The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development  (RCMRD) seeks to have proper and well coordinated working relationship between and among its staff members and to ensure it meets this objective, the organization holds annual team building events to strengthen the staff bond and empower them on the need to work as a team to achieve results.

On August 23, 2019 the RCMRD team of all staff drawn from the Common or Corporate Services, Technical Services, Human Resources and Administration as well as Finance converged at the RCMRD to travel to Sagana's Havila Resort in Muranga County for this year’s event. The staff was joined by members of Management Team including Prof. John Kiema the Director of Technical Services and Mr. Mitchum Galafa the Principal Human Resource and Administrative Officer.

RCMRD sought the expertise of consultants specializing in team building and outdoor recreation activities they combined icebreakers, energizers and other team building activities. These activities warmed up the participants and were a fun way to start the process of building a strong team. They allowed RCMRD employees to get to know each other better, practice different styles of communication, make group decisions, solve problems, work with people they wouldn’t ordinarily interact with, test leadership skills, and laugh together. Energizers helped in the renewal of the group as well as release any existing tension.

Fun activities…

The facilitators began the day by introducing themselves and stating the overall objective of the day as “bonding and having fun”. They continued by setting agreed ground rules before embarking on the first activity christened “Mingle”. This was meant to warm up the body and stretch muscles in readiness for the other activities. The next activity was meant to improve team work, innovativeness and communication skills followed closely by another one for non verbal communication before the team took a deserved break to hydrate.

Balloons and Toothpicks...
This is an excellent quick ,fun simple activity that shows the value of team work, it will get everybody energized and moving around the room and excited about the training , It can be a great opener for your team building class. What's the point from this activity? This great activity makes a clear point that It's human nature that each one of us in the team wants to stand out and be the only winner which was very clear in what happened in this activity. The real team spirit is that everyone works together so we can be all winners and achieve our common team goals.

Prof. Kiema and Mr. Galafa said, "Participating in team building and taking employees out of the office helps groups break down political and personal barriers, eliminate distractions and ultimately improves productivity and motivation."

The one day event aims at improving employee relationship and productivity. After the break there was an activity on effective ways of communication and decision making, leadership and the essence of good planning. “Paty ball” followed and was meant for effective ways of solving problems and adapting to new ways of working. The most interesting and participatory event was the “Ball in bucket”, this showed how to appreciate the effort of other colleagues and to be a brothers or sisters keeper. It emphasized on the values of Respect and Trust. This is an excellent quick ,fun simple activity that shows the value of team work, it will get everybody energized and moving around the room and excited about the training , It can be a great opener for your team building class.

What's the point from this activity? This great activity makes a clear point that It's human nature that each one of us in the team wants to stand out and be the only winner which was very clear in what happened in this activity. The real team spirit is that everyone works together so we can be all winners and achieve our common team goals.

 Achieving results…

One of the most powerful reasons for team building is to get results as team bonding brings people together by encouraging collaboration and teamwork with fun activities that help them see each other in a different light allowing them to connect in a different setting. Team RCMRD came back refreshed and re-energized ready to achieve even greater results.