Hearts beat in unison as four New York firemen, jumped off their ladder truck, and became part of a team building event for EISAI Pharmaceuticals at the Bronx Zoo, in New York City.

You could feel the collective “awe” as they gladly accepted some cuddly animals that will make part of their job a little easier.  New York’s firemen helped America’s heart heal with their heroic actions on 9/11.  A feeling of respect and admiration was palpable.

Lt. William Mulvahill, thanked the group for creating Rescue Bears to be placed in the arms of a traumatized child. “Those calls are tough.  Having something like this helps us calm the kids.”

Firemen train as a team, coming to understand the strengths of individuals and capitalizing on those strengths to become the most effective team possible.  That strategy is the same kind that makes any group stronger.

The Rescue Bear event explores personality temperaments, helps participants learn why we react a certain way when we work with people who have starkly different kinds of temperaments.  More importantly, they learn how to understand each other, and how to take the anxiety out of bumping into personality temperaments that can cause stress.

A few puzzles caused some real head scratching until the groups learned how to , recognize each other’s strengths and let the process work.   Recognizing and understanding different temperaments helps open our minds to differences  dilutes work tensions.

Joking about each others’ temperaments, they solved some riddles, helped build a team, and created some bears, dressing them as little firemen.  The real firemen can now put a little fireman into the hands of a traumatized child at the site of an accident, fire, or any other call that these heroes answer.

Their work on this day, confirmed the hero worship that New York Firemen have so rightly earned.  For the EISAI group, just meeting these guys was a day to remember.  Now, when they think of the firemen, they will also remember how working together can make them a stronger team.