Madras Metro Round Table 95
HR Program at Adventure Zone on August 23rd and 24th, 2008.
Eighteen tablers of MMRT 95 attended a HR Program at Adventure Zone, Madhuranthakam
(http://www.adventurezone.8k.com/) over the weekend on August 23rd and August 24th, 2008.
The HR session was designed as a Boys Night Out for bonding and team building among the tablers.
This was the flow of events: ‐
1. The idea of outdoor HR session had been discussed at many meetings at MMRT 95 after
Chairman Punit attended a similar session last year. After some dicussion and checking the
availability of tablers we blocked the weekend of 23rd and 24th August.
2. Tablers meet at Tr. Nilesh apartment on the ECR at 3:30PM on Saturday August 23rd. Tr.
Nilesh graciously served beer and Guju snacks and the afternoon was off to a great start.
3. We left for the venue by 5PM and stopped at Golden Sun Resort again for some snacks and
to pick up Tr. Vishal Jain. We finally reached the venue at 8:30PM.
4. We were alloted 4 air conditioned tents with 5 tablers to a tent in bunker style beds. So it
was a combo of roughing it out and comfort.
5. After freshening up the tablers were breifed by Major Roy who runs the facility on the
actiivties for the next day. He indicated we would have to be up at 7AM for tea followed by
breakfast. All the activities would start by 9AM sharp.
6. The fellowship then started off in full swing. Chairman Punit proposed that every tabler talk
for 2 mins about “My First Time” – it could be any first time. This was a time tablers could
bare their hearts to others in the group and share their deepest experiences. The
experiences shared varied from funny to life threating to paranormal.
a. A tabler shared shared how he was almost killed by sharks and started at death in
the eye. After much discussion we reached the conclusion that the shark was
probaly scared of the tabler and backed away.
b. A tabler shared a experience of how he was able to communicate to God in a
profound way.
c. Many tablers shared experiences about their first girlfriends
d. Overall it was true male bonding and anything could be discussed and we got much
closer as a group.
e. The 2 min time frame was insufficent for many tablers and many tablers even shared
2 experiences.
f. Dinner and drinks was on as part of this activity and we wound by 4AM for the tents
to get some sleep.
7. Some snaps of the “My First Time”
(Tablers listening to an experience)
(IPC Amit Kalra shares his experience)
8. The next morning we were up by 7AM as the shone right through the tents and it was bright
(no way we could sleep more). We had our tea and breakfast and got ready for the activities
for the day by 9AM.
9. Major Roy briefed us on the first 2 activities – Rappelling and Rock‐climbing. A 51 foot wall
had to be rappelled down and climbed up. We were broken up into 2 teams of nine each.
a. Each team chose their names – one was called “Death Sharks” and the other “Super
Kings”. The “Death Sharks” was named after the sharks we talked about in the
previous night.
b. Each of the activities had a scoring system and the idea was to manage your team
well (resources and time) to score the maximum points. For example in the
Rappelling each team member got 50 points for the first time, 10 for the second
time and 3 points for the third time. So it was imperative for all team members to do
it once and not just the athletic or adventurous ones.
c. Teams also had to coordinate safety ropes, the harness so a lot of teamwork and
planning was required to get the formula right. Here are some snaps of these two
activities.
(Tr. Summet climbs up a 50 foot wall!)
(Tr. Rajesh Sayani rappells down a 50 foot wall).
(Tr. Manikandan and Tr. Arun get the harness on for IPC Amit Kalra – teamwork)
10. In the first session the Death Sharks completed the Rock Climbing and the Super Kings
completed the Rapelling. Major Roy then had a meeting of the teams and had them discuss
as to what worked and what did not. Each time had to describe the problems they faced and
how they overcame them. They also had to advice the other team how to do the task better.
The teams then swapped activities – Death Sharks did rapelling and Super Kings Rock
Climbing.
11. After these two sessions we had one more HR session from Major Roy and introspection on
how we accomplished our goals. At this points the scores were totaled and the Super Kings
were up by a large margin. We took a 30 min break and had some snacks and drinks to get
back into the groove.
12. The next activity was the Obstacle Course which had 9 obstacles. Each team was given 14
mins to complete the obstacles. Each team also had a new 10th member called “Paplu” –
basically a long stick which three members of the team had to carry at all times. “Paplu”
would score an additional 50 pts for a team for navigating obstacle if done correctly. So this
required more planning, coordination and time management as the time of 14 mins was
very short. Here are some snaps of the obstacle course.
(Tr. Nilesh fits into a tyre and is helped by Chairman Punit)
(Tr. Dr. Amit Saiya negotiates the mosquito net and crawls across it).
(Tr. Vishal and Tr. Naresh cross a makeshift bridge).
13. At the end of the obstacle course Major Roy again did an introspection on how the teams
performed. The points were totaled and Death Sharks won the Obstacle course. The overall
winners were the Super Kings.
14. After this we had lunch and took to Pistol Shooting. We then had a shower and returned
home by Sunday evening.
Valuable HR Lessons we picked up
• Teams are more than the sum of the individual abilities. An individual who is part of a team
can perform better than alone (when not part of a team). The team should encourage and
help an individual do more that way they can normally accomplish alone. This can be done
with the right encouragement, resources and time planning. We saw this happen in many
activities. For example Tr.Deepak gave up on the rock climb midway. With the support of his
team members and got use of the safety rope by his team he was able to complete and
garner valuable points for his team.
• Look for intangible assets in your team. A team member can bring intangible assets and you
have to look for them. In the Obstace course the “Paplu” was an intangible asset if used
properly could actually help the team do the obstacle course much faster (the stick could
have been used to make the ladder easier to climb for example). The team which saw him as
a liability did not score many points. The team which used him well would have gained a lot
(in addition to points).
• Always set benchmarks – preferably relative. People function better when there is a
benchmark or standard. Benchmarks should be set by the team leaders – for example in 3
mins we should complete 2 obstacles and the next 15 mins these 3 obstacles. Leaders need
to set benchmarks for the overall team and measure implementation so things go per plan.
A relative benchmark compares the prior period performance to current. An absolute
benchmark sets a target to achieve based on a number the team needs to achieve. Major
Roy pointed out the importance of benchmarks by saying that what does not measured does
not get done.
Overall it was GREAT FUN and an experience all of will cherish.
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