Pooling team resources

Teambuilding specialist Asia Ability has its own team cohesiveness put to the test when a 1,300-pax client event required all hands to be on deck for a massive teambuilding activity in Singapore

Asia Ability

Event brief
Asia Ability’s office in Malaysia was contracted by a healthcare technology company in Singapore to organise and execute a teambuilding event for 1,300 employees in July 2017.

The objective of the exercise was to provide a fun and engaging experience for the participants while at the same time reinforcing the organisational values.

Asia Ability

Challenges
Asia Ability’s signature teambuilding activity, Trade Winds, met the requirements of the client. It is a fast moving and highly immersive pirate themed game that explores the skills of negotiation, information gathering and networking.

A challenge was securing enough manpower to prepare the props needed for 1,300 participants, the largest group the teambuilding specialist has handled so far for Trade Winds. Props included pirate costumes, make-belief trading coins, cards, manual instructions and treasure chests, among others. Asia Ability has less than 20 full-time staff around the region and historically, preparations for events has been done mostly in-house.

Another challenge was getting everyone in this group to fully participate while ensuring the company’s key messages were effectively delivered.

Solution
The last two weeks before the event were the most frantic, recalled Hailin Gambud, programme manager at Asia Ability.

Gambud said: “We may be a small team but every member at Asia Ability in the different regional offices chipped in to help, including senior management, to ensure all the props were ready for the event and packed into boxes to be taken to (the site).

“We attribute part of the event’s success to (our cooperative) offices in Singapore and Thailand (whose staff) chipped in to (help). For example, the lead facilitator, David Fotheringham, is from our office in Thailand. Dressed as Jack Sparrow, he oozed charm and quickly got the audience fully engaged.”

He was assisted by Asia Ability’s experienced facilitators as well as freelancers sourced by the Singapore office. The latter were provided with training prior to the event so that they understood the concept of the game, and were able to assist and encourage participants.

Key takeaways
Gambud recalled that a series of in-house meetings were conducted to plan minute details, and to anticipate the different behavioural patterns of participants.

“We had trained personnel to encourage the quieter personalities within the group to participate and have fun. Most importantly, we were able to draw on our talented pool of team facilitators who brought both their professionalism and the all important great energy required to facilitate a successful large scale team event,” said Gambud.

Event: Staff Teambuilding 2017
Venue: Singapore Expo Convention and Exhibition Centre
Date: July 14, 2017
Number of participants: 1,300

Sponsored Post