How NASA uses team building to send astronauts to space!
Team building is often termed as unproductive and useless by many people but that’s just a wrong perception. On the contrary, every company that has made a name for itself takes team building very seriously.
Team building and NASA
Team building activities constitute an important part of every successful organization. And NASA serves as the ideal example.
Since the earliest days of the space race; starting with engineering and technology teams, and progressing to the manned spaceflight programs, NASA has fully recognized that the success of these future space missions will rely on effective teamwork.
Team building activities adopted by NASA’s training program
Enrolling in a space program in NASA means years of isolation and confinement. And in order to survive in such inhospitable and restricted surroundings, team cohesion and positive engagement are a must have. Below are two of the team building activities used to prepare participants for space missions.
1) Survival on Moon
Resources are highly limited in the space. And sharing them equally through reaching a compromise is a very difficult task. So, to train the astronauts in observing team work and tolerance at all times, training programs at NASA often prepare participants to ensure a 100% percent survival rate by conservation of resources and adopting fool proof problem solving strategies through unhalted collaboration. Often, teams are given a list of available items in case of an emergency and are asked to rank them through consensus, in their order of importance to ensure zero casualties.
2) Psychological triggers testing
Living in space is very unnerving and challenging, not only on a physical but also on a psychological level. Any sort of incoherence and conflict can end up in disaster. That is why psychological scientists at NASA are currently experimenting with sensors that measure peer interactions, both physical (triggered by the sensors) and virtual. In this case, bioinformatics help alert researchers to participants’ bodily reactions to communication — both positive and negative — from other teammates. And the results of these observations’ would probably help program operators to lead a targeted approach towards building trust and acceptance for the other members of the team and resolve issues on a deeper level.
The advantages of team building activities
The important of team building can’t be denied in today’s fast changing world. While the benefits are countless, here are a couple of important things that can be easily achieved through targeted team building activities.
1) Transparency and Greater trust
Every company has its own hierarchy and sometimes the position and power gets in the way. This is because strict conduct rules might not allow employees to voice their opinions in front of their superiors and they feel unvalued and unmerited. Team building activities solve this issue by allowing the employees and the employers to interact in a stress free environment and build relationships on a more personal level. This works as a great ice breaker and helps to introduce a greater level of transparency in the company which automatically means increased progress in a short amount of time.
2) Positive culture development and boost in creativity
Team building activities are often designed in such a way that they tend to push workers outside their comfort zone. They allow them to take risks and come up with innovative solutions to tackle any probable challenges. Result? A boost in creativity. Also, this new found strength in the face of difficulties might also be successful in countering the culture of risk aversion, a recurring issue that plagues every other company during the start up phase. With employees being sure of their problem solving strategies; knowing that their actions will be backed up by the company, success is inevitable.
Why is team building a key factor in boosting business?
Team building is an integral part of developing cohesiveness and positive interaction between individual members to maximise their productivity. In order to encourage employees to think beyond individual success and work towards achieving a similar goal through joint effort, it is highly important to inculcate in them the values of teamwork, collaboration and building trust. And team building exercises are specifically aimed towards achieving all that and so much more.
Jambar Team building Singapore
Lucrative as it is to travel into space, it is indeed a rare opportunity. So, for those of you who are still living on earth and struggling to carve their niche in the corporate world, Jambar team building is your partner in success. Each of the team building activities offered by Jambar are tried and tested to cater to wide variety of situations. Pick a service that is feasible for your company, book a team building activity session and enjoy the fun that unfolds. And needless, you will see a marked positive improvement in your teams and their productivity levels. Try and see it for yourself.
