SpringSters - Working Bunch

The MangoSpring team had been looking forward to spending the evening of July 6 th together.  It was designed to be a mix of fun and work.  After some last minute changes to plans, everyone voted for an evening in Pathshala.   Our evening in Pathshala this time around had a theme of team roles and the importance of resources.  As with our other Pathshala sessions, the evening was filled with a lot of good food, relaxation and fun activities.  

The first activity had Springsters divided into two groups, and each team was given some newspapers.   There was also one roll of cello tape to be shared between the two groups.  The task was to build an arch with the newspaper, and it had to meet the following criterion:

•  It had to stand on it’s own
• It had to be movable and not be rooted to the ground
• At least one member of the group should be able to go through it
• They had 15 mins to complete the task and during the initial 5 mins the group members were not allowed to speak to each other

Initially the teams were stumped and did not know how to proceed.   Slowly, as the teams made progress, they realized the way to meet all the criteria.  After the activity was over, the Springsters discussed the way different group members “behaved” in the group setting.    It was interesting how one member could be good in idea generation, whereas somebody else’s strengths are seeing an idea through to completion.   For another member the strength could be keeping the group together and keeping them focused. (Reference - Belbin’s team roles)  The activity also stressed making appropriate and good use of resources, what with two teams competing for one roll of cello tape.   As in typical MangoSpring style, there was a lot of laughter and leg pulling!

The second activity of the evening was called River Crossing.   The teams had to coordinate among themselves to cross an imaginary river with the help of 6 inch squares.  And yes, they were umpteen rules to make this task difficult for them.   The game was designed with less squares than the number of members in each team.  If nobody was touching a square it would just sink and be unavailable for use.   There were hilarious instances of these when the team members in the anxiety of making it through to the other end forgot all about members behind them and jumped to the square ahead, making the square on which they were standing sink.   This game emphasized the importance of working together with your teammates…and of course good communication!

This turned out to be a great evening.   We had a lot of fun and learned a lot about each other, and working together as a team.  And somehow dinner always tastes better on the MangoSpring terrace in the company of Springsters and stars above.