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After reading page on 274 about EcoSeagate and watching the video on EcoSeagate Team Development process, I can see the value and the importance of the team development process. By taking everyone from the organization to outdoor experimental laboratory training outside of the workplace, it makes everyone see each other as equals. They no longer respect each other because of the authority they hold or because they are high in the organizational chart, they actually earn each other’s trust through hard work, commitment, and cooperation. In all of the exercises shown throughout the video, no one seemed to be left behind, no one arguing about which one route they should take, or how quickly they needed to move to get there first. All I saw was communication, teamwork, trust, commitment, cooperation, determination, effort, hard work, everyone giving it their all (performance), empowerment, praise as a way to boost each other to complete the task. In an organization that is so big, a team development process like this is very valuable and important. Even when outsiders think that it is too expensive for the organization to do this type of activity, it does become very important for them to continue doing it in order to build communication channels, get to know each other, learn to work as a team, understand different view points/perspectives, understand the importance of diversity in decision-making, and much more. This type of outdoor training where everyone is equal and is being equally challenged is a great opportunity to build teamwork.

            In a high performing organization, it is very important and even necessary to continue developing ways to learn about teamwork, trust, communication, commitment, cooperation, and much more. Every high performance team has a goal and typically, after the goal is reached, the team dissipates. When high performance teams stay together for (let’s say) longer than 6 months, the team can become stagnant, slow down, and even begin to develop groupthink. It is common for this to happen because they no longer feel challenged, they know each other more, and to complete tasks with such a team is like completing tasks with a natural team. An exercise like those shown in the video help continue the development of team work and it also shows employees throughout the company that they are valued and important for the success of the organization.

            Currently, I’m not working so I cannot say that my current organization can benefit from a similar activity. But, thinking back to my old organization I would say that my past organization would greatly benefit from a similar exercise. I would’ve loved to take advantage from such exercises because I could even learn about my own strengths and weaknesses. This would even help me develop my leadership skills even if I’m not the leader. There is a great amount of value for both the organization and to the person completing this type of exercises because you not only learn along with others, you also learn about yourself. In my past organization, there is a sense of teamwork but there is a big disconnection between the floor employees and management. You can see that both teams don’t see eye-to-eye and because management has authority, the floor team members either quit when they don’t agree with something or they give in to what management demands. An exercise like this would really bring the company together.