SHANGRI-LA’S RASA RIA MANAGEMENT TRAINING: 3 DAYS ALIGNMENT AND VISIONING WORKSHOP
Following a recent successful Alignment and Visioning workshop for the Executive Committee of Shangri-la’s Rasa Ria Resort facilitated by Asia Ability the initiative was cascaded to the rest of the resort management team this week. Three groups of managers made a short journey to the amazing environment of The Adventure Centre in Kiulu for a customised inspirational Leadership workshop. A wide variety of experiential team activities, personality profiling and process improvement sessions fully engaged the cross departmental teams.
The multi connection activity – Rat Trap – was an enjoyable finale that generated powerful lessons around the interface between departments.
Find out more about Rat Trap here: http://bit.ly/asiaability-rattrap
It was a breezy cloudy afternoon at the Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort on a Wednesday and the Asia Ability team were all set to welcome a team from Control Risks! Their mission… FLAT OUT AFLOAT: to build a sea-worthy vessel that floats and paddle it along a designated race route! And that was what they did! Although… the feat did not come without challenges…!
Paul our lead facilitator, did a great job briefing the teams on their mission, teams were then presented with their instruction kit, construction blueprints and proceeded to their respective team zones to view their materials. Planning took place, jobs were assigned and delegated, participants stepped up to take on the challenge. It was apparent that some teams were well organised and then there were some teams that decided to be innovative by making slight modifications to the plans (despite being told to adhere to the exact plans to guarantee that it will work!)… at the end of the building phase, we could see that some teams had indeed made alternative modifications to their ‘vessel’ reasoning that the shorter the boat the faster it will be..!
Little did they know, the next challenge came in the form of… raindrops! As you know, cardboards are ruined if they get in direct contact with water! At that time some teams were still in the midst of wrapping up their boats with plastic sheets to waterproof them for when they put their boats out to sea! With quick thinking, teams lifted their vessel off the ground from getting soaked and some teams formed a shaded fort under the resort’s beach umbrella… teams were indeed getting creative and innovative in spite of all the challenges they were facing which was in so many ways was a timely wind of change! And complete their boat the teams did!
By the time all teams had their boats ready for the racing phase, the storm grew stronger… however, the teams were adamant that they complete the challenge with a race! So everyone prayed hard and waited for the rain to subside, they answered some debrief questions that Paul had prepared for them…. when the rain subsided for a bit and with the green light received from resort on the safety to proceed with the rain at sea… the teams RACED into the sea! And man, what a RACE it was… a very WET one! Wonder if the “shorter… innovative" team boats made it? Let’s just stay that it floated and was paddled out to sea lasting for part of the race! The added excitement from the teams splashing about didn’t do much justice to the boats that were not securely wrapped, as it began disintegrating on its journey back to shore!
Overall, it was loads of lessons learnt whilst having fun and probably one of the WETTEST Flat Out Afloat ever!
Relive your childhood days of building things with your hands, by building up a rat trap using the Meccano – made up of wooden planks and wheels & axles etc – with your bare hands! On 18th July 2014, the Asia Ability team held the Rat Trap teambuilding event where participants worked on a series of large contraptions that makes up a rat trap.
As the participants streamed into the room with no clue what they were in for, they noticed the large boxes placed around the room; some of them could not resist the temptation to take a peek into the boxes! Our lead facilitator, Michelle Ong, got the bunch going with some energizers to pump up the participants!
In no time, our participants were hyped and after discovering their main task for the afternoon – to build a rat trap. The 8 teams scurried along to their designated stations to contribute their part, where each team would be building one of the eight contraptions. Following the instructions closely, each member of the team worked on different parts of their assigned contraption. Joining the wooden planks together using nuts & bolts and inserting the wheels and axles at the appropriate place, the teams were focused on each of their part, keeping in mind that their part is going to be part of a bigger entity – the rat trap.
Within 1.5 hours, all teams had efficiently built up the eight different contraptions of the rat trap. Their next task was to figure out the sequence of the contraptions, as one would trigger the next through a series of chain reactions – akin to a domino effect – to be able to activate the trap. Ideas and suggestions of which part should go where were bouncing amongst the participants and soon after, the participants had successfully put the different contraptions in the correct sequence!
Before the finale, the teams were asked to reflect on experience in building the rattrap as a team. The Asia Ability team wishes to convey to participants that each and every contribution by each member of the company counts towards the success of the company, and no gesture or effort is insignificant; and it was evident that the message was brought across successfully upon hearing the responses of the participants. The CEO of the company further enhanced the message by mentioning the importance of three factors that he felt was crucial – Leadership, Communication and Spirit.
