What are your thoughts on forced team building and business training? Do you think they are clumsy and just a waste of your time? Or are they useful and increase motivation and productivity? One thing is certain - almost all readers are familiar with the standards of classical trainings and team building, such as practical training, lectures, rope training, and culinary classes. But have you ever had to put on a sumo wrestler's suit, pretend to be a zombie, interact with a pack of wolves, or ride a horse just to create an atmosphere of trust in the team and recognize your colleagues? Most likely no. Below are some unusual and extraordinary corporate events.
Dialogue in the dark
In 1995, the German Andreas Heinecke came up with the idea and created the project “Dialogues in the Dark”. Professor Heinecke believes that by living a few hours of your life as a blind person, you can destroy the stereotypical perception of blind people, develop a positive attitude towards them and turn your mind around. On the one hand, the project is aimed at integrating blind people into society, and on the other hand, it introduces sighted people to the new sensations that darkness gives. The trainers are visually impaired, and the training itself takes place in a completely dark room and lasts several hours. Team building can involve from two people to several dozen. Over the course of two hours, the “Dialogue in the Dark” trainers offer to solve several tasks, dividing people into groups. A group is a small analogue of a company, where in order to successfully complete a very simple task, you need to work harmoniously and competently: everyone must choose a role for themselves (who is a leader, who is an obedient performer), act calmly and quickly, agree on standards, and find mutual understanding. These general words, usually broadcast in all companies as corporate culture, are worth their weight in gold for a team of people falling into darkness. The lesson, as a rule, begins with the simplest tasks - determine the size of the room, divide into teams, find a table in a dark room, take chairs, and so on. Such training is aimed at identifying leadership qualities and team building, but can be transformed to suit other needs. For example, darkness helps employees who work with clients learn to listen, to understand the interlocutor by the way he speaks, by the melody of his speech.
People vs zombies
US corporate culture is experiencing a boom in “Humans vs. Zombies” training, which in a playful manner presents survival from attacking reanimated corpses. The idea for a game that fosters community in a unique way came from students Chris Weed and Brad Sappington on the Goucher College campus. They develop guidelines and rules, and commercial franchise firms organize games around the world. Such trainings are popular today both in summer camps and schools, and on military bases. The roles of zombies are played by hired actors, and company employees portray the surviving group of people who need to complete various missions and survive. Players are typically armed with foam cannons, and their goal is to shoot the zombie player. The zombies are disarmed and must tag "people" to satisfy their "hunger", thus eliminating them from the game. The result is a mixture of paintball and costume performance.
Since players must work in perfect unity to outsmart the zombies, this activity allows for trust and deep bonds to be established within the team, immediately removing social boundaries. As the creators say: “Zombies do not discriminate against you based on race or gender. They'll just eat you up if you don't know how to work as a team." Players who have ever participated in a "zombie fight" report that it is the most unforgettable experience of building cooperation and cooperation in a team.
Sumo wrestling
Despite some doubts about its effectiveness, a form of corporate activity such as sumo wrestling is gaining popularity in the UK. To organize trainings in the form of sumo, many companies have been created that provide clients with costumes (the set even includes a headdress that resembles a sumo wrestler’s hairstyle), a doha wrestling arena, and competent gyedji judges. Additional ambiance is provided by a smoke-emitting apparatus and Japanese soundtracks. Of course, one should not expect any purism in following the rules. In trainings that simulate sumo wrestling, the main thing is fun and entertainment, not victory. Organizers say there's no better way to build a healthy relationship with your manager than to knock him to the ground while dressed in a thick vinyl suit while co-workers stand around and cheer.
Training with wolves
In the West, team building with the participation of animals is no longer uncommon. Not only horses and donkeys, but even wolves help people become a team. Janet Nagel is a professional zoologist and psychologist. Working with dogs, she realized that dogs and wolves can teach people a lot. “Wolf pack relationships are very similar to human relationships, and we have a lot to learn from them,” says Dr. Janet Nagel. So, she launched a leadership development business training in the Schorfheide nature reserve in northeastern Germany.
