Paper 3 (Team Building)

     

         Last July 20, 2015, I and my classmates who are enrolled in the subject Field Trip and Seminar are required to join a Team building for us to have a better relationship to our other classmates, to improve our team dynamics, building trust to each other, facilitating communication, and to have a better teamwork. This activity also helps us to improve our interpersonal relation and social interaction. We are divided into 2 batches. The first batch had their Team Building program in the University Social Hall while the second batch will had their Team Building Program in the other University of Southeastern Philippines Dorm located besides the University Dome. I woke up early to get ready because our first Team Building Program will start at exactly 8:00am in the morning. I don’t want to be late on our first Team Building activity. I don’t want to miss a single activity because I know that this activity will give us a lot of knowledge in terms of developing our relationship towards our classmates. I was really curious that day because it was my first time to attend a Team Building. I was really expecting that we will be having different kinds of activities together with my classmates and we will be having so many games that improves teamwork. 

 

After entering in the University Social Hall, I immediately signed in for attendance then the staffs gave me an Identification card or Name card. Later on, the program started. Our Team Building Program was facilitated by Ms. Emily P. Madrona, Director of the UGTO of the University.We started the activity with a prayer and by singing the Philippine National Anthem. After that, the facilitator introduced herself to us. She started discussing about what will be our activity for that day then the facilitator asks us to form a group of five so we counted off by five. I thought that we are the one who will choose our group mates. If we are to choose our own group mates I will be choosing my close friends because I am comfortable when I am with them. After forming a group of five, we are asks to form a circle together with my group mates and introduce ourselves to each other, in other words, make friends. That was our first task. Our second task is to answer the given question by writing the answer on a manila paper. The first question was “What will be our Contribution on our activity for the whole day?” we combined our ideas and thoughts to create a better answer. Most of my teammates are shy. Next, the third task is to draw a face on what weare feeling that day. I and my teammates felt comfortable that day so we decided to draw a face with a comfortable feeling. After answering and doing all the questions we posted it where everybody can see it. The facilitator read each or our answers and all of us were listening. Some groups had hilarious and pleasant answers. I and my teammates continued on sharing about their selves in order to develop our social interaction and interpersonal relation. After the first session of the program we proceeded to the next activity. The next activity was entitled “I am Me”. I learned that each of us was created unique and different from other people. I also learned that we should respect each other’s differences, weaknesses, and strengths. We have different kinds of talents, likes, dislikes, and etc. I learned that we should be proud of ourselves because we are created special. I learned more about myself and more about my classmate. I learned that there is no one exactly like me. I shared some things about myself to my new friends. 

After the “I am Me” Activity, we had given a task to draw a dinner table where my family members are represented by shapes, things or symbols. This activity will help us to know better our classmates. First, each of us was given a piece of paper to draw and our facilitator, together with the staffs, distributed the coloring materials to make our drawing a bit more beautiful. I love to draw because drawing enables me to express my inner feelings. All of us started to draw our dinner table.We enjoyed in drawing and coloring our dinner table. After we finished drawing our dinner table we are grouped by 3 members to share our drawings to them and to explain the representations. My name of my group mates was Gene and Murphy. I was the first one to share my dinner table. First, I represented my father as a happy face because my father taught me to enjoy life and to think positive always. He told me that we should choose to be happy always. My father always tell funny stories, jokes, and other hilarious things. My father is a happy person. Second, I represented my mother as a beautiful crown because my mother is the queen of our family. I always wanted to see my mother happy because her smile sweeps all of our inner pains. Mother knows best. I really love my mother. Third, I represented my little brother as a ball, because my little brother really loves sports and he is athlete. My brother was the captain ball in soccer during his 3^rd and 4^th year in high school. He plays very well. Fourth, I represented my little sister as a princess because my sister is very cute and adorable. Fifth, I represented myself as a four-leafed clover, I considered myself lucky because I belong to a joyful and a great family. Lastly, I drew a cross besides the dinner table because we know that God is always with us, He truly loves us and protect us from any harm. I felt a little bit of nervous when sharing my drawing to my group mates because I lack self-confidence. The next one to share their dinner table was Murphy. I learned a lot from Murphy. Murphy’s father died long time ago but they kept on moving forward. Murphy also shared some things about his siblings. I learned that sharing your own stories to other people and listening to their stories too can improve your social interaction and interpersonal skill. The last one to share was Gene. Gene shared to us some things about his life. I listened to their stories very well. I learned that each of us has a different stories in life. I really like this kind of activity, it is very effective on improving one’s self-confidence and interpersonal skill. After the activity, we had a little break and we were given delicious snack and refreshing drinks while talking to new friends. I learned how to make friends and share things about myself.