Finally, it has come to the time where the participants had anticipated from the start – to witness the domino effect of putting all the contraptions together! The CEO of the company was invited to initiate the trap. All eyes were on him as he nudged the trigger to activate the built mechanism, as the teams’ respective sections were triggered, sounds of gasps could be heard and when it reached the final section… voilà – the rat was caught! Applause and laughter filled the room as one of our team member winded up the trap to reveal a squashed rat. Ouch!
Asia Ability successfully delivered yet another fun and collaborative team event reiterating to the teams with the importance of linking up to achieve success!
Asia Ability on the 8th of July worked with a meeting and conference specialist in delivering Flat-Out Formula 1 event for a pharmaceutical organization. The activity involved having the teams construct their own Formula 1 cars from cardboard, before having a race to see which team has the better and faster vehicle.
After a quick tea-break, the participants entered the activity room with much anticipation. Excitement brewed as the participants inspected their programme kits that were laid out for them before quickly forming two different teams. Shortly after a tee up brief, the participants were unleashed upon the task and they quickly got down to it.
Reviewing the detailed instructions that are given to them, they quickly understood the task at hand and started delegating roles to all the members. Their excitement and enthusiasm filled the atmosphere as they covered the activity room with cardboard and got down to drawing out the parts needed to build their team Formula 1 car. Teams were very quick to complete their drawing of the parts of vehicles that the facilitators just could not find time to take a breather! Thereafter, with the parts cut out, the participants buzzed around to put everything together.
Looks of satisfaction and pride were clear on the faces of the participants, with endless chatter permeating the room. The participants were literally jumping around in excitement. After a brief session of decorating their Formula 1 cars, the teams were all set and ready to race. The drivers wore their helmets and donned their racing suits before taking their pole position.
After an adrenaline-filled race, one of the teams emerged victorious and champagne was served to celebrate their success! There was no “losing” team as everyone understood that the event was a celebration of success with participants learnt the importance of communication, mutual respect and cooperation through a quirky and fun-filled team activity.
MEMOIRS OF A GEARHEAD: FLAT OUT FORMULA 1 IN SHAH ALAM, SELANGOR
What is a 20th century child if not without that slight itch to put rubber to the tarmac and race it out in a sleek pinnacle of human technology, a Formula 1 car? Today, five of the Asia Ability pit crew has taken to Shah Alam in Malaysia near the old Batu Tiga racing track with a team of 100 staff of the foremost TV and radio media broadcasting company in the nation, from very creative backgrounds, to function as a team of high performing engineers and build and race their very own F1 car; and knowing Asia Ability, we won’t leave anything without a little twist to sweeten the paddocks!!
Every F1 racing team needs proper funding and sponsorships before they can afford anything to build with, so what is more perfect to emulate speed and efficiency, all core values needed by an F1 team, than a Delivery Service?! Hence with another , at the crack of dawn the 100 participants were ushered into Six respective teams in the Glenmarie Holiday Inn Ballroom in which they were given their first brief: They are to form six different delivery companies and they were not only to pitch their company to a high profile client, but also elect section chiefs for different tasks, to overcome foreseen obstacles and challenges (only foreseen because they were thrown in by Asia Ability!), proving the integrity of their service, and finally to create a commercial to market it to the public, all while transporting two fragile units from start to finish while keeping it intact. They rushed away into their segregated roles, and came back to brief their teams on their sections and come up with an action plan to tackle the following obstacles: recovering the product, caterpillar walk to deliver through winding roads, a blind trek where the carrier is blindfolded, and a delivery board in which ultimate balance is achieved. Once the plans were complete, the six teams rushed and raced each other to prove their excellence and at completion were timed. They went back and presented their commercial to a panel of discerning judges, in which they were rated on how much everyone was involved, how much the message was passed across, and how much everyone laughed because nothing diverts attention like humor!
They then adjourned to lunch and returning after their bountiful meal in the podium seat box, they instantly embarked on building out the separate components of their F1 cars out of cardboard and a wooden base! The cars required a multitude of parts that needed to be measured and cut by the team members in a great show of teamwork and alignment. Cockpits, engine boxes, side rails, front rails, back rails, you name it, they built it! In a collaborative spirit between the teammates and the competitive burn between the six teams, they rushed and built through with focus and precision, all splayed out on the shop floor, working against the clock to their impending finale; THE RACE.
Near the twilight of dusk, the cars were prepared, covered in the slogans and designs of their company and pit team, the large, life size cars were pushed out of the ballroom and paraded through the facility, just like a real F1 podium rally to their race track. The F1 cars were built to steer with a driver inside and the powerful engines will consist of two heroic Humans pushing from behind – haha. The drivers were adorned with jumpsuits and helmets and the races took off! Four heats to determine the final winner and in the end, the Chief Executive Officer was requested to climb into the car and was paraded around for her fellow colleagues to admire! There were just countless ways today in which this group of enthusiastic young participants came face to face with core teambuilding values, strengthening their bonds through communication, streamlining their productivity through alignment and focus, values that are till today, used in their workplace.