These trainings are based on the findings of psychoanalyst and teacher at the University of Vienna, Raoul Schneider, that the system of human relations is similar to the system of relations among wolves. In a pack of wolves and in the lives of people, one can distinguish leaders (alpha), the closest contenders for their place and at the same time their own defenders (beta), the main part of society (gamma) and outsiders (omega). Alpha leaders are always characterized by emphasized calm and psychological superiority. He must earn his position and be able to always act in the interests of the pack. Thus, pressure and aggression are eliminated in a pack of wolves, but very warm relationships are fostered between all individuals. This is what they teach in the training.
Corporate trainings are very popular, because it is during meetings of large groups of people that many similarities with a wolf pack are observed. First, communication with tamed wolves takes place in an enclosure, then observation of a pack of wild wolves is carried out on the territory of the reserve. Thus, by observing the behavior of the pack and the leader from the inside and comparing it with office life, employees learn to resolve conflicts and build healthy communication in the team.
Riding training
Business seminars with horses were invented by the Krebs couple from Germany in 1996. They conduct classes in the format of horse riding training without coaches or trainers. It is the horses that teach training participants how to develop leadership skills, achieve their goals, accept their own weaknesses and overcome obstacles. Gerhard Krebs is confident that working with horses makes people feel responsible, self-confident, and develops a degree of understanding of everything that happens. This is what is needed to develop leadership skills. In addition, horses are always objective and 100 percent sincere. They don't care what your job title is or how much you earn. In order for a horse to obey and follow commands, you need to forget about status, leadership experience, and trust your own intuition in order to become an authority. Thus, training, gait and gallop teach participants to become true leaders.
Driving blind
Firms offering blindfolded driving say it is "a unique way to solve complex office problems in a fun and engaging way." The organizer checks the course, plans the route, provides the team with a car, and puts a blindfold on the driver. When a driver, one of the team members, is completely disoriented in space, his colleagues become his “eyes”. This is a good reason to find out how high the level of trust is in the colleagues currently sitting behind them, who are now entrusted with directing actions, indicating turns while the engine is running. General goal: to reach the finish line first at the appointed time. This assignment is primarily aimed at developing the ability to work collaboratively as a team.
Training in Antarctica
Large companies also offer interesting training for their employees. For example, the Coca-Cola company annually conducts unusual business training in Antarctica for its best employees. The training is conducted under the guidance of world-famous researcher Robert Swan. In 1986, Swan became the first person on Earth to visit both extremes of the planet - the North and South Poles. Once a year, the traveler organizes a training expedition, during which, in the face of a struggle for life, he shows the participants what teamwork really means and how to become a real leader.
Alexander Kosko is the author of world-famous trainings and festivals in the field of body, dance, movement and voice therapy. This time A. Kosko comes from Israel to conduct the “Songs in the Dark” training for those who want to discover the pristine power and palette of colors of their voice. We will sing, dance, do vocal and acting exercises to develop our singing voice. And all this - in a darkened room and with blindfolds. By living such moments and finding solutions, you will enrich yourself with new knowledge and experience.
This evening will be a fun and rewarding game to unlock the strength and power of your voice. We will sing, dance, do vocal and acting exercises to develop our voices. And all this - in a darkened room and with blindfolds.
You will visit the tropical jungle and the ocean coast, enjoy the songs of a drunken feast and the mystical sounds of harmonious group singing, sing along with pop stars and even create your own unique stage image.
3.5 hours to reveal yourself:
- Work through your fears. Cope with or significantly reduce fear of the dark.
- Unload your brain. Create a unique relaxation for overworked areas of the brain through bodily trance.
- Remove doubts “what will they think, how will they look at me?”
- With your eyes closed, you hear more of the musical nuances of your own voice and bodily sensations.
- It is easier to achieve this by closing your eyes and adjusting your bodily attention.
- Contact yourself. Strengthen contact with your body, the world of feelings and emotions.
- Improve your intuition. Learn to trust your feelings and intuition more in situations of lack of control and uncertainty.
- Release the clamps. Unwind your breathing and relax some of the bodily stiffness (muscle tension).
- Be with Others. Get a charge of positive emotions and warmth.
Training duration is 3.5 hours.