The next part of the program started, it was all about Personhood. Personhood is the quality or condition of being an individual person. The facilitator asks us if we want to share something about our lives that we keep deep inside our hearts and minds. Some of my classmates shared their problems, experiences, and conflicts. I learned a lot from this session, we should respect each other because we don’t know their real story and their situation. We don’t know what they are experiencing right now and whenever they share about their selves we should help them or inspire them to make things better and help them to solve their problem. Whenever someone will share their experiences, problems or family conflicts we should keep it hidden. This will help us to have a better communication towards our classmates and this a good impact on our Field Trip and Seminar. After the first part of the current session, we are given a picture of a tree with a lot of individuals with different places on the tree. Some of the individuals on the tree are located at the top and others are on the side or at the bottom. They have different kinds of expressions. This explains that each of us has different kinds of personalities. There are people who are enjoying while other people are suffering. Some are smiling and some are frowning. Some of my classmates shared their thoughts and experiences in life. All of us shared what kind of personality we have. I learned that we should be more open in listening to others’ problem or experiences because this helps us to think of more idea to help that person. One of my classmate shared that we could be anyone of the people in the picture because we have different kinds of personality depending on the situation we get into. 

We proceeded to the next activity, the most exciting and fun activity. We are grouped by 5-6 members. The next activity is a game and it’s all about team work and team building. After forming a group, we were given a marker pen and a manila paper then instructed us to choose a seeer, runner, and the one who will draw the picture. The mechanics of the game is easy. First, the seeer will be the only one who is allowed to see the picture then he/she is the one who tell the runner what is the drawing on the picture like. After the runner receives the information from the seeer he then tell the doer what to draw and what does the drawing in the hidden picture look like. Our runner keeps on going back to the seeer to get more information and details about the picture so that the doer can draw it more accurately. We really enjoyed playing the team building game. First, we drew some sketches so that we can come up into a better drawing and a better view. After receiving a lot of details and information from the seeer and runner the doer adds up it on the drawing to make it more detailed and more correct. I learned that every one of us has a different perspective about a thing. We should respect ones’ idea. After the activity was finished, each group’s drawing were posted where everyone can see it and our facilitator was looking for a drawing with the closest illustrations of the picture. We all have different perspectives so some of the grouped drew with a different angle or view. We almost won 1^st place that game. We won 2^nd place and we were so happy for that. I learned that this game improves the teamwork and the communication of each individual/member. I learned that each of us has a different strategy in order to have a better game and how to win the game. 

The last part of the program was very serious and solemn, each of us was given a piece of paper and a candle. We were instructed to fill-up or answer all of the questions written on the paper. The questions on the paper was “I should continue what?”, “I should start what?”, and “I should stop what?” this is a commitment. God will always guide us and lead us to a better life. God will never leave us. I committed that I should continue to be a blessing to my classmates, family, relatives, and friends. I should stop doing bad things to my classmates and I should start doing good things towards other people. I learned that committing should be sincere because this will lead us into a better person and an enhanced individual. After we wrote our commitments we stood up and hold each other’s hands. The facilitator lights up the candle one by one and each of us will read our commitment. 

I learned so many things from this Team Building Seminar. It is very effective in improving and developing our self-confidence and our interpersonal skill. I learned that acquiring great teamwork will have great products. The learnings we acquired from this program will truly help and guide us on our Fieldtrip and Seminar. All of the activities helped me build confidence and assisted me to become a better person. I learned so many things in this Team Building seminar that is applicable in our incoming Field Trip and Seminar in Manila, this also helped me to have friends and to have a good connection to my new friends in terms on teamwork and social interaction.