Team-Building Video Response What Detracted or Hindered

Team-Building Video Response

What detracted or hindered participants from successfully completing the activity?

The video switched from one dance-related scene to the next. There was never a particular clip within the video that allowed the viewer to see the completed dance routine. It jumped from one snippet of a dance scene to another. There was no transition between the individual dance presentations. You could say that the video leap-frogged from one scene to the next with no complete dance routine allowed to be completed. Basically the technical editing process was the reason none of these dance scenes were carried out to fruition. The person handling editing for a video can cut out, edit, or add to the video using the digital tools available. And while the video did present a myriad of dance styles and situations, and a wide variety of human dancers (some having fun being silly; others well choreographed and stylish; still others were sensual and romantic in theme), there was never the completion of any one segment of this video.

What helped the participants successfully complete the activity?

In the end, the video was complete because there was a beginning, and there was a main portion, and there was a conclusion. In each segment feet were moving: sometimes they were moving sideways or up and down or even shuffling in the "moon walk" portion; and while none of the segments finished up the full showing of that particular routine, taken together this was a completed activity. The theme in each segment was the same: music, motion, and practiced skills involving strenuous bodily activity. Hours of rehearsal went into just about all the segments, especially the dance routines involving several actors, and so by showing one after another of these routines, viewers become adjusted to the different styles, the variety of people doing the moving and the theme, which is dance and its many forms and styles.

Put together in a string of snippet cuts from other videos, this long list of participants did indeed help complete the activity.

What assessment can you offer regarding the human behavior and the challenge of building and fostering a sense of team in the workplace?

In the segment that features John Travolta and a dancer, they no doubt spent hours and weeks perfecting that dance. They didn't just start dancing to Bee Gees songs and come up with a nice little ditty. They were given a routine to practice and they -- as a team -- worked day after day to make it what it turned out to be, a hugely successful movie and soundtrack. A group of people working in the same environment for the same boss and trying hard to produce top quality products and services must also rehearse their roles often and seriously. As dynamics in the workplace change (say, a new product is going to be introduced to the public), new instructions and guidelines will be issued by management and the workers are expected to unite as a team and get the new product ready for consumers through the "dance" of efficiency and competency.