Experience

Note - Requesting not to associate behavioral characteristics mentioned in the article with any specific individual you may know (who are part of the trip) as it is situational behavior and sifted from person to person as the change in time, place, ride and occasion.

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Well, there were 18 teammates (mobile QA and engineering teams jointly) decided to venture out together for the whole day when the time came to spend allocated fund for team building activity. There were other suggestions also like - going for lunch/dinner with one game (like bowling) and spend half day. But ultimately all agreed to visit Essel world, an amusement park near gorai beach, Mumbai.

On the fine day of 28th Dec 2018, all gathered at Anand Cinema, near Thane east. Here is a snapshot of when they were ready to kick-start bus ride for the park.

It took almost an hour’s travel time to reach Essel world. This journey time was filled with the fun of music, songs, jokes, and dancing. The sole purpose was looked like to enjoy each moment as it comes. Just 1.5 kilometer before reaching the destination, Bus tyre got flat, hence, they started walking towards the park. But that is not our story. (It could be a different story altogether if distance was beyond walking limits).

Out of 18 people, some of them visited this amusement park earlier, whereas some were visiting it for first time. Some decided to go through all the rides, whereas few had decided to just play around and not to go through any ride.

There were few people who were in _been there, done that__ mode - and they were more of guiding entity. They were advising and suggesting the activities, maps and sharing the experience. Some were thrilled to go through all the rides. The team started with the toughest ride first, and hence it became relatively easy for them to go through other rides.

As there were 18 people, 18 minds were working in a different direction, however, there was one activity where all members participated together with the same enthusiasm.

There was this paid activity - ice-skating.

If you look at this team on the ice-skating floor, you can see a few things. Here are some selected observations.

All were thrilled to take part in this activity. (different minds can come to gather if they are enough motivated for a common goal, in this case - it was ice-skating)

When individuals entering to the ice-skating ground, there were instructors who were giving instructions (these are the institutes, who teaches the theory but actual learning start by entering in the field only when individuals face them on own.).

Some of them had already done this activity yet they took part. (If there is enough challenge and thrill, people would like to re-experience.)

Some of them - who had experienced this before, helping others. (These are mentors who help the organization to prepare next set of individuals to get things done. For example Role of Doctor from movie Cars)

Those who had experience, some of them were moving around and showing their skills and playing individually. (These are individuals may not be not mentor, but the organization needs these individuals to get things done)

Few of team members understood the instructions correctly. In order to achieve the goal, they first learned standing, then learned walk, then moved circle twice on both direction, and then moved circle without help and at-last went to center independently. (These are the individuals who understand the theory, decides ultimate goal (to go in the center of the ground without support), defines milestones and achieves them one by one. These are the individuals who know that there is no substitute for practice, experience, and importance of planning and execution.)

Few of team members, who understood the instructions correctly, but wanted to cover the various stages quickly and wanted to go centre. (These are the individuals who may not understand the importance of practice and trying to go to the next stage without a solid base, these individuals tend to fall down, and learns from own experience.)

There were a couple of experienced team-mates, who while moving around, fall-down more than once due to overconfidence. (These are the individuals who believe that they have done that before, hence may pass all the challenges easily. But in reality, each challenge has to be addressed with at most sincerity as there is risk associated with each challenge. (Example: in cricket, batsman hits the century in one match, doesn’t count for the next match. Next match starts with all new set of challenge, where the batsman has to be proved good with same skills.)

There were few team-mates, who had shown great courage and participated in all challenging rides with ease but were struggling to great extent in ice-skating. (Master of one field/domain/environment may struggle when field/domain/environment changes. He/she may have to start with a different mindset and from scratch, as it is completely different game.)

When the moment came to capture the group photo, all individuals came together for the ceremony. (If all individuals aligned to goal, when it is about celebrating the achievement, all would like to participate, with whatever little contribution they have made.) See the ice-skating group image.

It was a total of 30 minutes, but these 30 minutes were filled with elements like thrill, challenge, scare, fun, fall-down, laughter, groupie and overall team activity in right manner and spirit.

During the day, apart from ice-skating, other rides and activities also took place but leaving the observation to present some other day.