Technetics, plastics specialists, in the gas and oil industry, aerospace, and even semi-conductors, brought its team together with a Build-A-Bike® team-building event in Houston, Texas. We often think we know each other, and are surprised when we work or play together under different circumstances. Change the makeup of a team – change a mentality. When we work or play with a different group of people, the dynamics change. Mix them up, and put people who do not work together often and you may see qualities in someone you never knew they had.
Bringing a team together for a greater good like building bikes for kids who have none, brings out the good in us, and helps us see our team mates differently. We learn about them, they learn about us, and the best part – we learn about ourselves. The Technetics group learned to collaborate, solve problems, and communicate more effectively, by throwing away the labels we may have stamped each other with.
Oh, and did I say there was a little competition? Oh yes. Clue by clue and bolt by bolt the competition was fierce, but friendly, and devoted to one final goal – making the lives of some Houston kids a lot better. The best part of our day of strengthening the team, was getting to meet some kids from a Title one school, talking to them, adjusting a seat or two, giving some bike-riding lessons, and realizing that a little effort can create a big effect. A social worker at the school, Yolanda Vasquez, could not keep back the tears, told the group that these kids have so very little, that a bicycle, and meeting these people, will make a big impact in their lives.
It was the kind of event that creates images that stick, mental pictures of smiling kids. Those are the kind of sticky notes that help us feel better about who we are. Coming together as a team to make it happen is the reward. Plant manager, Chas Usé, said that the bicycle team building event was their best event ever.
By Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute