3 Idiots Crossing the Valley-Learning management lessons

Teamwork 
  
The sum of the efforts undertaken by each team member for the achievement of the team’s objective is called team work. In other words, team work is the backbone of any team.

Every member in a team has to perform and contribute in his best possible way to achieve a common predefined goal. Individual performances do not count in a team and it is the collective performance of the team workers which matters the most.

To understand the concept of teamwork lets take an example of 3 people who are trying to cross a valley

 

  

Situation

• Three people who are one side of a valley have to cross the valley using a rod. The gap between the valleys is more than one step long but less than two steps. At any time, all the three people have to hold the rod and using synchronous movements, cross the valley.
• Any person, while on top of the valley (the “risky” position to be in) will be supported by other two people. All the three members here have interchanging roles in the completion of task. As can be noticed in the above image, all the three members have equal distribution of risky, half-risky and safe situations.
• The success of this exercise will depend upon how closely the three people work as part of a team, coordinate and communicate with each other through sound/signals and follow a synchronous movement

 
We can see that there are three people crossing the valley without much of a trouble. It has been possible only due to teamwork had made this impossible task possible. This is the beauty of team work

      Below figure explains the steps involved and sequence of process :

 

 

     Learning from the exercise:

      Planning

 

 

      For initaiating the activity or task a thorough planning is required.Planning sets and objective and direction for achieving a goal. In the valley crossing exercise, the plan was already formulated by the team members in the way they would cross the valley (take 9 steps with alternate and synchronous movement of left and right leg).

     
     
      Communication

  

      Effective communication is very necessary for the success of teamwork.Without proper communication team lacks direction and coordination.In valley crossing if thier had not been any communication, people would not have been able synchronize their steps and whole effort would have failed.

 

     Shared vision

       It is important to have a shared vision, which is clear and informs about where the organization  wants to head in the future. Vision needs to be shared with all the members of the organization so as to enable the members to work collectively in achieving the organization’s defined goal.
 

      Defined roles and responsibilities

     Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined for each and every individual in an organization since then, they will be aware of the kind of work that is expected from them. Valley crossing exercise was successful since each member knew when to move their leg (either left or right) and that it should be in sync with the other members of the team.

      

      Trust

 

      Organizations cannot be successful if there is no element of trust in it. As in the case of valley exercise, a person was ready to cross the valley while being in a “risky” and “half-risky” state only because he/she trusted the other members in the team. Similarly, in an organization, managers and employees need to trust each other.

     Innovation

 

    

     

    




    When a team is working effectively & efficiently, through brainstorming and collective effort innovation evolves.