Scribbles

Outside of the busy course work from the introductory modules, we had a whole set of activities lined up. One of them was the Outward Bound activity, a day long team building outing in the nature.  Our destination – the forests of Fontainebleau. Our section of 73 students was split into groups of two or three teams and accompanied by an experienced Outward Bound guide. So not only did we get to spend time getting to better know our team (banded together for the next two periods), we also had the opportunity to connect with other folks from our section (which I think is set for only one period). Luckily for us, we were assigned to a group of three teams. I say the more the merrier.

After a short walk from campus, we found ourselves in the forest, enjoying the morning in nature and beautiful weather. The previous week was cold and rainy, and the forecast threatened rain, but the sun shined the whole time for our outing. Our most affable and competent guide, Ellen, led us through a series of challenging activities that required strategy and planning, teamwork, and some level of physical aptitude. Most of the exercises we did as an entire group, and others we performed as individual teams in a competitive spirit. After each exercise, Ellen would probe us with questions designed to help us learn about our behaviors and approaches. The lively discussions clearly benefited us in learning about one another.

In one event, our team came up with some questionable (but legal) tactics to beat out the other two. My French teammate said that normally he would never have imagined such shady tactics, but was elated to be a part of it (hahaha). I’ll chalk it up as an eye-opening on business subterfuge and guile for him. And while I won’t describe our tactics here, just in case you do the activity some day, I will say that given a short list of rules (as in life), there is a lot of room to exercise one’s creativity. So when we executed on these strategies, some buttons got pushed and we invoked some rather emotional responses. The others, clearly displeased, voiced their discontent and disapproval in no unclear manner during the debrief. The conversation was animated and contentious. Even Microsoft’s unpopular path to dominance was referenced, its achievements being an argument for doing whatever it takes to win. While there is no clear answer to this debate, the concluding result was that it forced the getting to know each other, warts, approaches to winning, philosophical disagreements and all. And even though it was heated, instead of creating a rivalry afterwards, we learned to deal with each other and maintain our collegial friendship. Within our team, we reflected on which of our values dictated certain behaviors that could create negative perceptions among others. It made me realize that under competitive scenarios, I can betray my own values. My takeaway is that my awareness of this will prompt deeper consideration before taking action.  Nonetheless, the conflict-induced exchange among the team had an exponential effect on accelerating our knowing one another, which later in the day, fostered better comfort and teamwork.

The remaining activities were done as a while group.  Some were challenging to the point that we would’ve certainly failed without our previous bonding. One task was to climb a huge wall that I estimate at 10-12 feet tall. Another one involved teams spread out throughout the forest, rendez-vous’ing a designated point, crawling through a tunnel withing a large rock and climbing down the face of it to our final destination – all blindfolded. Don’t worry, we were given helmets in case we bumped into trees, rocks, or just trip out of sheer blindness.

The last activity, the Mohawk Walk, was the most challenging one, requiring some tricky tightrope walking and planning. There were ropes tied to several trees and all 13 of us had start from one side and reach the other. If you fell, you had to start over. But the hardest part was the end, when people who reached the destination could no longer participate. That meant that some had to tightrope a respectable distance, necessitating some mad balance and agility. Fatigued and hungry, we somehow managed to summon every last drop of energy and concentration to complete the task. What really got us through it was sheer will, belief in each other, and a touch of luck. And even though before this, the day had brought us much closer, this particular activity cemented our gelling.

The final debrief was feedback and comments within the individual teams and then to the group and guide. I’m certain none of us felt that it was not a valuable experience. We were all very satisfied that INSEAD had organized this for welcome week.  Satisfying not because we got to know our classmates better, but rather we realized we actually like each other and look forward to learning from one another in the upcoming days.

(I’m lagging a bit in my articles.  Outward Bound was during welcome week and I already finished the first real week of class at this point.  The next posting will describe the student government meeting and huge party – yes, on the very same day.)