MONDAY 20TH JANUARY
WHAT? On Monday the 20th January, the Norwegian Friluftsliv class led the International Friluftsliv class through a number of team building exercises. The group leaders, from the Norwegian class, split the two classes up into four groups. Each group had a mix of Norwegian and International students.
First, the groups were instructed to build shelters, each with a tarp as the roof, walls, a sitting area large enough for all group members as well as a fireplace, within the time frame of 30 minutes. After all the shelters were presented and feedback had been obtained, 15 minutes was allocated to allow for the groups to make improvements, based on the feedback given from the group leaders and other students in the class.
After having an early lunch, where a few laughs were shared around a fire, the second activity commenced in which groups were instructed to build a tower with what they had brought in their bag.
WHERE? The team building activities took place in the parklands and Gapahuk which are both situated near the University of Agder.
WHY? Team building exercises are a great way to learn and understand teammates strengths and weaknesses. Team activities also help groups move through Tuckman’s stages of group development; more specifically in this case, the norming stage of group development. Additionally, team building exercises can also act as an observational tool to analyse a groups progress.
MY REFLECTION Although these team building activities were fun, I do not think they were the best activities to help with group development. I believe they were poorly organised, and the Norwegian class did not explain the tasks in an appropriate manner to allow the groups to show aspects of group cohesion, communication through subgroups and network patterns, as well as the use of effective tasks and maintenance roles. These elements are key when performing as a group. Additionally, there was minimal positive encouragement and feedback supplied when groups were presenting their shelters.
As mentioned in my previous blog post, on Monday 13th January, I did a great job at remembering some of the names of the Norwegian students that I had previously met and I also made many new friends.
WHAT CAN I TAKE FROM THIS EXPERIENCE? From this experience I hope I can start to utilise my prior knowledge in relation to group dynamics and cohesion, task and maintenance roles as well as communication patterns to help improve my team skills. I believe this will help when it is time to plan and organise group camps, and more so when performing as a group out in the field.
