OBL at Pegasus

Recently I had to attend a mandatory training program on Team Building and team bonding at Pegasus Institute.For all who don't know what Pegasus Institute, its the same place that the Indian cricket team visited before they embarked on their World Cup campaign in West Indies.

Going by my experience at Pegasus, I felt that it was a big letdown by the Indian team in terms of their efforts at showing team spirit in the World Cup.

Due to some project compulsions, I had to attend this program now, as I could not make it last time around when my project team went there.I guess this was the same case for most of the others who came with me.So in effect, most of us were not going there with our original project teams.Initially I couldn't understand the point of attending a team building program with an ad-hoc team and not one's own project team.

To add to all this, the skepticism shown by some of the people who had attended it, my expectations from the program was downgraded to this being an all expenses paid holiday in a nice resort.But at the end of it, I was glad that the experience was a lot more than just that.

About the institute itself, its situated about 60 kms from Bangalore in a place close to Doddaballapur.Its strategically located as in, its next to a hill and also a nice clean water lake closeby.We managed to get enough time after the training schedule to go on top of the hill.The view from up there was unbelievably good, more so because we got to see the sun setting on us.And that day being a full moon day, a few of my friends also got to see the moonrise too.

The institute was setup by an ex-army man.In fact, most of the trainers working there were connected to the armed forces in the past, in some way or the other.Needless to say, the army way of doing things is much different from us.I guess they are many notches higher than us, i.e the corporates in having a professional approach at doing things.Right from the moment we went inside the campus, till the time we came out, they had ensured that everything was planned for.

Maybe I cant remember all of what I learnt there.But some of the concepts learnt there could truly be applied to our work back in office.The concept of JoHari Window tried to explain interpersonal communications and relationships.I felt this had a lot to do in how we interact with people, not just at work, but outside too.

Another important thing that I learnt was, how to take and give feedback.I think I'm right if I can say that there's a lot of difference between giving a feedback, and giving a judgement.I learnt that giving a feedback is pretty difficult, as in most cases we end up being judgemental and even criticizing others.If giving feedback is one thing, taking feedback is another.Most of us do take feedback in a positive way.At most times we try to defend ourselves.

There were some important learnings from an exercise in which I volunteered to be a leader.The objective there was to meet the deadline committed to the customer.Though we were partially succesful in meeting it, I got to learn this in the process.Maintain transparency in your dealings, and also keep all the stakeholders completely informed.But more than that, I felt the learning for me was

If there is a threat of not meeting the deadline, then negotiate with the customer when you still have a chance to do so, and not the deadline has passed.

This,I felt has a lot of relevance in the IT industry that we work in.For in most cases, we go to the negotiation table much later after the deadline's come and gone.

Another activity that I liked was the A- frame concept vehicle.The objective was to go to a designated point on a field and get back to the starting point using an A-shaped wooden frame.The condition was that the team leader had to stand inside the A-frame and the team members support it in a way such that the A-frame doesnt fall flat on the ground and the leader's feet never touch the ground.

Our team members were elated that we were able to complete it much before anyone else.The learnings from this were also many.

Firstly, I felt for any project to be succesfully executed, it has to be driven well by the team leader

AND

also well supported by the team members in whatever way they can.

There was another activity where 4 different teams had to independantly put together a jigsaw kinda thingie in under 40 seconds each.This meant that the total task had to be done in less than 160 seconds.I felt this was the toughest task for me, as on most ocassions I was missing putting my part of the pieces together.Yet, our team used to manage doing this in less than 25 seconds.Here, I experienced what teamwork means, and also was able to apply the concept of self disclosure.All I had to do was make my inabilities clear to my other team mates.And they did ensured in making me get over that seemingly impossible act for me.

We were also thrown a challenge to better our times by a cumulative 40 seconds, i.e a total time of 120 seconds flat for all 4 teams.But the catch was, if we didn't make it, then we would have to forgo the record that we had set.Though a few of us very hesitant to take it up, eventually we took up the challenge.And guess what, we did it in 106 seconds flat.The learning from this was

Always aim for the stars.If you fail to reach that far, who knows you might still have landed on Cloud Number 9.

The last activity that we did was, rafting.And guess what, we made the raft ourselves.This was the most satisfying moment of the program for me.That was because I was seeing that something that we built, was actually working.It was tough enough to support 6 full grown people.The fact that we didn't sink inside the lake, and also were the first team to reach the shore made it even more joyful.We had a song going on to sync up the paddling.This ensured that we displaced more water than others and hence cover the distance faster.

The most important thing that we were able to learn, and demonstrate here was

For any project to be succesful, everyone has to be in sync and, contribute as a team.Individual agendas just spoil the cause.

Whether or not the learnings will be applied in real life,only time will tell.But I believe that if one consciously puts most of these learnings into the system, then he shall unconsciously respond when put in real life situations.