PSY Forum Events

“Great Teams For Great Work”, was a team-building workshop organized by the Department of Psychology for 29 students of III BA and catered to the theme of “Synergy in Action: Elevating Success through the Power of Great Teams”. The session took place on the 29th of February 2024 and commenced at 10:45 am at Room number 6 in the Humanities Block. The main goal was to introduce the students to the needs and importance of teamwork in various aspects of life, especially in an occupational set-up.

Ms. Minola Saldhana extended a warm welcome to the resource person, Ms.Thani Anwar, who was an alumnus of the PG programme. She is a seasoned freelance counsellor who specializes in academic self-development, interpersonal relationships and anxiety-related concerns.
Presently, she serves as the Assistant Professor in the MSc. Counseling Department at School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya.

Ms.Thani commenced the workshop by asking everyone in attendance to pick a partner and find out something they hold in common with them. When it was noticed that a pleasant rapport was built between the pairs across the room, the professor altered the situation and asked everyone to expand their pairs into larger groups. Once again each group was asked to navigate common interests between all members of the group.

The motive of the activity was to facilitate communication between members of a team and encourage cooperation. There are chances for one to assume that the person sitting right beside them is completely different and that they would be least likely to share common grounds. One wouldn't have known about the interests or potential capabilities of the next person without the presence of communication.

With this message in mind, the resource person herself rearranged the students into groups of three. She then proceeded to hand a sheet of paper to each group. Printed on the paper were words aligned vertically. The paper was to be held by one member of the group at the forehead. The other members had to help that particular member guess the first word on the paper without mentioning any other words present below it. (This is because mentioning the other words present below would easily give away the first word that is to be identified). The winning team is the one that helps the member guess every word on every sheet in the set.

When the activity came to an end, the winners beamed in pride, the professor asked each team to ponder upon what they could have changed to achieve better results. There were a variety of responses that involved being a bit more fluent with the rules and communicating in a simplified manner. It was noticed that the person holding the paper had to consider everyone’s input at various moments to obtain faster results. This only goes to show the individualistic significance of all the members of the team.

The next activity required patience and confidence. A representative from the group was asked to draw a figure, according to how their respective group instructed them to. The catch was that the group must only use geometrical shapes to guide the representative into drawing the figure.

Despite the prolonged time taken, some groups drew the picture to perfection. Once again Ms.Thani asked the class to reflect upon what could have been done better. It was decided by the majority that from each group there should have been only one member who instructed the representative on how to go about with the drawing to avoid confusion.

Considering the various responses, the resource person repeated the activity but added a twist. The representatives were asked to once again draw a picture using the geometrical guidance from their team like before. However, this time the member would guide the representative without the benefit of looking at the board and seeing if they were doing it right.

When the activity came to an end, Ms. Thani asked the students about the challenges that were faced. Most students reported that there were more occurrences of miscommunication and confusion. She wisely linked their observations to a situation where a team leader delegates work to his subordinates but later turns a blind eye to the process. Without appropriate guidance, the subordinate would be bound to mess up.

To distribute strength equally, Ms. Thani once again rearranged the members of the group for the final activity. She began with an activity by telling all the teams to prepare a strategy for winning a game. The members of each group, having no context about what the game was about, put forward various suggestions on how to win.

Ms. Thani then requested five representatives from each group to step forward. The fifteen representatives were to stand in their respective groups one behind the other in front of the board. The last members on each of the lines would be given a picture to refer to. They had to draw that picture on a piece of paper placed on the back of the member standing in front of them. As a result, the person standing in front would draw the picture on a paper placed on the back of the person standing in front. He would draw it based on the sensations felt on his back. This process would continue until it reaches the person who is first in line who then draws the image on the board.

Nearly no team came close to reproducing the initial picture on the board. When asked about their observations of the activity, many of them reported that the moving sensation of the pen could not be felt on their back. Some members did improvise techniques and used the back of the pen to guide the person in front of them. This concept threw light on the need to gain improvisation techniques from various members of the group.
It also highlighted the importance of delegating a task to the designated person rather than having too many middlemen to convey ideas.

It was also noticed that each group, having no context as to what the game was about,
planned strategies that proved to be useless when the activity arrived. This pointed out the need for a team leader to keep the members informed about the nature of the work and what to expect to prevent last-minute confusions.

At 11:45 am, the series of insightful activities came to an end. Various positive feedbacks were gained from the students regarding the workshop. Ultimately Ms.Thani utilized a set of well-crafted activities to instill vital team-building skills into the students.

Words of appreciation were delivered by Adiba Mahak who conveyed the class’s gratitude towards Ms.Thani.

-Reported by Joan Bobby Mammen (III BA)