Attention! Bring comfortable yoga clothes with you: the training will include a lot of movement exercises. All processes will be conducted with respect for personal boundaries, compliance with safety standards, voluntary participation in tasks and the confidentiality of personal experience.
To participate you must register http://www.kaula.ru/meropriyatiya/11-08_kosko-pesni-v-temnote
- Date: August 11, 2018 - 17:00 - 20:30
- Difficulty level: Suitable for everyone
- Presenter: Alexander Kosko (Israel)
- Cost: 2,500 rub. by prepayment before August 4, after - 3,500 rubles.
- Place: Kaula Yoga School on Semenovskaya (Moscow, Semenovskaya sq., 7)
"Three days in the dark!" — practice-journey beyond the boundaries of the standard perception of the world.
On-site training in the Moscow region, which will give you the ability to see what many do not notice...
In a programme:
- Osho meditations,
- individual and couples practices,
- exercises to develop sensitivity,
- exploring your inner space,
- satsangs with the Master (conversations about the main thing).
"Yes, there is nothing better than darkness. It shows only the path you need to take, and not the hundred and fifty roads you could choose. In the dark your soul belongs to you, in the light of day, lamp or moon - never!" John Galsworthy. "Freelands".
It has long been known to science that a person perceives only 30% of information from the outside world through the eyes. 70% falls on the remaining channels of perception: auditory, kinesthetic, digital (conceptual). During the training, you will be able to rediscover this world for yourself and find out what it “looks like” beyond the usual 30% percent.
This training is designed specifically for you to:
- increased the sensitivity of ordinary channels of perception, awakened intuition, activated non-standard ways of obtaining information (including the so-called “third eye”);
- got rid of social blinders, standards and restrictions imposed from childhood;
- realized and accepted what prevents you from living the way you want, worked through unconscious fears, anxieties and doubts;
- released your hidden energy reserves and received answers to the most important questions from your Higher Self.
Format training - complete immersion.
For three days, participants are blindfolded at the training site.
Sleeping, waking, eating, practicing - everything is covered in a bandage.
Attention! The premises have been specially selected to ensure maximum comfort and safety for participants. Cooked food for participants is brought by assistant coaches. They also help you learn to move freely in the space of the room.
Osho on meditation with closed eyes:"Where your eyes are is where you are closest to your body and where your body is closest to you. This is why the eyes can be used to travel inwards. One jump from your eyes can lead you to the source. It cannot be done from the hands, it cannot be done from the heart, it cannot be done from any other part of the body. From any other point of the body you will have to travel for a long time - the path is very long. But one step from the eyes is enough to penetrate inside oneself".
Now, after reading this text, you can imagine people with blindfolds, you can hear the voice of the trainer and the melodies of meditation, but only by feeling the silence of darkness with your skin, your heart, your soul, can you fully understand what this training has given you .
Put on the bandage to feel what is possible only by removing it...
Copied from the site "Self-knowledge.ru"
Unusual business training has appeared in Moscow: visually impaired people teach managers to work in a team and listen to other people’s opinions.
“I ask you to take turns going into the next room,” a stern woman in glasses tells those gathered for the training and hands out canes for the blind. Throwing the strap of the stick around my wrist, I feel with my fingers the wall behind the thick black curtain and only then do I enter the darkness. Entrepreneur Elizaveta, about 40 years old, had already stepped there; ten more people lined up behind me: women, girls, and one bearded architectural project manager, Maxim. I walk in the dark to the call of a man’s voice, first along the wall, then with my cane forward. When I get very close, he suggests stopping and waiting for the others. Someone's hand hastily places a piece of paper - some kind of circle - into my palm. The animated voices of other training participants can be heard around. They are interested in whether there are chairs and whether the room is large. Excited whispering - like in the auditorium just before the start of the performance.
Business training in the dark, Dialogue in the Dark (www.dialogue-workshops.ru), has appeared in Moscow, where visually impaired people act as trainers. The concept was invented by the German Andreas Heinecke, who for 20 years has been involved, on the one hand, in integrating the blind into society, and on the other hand, introducing sighted people to the new sensations that darkness gives. There are Dialogue in the Dark museums and cafes not only in European cities, but also, for example, in Singapore. The international company Dialogue Social Enterprise has been conducting trainings since 2001. And in February 2012 they started in Russian.
