Dec 2023: Becoming one: Team Building

Posted by Dan and Carole McClelland |0 comments

Dan LOVES challenging our DTS students to function as the body of Christ and learn to become one as in 1 Corinthans 12.  Working together as one body, but having many parts, is not easy!  There are many members of the body, all with different purposes and giftings, just like our bodies have feet, hands, hearts eyes, ears etc.  No part is greater or lesser than the others, but all are important.  Also when one part is hurting, it affects the whole body.  That is the same for teams!  Learning to function as one team with different people from different countries, with different personalities, with a variety of giftings, is always one of our favorite challenges of leading DTSs.  One way we prepare our team for working as one on outreach is by doing a day of team-building activities with the point of UNITY!   This year Dan led 4 activities on our team-building day. These activites were specifically chosen to work on communication skills, team work, problem-solving and plan development including execution of that plan.  These are important skills for a team going on outreach together. 

COMMUNICATION: drawing a picture 

During the first activity, Dan asked each person to draw a detailed picture and then gave them time to draw.  After about 10 mins, he divided them into partners and told them they had to flip the picture over so the other person could not see it. Next one person needed to communicate, only using sign, to their partner what their picture was like and the partner needed to draw it. Then they switched roles and did the same thing.Throughout this activity, our team realized how much detail they needed to communicate to their partners for that person to really understand how to draw their picture. This exemplified how often they think they are communicating everything they see but, by missing little details, their partners were not able to duplicate the picture. This skill was going to be helpful in the next three activities! 

WORKING TOGETHER: Catching a tennis ball with duct tape and straws

For this second challenge, Dan gave each group a long piece of duct tape and 20 paper straws.  They had to work together as a team to create something that could catch a tennis ball dropped from about 3ft. 

 

ENDURANCE: solve the bucket challenge 

When we got to this challenge, Dan divided each team of four into two partners placing the groups of two at two ends marked off with a wooden plank. Next he gave each team a bucket full of water and string. The team's challenge was to get the bucket of water to the other side without spilling the water. Every time this activity is used in a DTS, the group finds this challenge takes the longest and turns out to be the hardest!  Also by this point, in the long day of team building, patience fades and frustration grows! It usually takes about an hour to complete this activity which challenges our endurance and ability to work together to solve problems.  This year, one team was able to do it! 

 

MAKE A PLAN: Make a square with string while blindfolded 

The last activity that Dan led required each team of four to make a square in a large field with one long piece of string. However, they had to do it blindfolded! For the Deaf this is significantly harder as that meant they could not see or hear.  The point of this activity is to make a plan together beforehand and then execute it the best you can.  One team this year used a lot of communicating through sign language in the hands as someone would do if they were actually Deaf-Blind. 

 The team had a debriefing time afterwards; processing how they could grow individually and grow as a team, to prepare them for outreach.  I was not there during the activities or debrief, but I was able to ask each student what they learned at lunch. Their comments, processing, and reflections were so goood! 

Here is a summary of a few of the comments: 

"My voice is important, and I realized that I did not use it enough and just "checked out" of the discussion which affected the team." 

 " I am a forward person, but learning to do it with love, gentleness and kindness is a challenge for me. I am learning how to communicate with the fruit of the Spirit."

"When another team member did something we did not agree upon as a team, I got frustrated, and I did not know what to do or how to communicate. I want to grow in calling us back to what we agreed on in a loving way. "

"I realized that communication is about making sure the other person understands rather than just saying words."

"I am a leader and can lead, but I am afraid to step into leading.  Today, I did not step up in that area and instead let others lead, but I can and should lead too."