carriers on the heavier parts of the body as well as on how the carrying and turning would be done, too. Debriefing then followed.
The last activity was called the Trust Fall. One person is supposed to stand on a n elevated platform that is shoulder-high while the rest of the group would stand on the floor forming two lines with their arms linked with the arms of the person in front of them. With these linked arms serving as a “human net”, the person on the platform is supposed to drop like a log onto this “net”. Each person must have the opportunity to fall and to catch as well. This activity fosters the value of trust and trustworthiness. Trust for the person who is supposed to fall, because he would be laying his life at the mercy of his catchers. Trustworthiness, too, because as a catcher, one should not leave his post no matter how heavy the load may be, is this could be detrimental to the one who is falling.

We all had a blast!the activity was tiring yet very fulfilling. Indeed, it strengthened our unity as a team.I can truly say, we are geared for the entire school year.Way to go guys!