Lessons from 3 days in boot-camp

Winding through hills wrapped in endless paddy fields, the coach occasionally perched precariously on the edges as it manoeuvred the steep single-lane gravel road leading towards boot-camp. The group of us were transported to Service Quality Centre (SQC) on the outskirts of Jakarta for what was to be a team-building and self-awareness camp. Encamped a midst rural villages, rice-fields and plantations, and far away from civilization, deprived of the comforts of communications and connectivity to the World (our cell-phones were retained), it was indeed a period of solitude and quiet meditation, interrupted frequently by laughter from the jokes that we shared.

Games and activities included such staple like Scavenger Hunt, Water Balloons, High Wall, Hiking, Acid River, Bomb Diffusion, Trust Fall, to name a few. All these activities had an element of teamwork and some incorporated the challenge of having to strategize. What was most interesting was that the activity may be quite simple, but clash of personalities and team dynamics made it much more of a challenge. Unfortunately, I had done almost all these activities during my scouting days, in school camps or in the army, so I simply played a pedestal role.

One of the highlights of the program was a personal evaluation based on the Belbin Team Roles Theory. It basically proposes that there are 9 roles that a person may take while being part of a team.  Each of the behaviours is important in getting the team successfully from start to finish and having a diversified team was key to successful teamwork. After filling up a  questionnaire we are assessed on our preferred team role. My top two roles were closely tied and were Resource Investigator (“Explores opportunities. Develops contacts.”) and Plant (“Highly creative and good at solving problems in unconventional ways”). It was spot on!

The 3 days in boot-camp was not time wasted, even though I’d done most of those activities before and could only stand around and offer a hand. I had time to reflect on teamwork and leadership styles and distil some thoughts based on observations of the teams I were in.

The Belbin Team Roles model is a good way to understand various team-players and the roles/skills that they can provide to the team. Knowing how to leverage on each person’s skills will greatly enhance the team’s productivity and effectiveness. Too many ‘leader’-type persons in a team will often lead to in-fighting as each person tries to wrestle for power. Let the ‘idea generator’ come up with possible solutions and then choose an approach can give the team options and clear direction. The ‘meticulous’ role has a part to play in ensuring the product/solution is correct. I do believe that if each person is self-aware, and understands his/her own strengths/weakness as a team-player, the team will function much better as conflicts can be minimized.

There was an activity where the entire group was posed with a challenge and worked on it furiously for a couple of hours. Some team-mates were criticized at the end of the session for sitting at the back and not contributing while the other team-mates were trying to solve the puzzle. This was an interesting scenario, because my observation was that there were already too many ‘cooks’ and too many ideas were floating around. More mouths would have meant more confusion. The group that took a step back to follow was not incorrect in doing so, although it might have given the impression of being disconnected and unsupportive of the efforts of the team.

Here’s the my main take-away from this trip:

There are people who are destructive team-players and those who are constructive. Destructive team-mates distract the team from the goal, reduce effectiveness and make the task more onerous. This can happen when they insist on a poor idea and refuse to give way, criticize without offering an improvement, or simply do not contribute by sitting out and not responding.
On the other hand, constructive team-players are always a welcome on a team. And they may not have to be very actively involved. Some perhaps are more accustomed to being in a behind-the-scenes role. Although they might be quietly sitting behind, but if asked to do something, they would step up and do it. These are supportive and constructive team-players that are also essential in a team. The real epiphany is that these team-players could be ones with any type of Belbin team-role, be it a natural whip-cracker, masterful coordinator or professional specialist. Anyone can take a step back and away from their typical roles and take on the role of Constructive team-player. It is a choice that comes with awareness of self and awareness of team-dynamics. This would kind of tie in with the long overstated “leadership does not have to happen at the front”. Good leaders know when to take a step back and follow. The real value is in being a follower who is constructive and is supportive of the actions of the team, and always being ready to offer help to team-mates.