In the dark room, it turns out, there are tables - we are informed about this by the male voice of the presenter, calling us to break into groups in accordance with the received papers. He will continue to lead us, deliberately not specifying the details of the tasks. You have to guess on what basis to divide into groups. “Circle,” I say. “Triangle,” I hear a girl’s voice nearby. So we call each other, shake hands and, grouped, look for tables by touch. When everyone is seated, the host asks who sat down with whom.
“I have a rectangle, I’m alone at the table,” answers the recognizable voice of Elizabeth.
“And there are two of us squares, and we are at a table of triangles that push us out,” says Maxim.
“Please go to your table and somehow agree whether yours are squares or rectangles,” the presenter sternly demands, and we listen to a small squabble over geometric shapes.
The absence of images or sounds can help partners who are suspicious of each other find a common language, says Olga Anisimova, an employee of the Dersu Uzala ecotourism development fund (she conducts team-building training in nature reserves). She said trainers often use this technique by giving participants headphones or a blindfold. “This is a good technique for concentrating a team performing a common task,” explains Olga. — For some, open eyes and ears prevent them from concentrating on their goal, while others, on the contrary, out of habit, spend all their resources trying to communicate themselves to everyone around them. Disabling one of the main functions of perception forces the brain to restructure itself, approach the situation in a new way, and look for non-standard solutions.”
Our leader formulates tasks that are the same for all groups; we must complete them in a certain time. Each table has its own trainer who distributes materials, answers questions and gives advice. We are led by Evgeniy.
“I have the upper parts of two nesting dolls,” translator Anya, sitting next to me, immediately names the received objects. As a group, we are trying to formulate in what order to give the parts of three nesting dolls to the coach, so that he puts one into the other in order. The main condition of the task is not to touch the details of the neighbors. By comparing the diameters of the resulting parts with the size of our palms, we determine the procedure. Then, calmed and satisfied, we begin to chat about who does what: two translators, a journalist, a mother of a small child.
“Perhaps it’s worth checking whether you determined the order correctly,” our coach notes phlegmatically.
We recheck the dimensions of parts in new ways. And suddenly it turns out that Anya and I have the same diameters of two tips: each is equal to two phalanges of the index finger. The group falls silent.
-Can we touch each other’s fingers? — I timidly ask the coach.
It's possible. Anya and I are trying to quickly figure out who has the longest fingers. My hands are shaking and I have to double check. The gong strikes - the end of the discussion. The presenter first asks the group with rectangles whether they managed to cope with the task.
“Everything is excellent here,” architect Maxim confidently answers.
“We completed our task,” confirms entrepreneur Elizaveta.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out,” says their blind coach.
It turned out that this group misunderstood the task: they decided to make their own art object instead of inserting nesting dolls into one another.
According to Galina Yakovenko, coach and business consultant at the Training Boutique company, darkness is obviously useful in personal growth trainings, as it forces you to turn to your own feelings and reasoning, and make decisions based on your own feelings. “This method can also be used in business training,” she continues. “For example, darkness would help employees working with clients to learn to listen, to understand the interlocutor by the way he speaks, by the melody of his speech.”
We spent two hours in the dark. They even drank tea and cake, although they never decided to use a knife. Some sat until the very end with a cane in their hands.
Afterwards we had an analytical session under the light. The timid girls here said that now they understood: they need to more persistently and convincingly propose their ideas to their bosses. The bosses claimed that here they were convinced that it was worth listening to what others, even subordinates, said.
I was disheartened by how confidently the blind trainers and presenter guided us in the dark and how helpless they seemed compared to us in the light. According to Yanina Urusova, CEO of the Without Borders project, who is the official representative of Dialogue Social Enterprise in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, it is the peculiarity of life without vision that makes them experts: “Only they can move freely in the dark and create an atmosphere of confidence and mutual understanding. That’s why only people with visual impairments work as trainers at Dialogue in the Dark.”
Later, according to the founder of the Without Borders project, Tobias Reisner, Dialogue in Silence trainings with leading deaf-mute people will also appear in Moscow.
Dina Yusupova