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IN AT THE DEEP END

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Yesterday I was invited to take part in a team building exercise with the LMT Co and what an experience it was!

The day started early, about 6.30 to be precise, car de iced and ready for the off to Kettering to meet Mary and catch the train to London. We were aiming to get the 7.06 train but missed it, thinking this may be a problem we called Mary to tell her the bad news only to find she has missed the earlier train and is on the 7.20. Train arrives and we meet up for a de brief and full heart attack breakfast. Well that’s what Paula and I had Mary had the healthy option.

8.30 arrive in London and get a cab to ASRA’S office where the training was to take place.

The course was due to start at 10.00am and was to be a team building exercise for a group of middle managers working for ASRA, a housing association based in Southwark (near London Bridge).

At 10.00 most of the people had turned up ready for the course, waiting to find out what the day held for them. Mary did the introduction and asked for all to introduce themselves by means of an ice breaker then on to the day.

The purpose behind the day was to make a documentary about chewing gum using limited resources and here was my first surprise, I had to write down the roles people decided on (a surprise as my handwriting is not the best). The team seemed a bit bemused with the task but soon started sorting their roles out and Paula noted down who was to do what.

Once they had completed the first task there was a brain storm with a guest appearance from Michael Winner who was there to offer any advice needed for a small period of time. As Mr Winner departed,the group split up in to sections to decide how the day would pan out (it had been made clear it was their day to do with as they wished).

Half an hour of decision making ensued as Alan (producer) said they were to leave for filming by 11.30am. There were some interesting moments including John learning you have to put a tape in to a video camera to make it work! But it seemed the team now had purpose and realised they had to start working together to make the day work. I had noticed one or two cynical faces when the task was first given out but this had all disappeared as people got on with the task in hand.

11.30 and off we go to London Bridge tube station to start filming. All goes well and with in two or three minutes our first interview is on the way, the flankers doing a great job roping people in for our presenters to interview. All goes well for half an hour or so then my second surprise of the day, Mary, Paula and I are all asked if we want to be interviewed and all say yes. Got to say Paula and Mary did a much better job of being interviewed in fact we couldn’t get Paula off screen. Filming went well and at 12.45 we went back to the office so the film could be edited and we could have some lunch.

Lunch over and there’s an issue. The laptop provided will not connect to the camera so the film can’t be edited. Lesson here, test your equipment before going out on location. Yes the camera worked but no provision has been made for editing the film. So a quick call to Technical Support and a techie is sent to try and resolve the problem which he eventually does after a full afternoon! More later.

Once the feedback session had concluded Mary relayed back how what they had learnt during the day could affect the group in their work lives, with good discussion from both sides.

With the issues over the editing being resolved we jumped to the feedback session, my final surprise. Mary asked Paula and me to give feedback to the group based on what we had seen during the day. Despite finding it nerve racking I found it very rewarding to see how much the group appreciated independent feedback.

To wrap up the afternoon we watched the unedited film that had been taken and it looks very promising with just the introduction and conclusion to follow.

Martin Johnson

Are you interested in Management Qualifications, either National and International? Contact the office on + 44 (0) 1858 464 660 or info@TheLMT.co.uk.

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