Wave

Last June 17-18, our company had a Teambuilding better known as WAVE or Work Attitude & Values Enhancement Seminar. Here are some pics on the said event:

nexus family

with my team mates

while waiting for my turn to play badminton

in action

mga talunan sa 1-2-3 pass kaya ayan puno ng powder ang mga mukha

...and here's the article i wrote for our internal e-newsletter. just want to put it here:

CORPORATE EXCELLENCE thru TEAM ADVENTURES (TM)

TEAM Building, Work Attitudes and Values Enchancement Workshop

Given by: Dominion Millenia Ventures, Inc.

Date: Saturday and Sunday / 17 and 18 June

Venue: Phinma Training Center, Tagaytay

Coming up with a team activity is not a piece of cake. We have to find the right venue, choose the right food, look for appropriate trainors. But most importantly, our fervent wish is that after this activity, all employees will rediscover, live and breathe the values that will make them, their families, their departments and Nexus more successful. On paper, people may think that the activity we went through was a dreary and serious one. The scope of topics of the said workshop was indeed thought-provoking but it was presented in an enjoyable manner and the trainors made sure that everybody had fun while experiencing the different exercises. There were eight (8) game stations: Volcano Lake, Volcanic Rim, Paper Tower, Traffic Jam, Moon Ball, Flip-Over, Count-Off and Perfect Shape. There were eight (8) teams as well, Celebrities (of course, I mention my team first), The Young Ones, PS Group, Teambuilding, Chuva, The Avengers, PPS (short for Pinoy Porn Stars) and Scorpio Nights (I guess people from this group are stuck on the 80's and were big Lino Brocka fans). We racked our collective brains to finish the Traffic Jam. We relied on gut- feel and sensitivity to be able to get through the Count-Off activity. We dragged tired legs running the course of the tricky Moon Ball activity. We came up with engineering masterpieces to pass the quality control test of the Paper Tower exercise. We depended on our able teammates while we were blindfolded in other pursuits. I'm sure most of us thought that some activities were impossible to finish but surprise! . . . surprise! . . . with a little ingenuity and a lot of hard work, some teams even made it before the allowed time limit. Each team got different awards depending on the activity they excelled in which were represented by various attributes such as work ethics, sensitivity, listening, etc.

After a very strenuous day, some of us even had the energy to have a "little night life" The recreation hall of Phinma was opened for videoke, billiards, darts and table tennis. The "Young Ones" lived up to their name; they were in the hall 'til the wee hours of the morning . . . playing billiards! :,) The badminton courts were also full; I had to stand in line to wait for my turn to play because the baddicts were there early. Poor me! There were also various activities going on in the hallways (card games, kuwentuhan) and I'm sure even in everyone's bedroom. We're really a bunch of energetic people.

Everyone was up and kicking the following day and made it to the 8.30am call time. John Austria, our head trainor, started Sunday by paying tribute to all fathers in the group (since it was Father's Day) before proceeding to the final activity. The final activity was a tough one. Each member of the group was given different assignments. You can be a worker, supervisor or CEO. The workers were blindfolded and were tasked to do all the work while the supervisors and CEO strategize, plan and guide. With a rope, heavy-duty rubber bands and hooks as tools, the goal was to transfer the pail, placed at the middle of a large square, to a designated spot in front of the function room. Pretty simple except that tools and people were not allowed inside the large square. To make matters complicated, the facilitators instructed the supervisors to switch to another team. All teams were finished after an hour and five (5) minutes, a record-time for a large group of 130 people. Everyone was euphoric after the last pail was transferred successfully. Nexus President, Mr Juan Chua, gave the closing remarks to cap the exhilarating weekend activity. He put things into a larger perspective by telling us that we are all part of a much bigger team and that each individual, each micro team, Nexus must all contribute to make this world-- the bigger team--a little better.

A lot of people say that the activity was a hit and that it was weekend of fun and learning. The HR team received a lot of congratulations for the success of the event. We do not want to take all the credit for this because everyone who gave his or her whole-hearted involvement made the weekend activity a success. The choice is now ours to apply what we have learned in this workshop. We must bear in mind though, that Plato's concept of "utopia" or perfect society is seldom or maybe not achievable at all. Everyone and every organization have imperfections. On a personal note, I am reminded of the words of one of my wedding ninongs, "There is no perfect relationship, only perfect moments." When the going gets tough for each one of us, when we are irritated at our co-workers, when our deadlines are fast approaching . . . we can always look back at this weekend, remember the different perfect moments when our teams achieved our goals and what contributed to this success. We can then replicate these scenarios, apply them in our workplace and find answers and inspiration to whatever problems face us.

' Til next time, folks. In the meantime, let's do our roles in this organization called Nexus and in the wise words of Mang Vincent, do our best!

- Jhett Junio-Angustia