INESC TEC reinforces that team work is not just group work

the second activity of INESC TEC’S team building took place in the afternoon of 13 June

What can a group of 100 people gathered at the Porto City Park have in common? Some of them don’t know each other, others are colleagues and even friends, but all of them belong to the same institution. And since INESC TEC is becoming increasingly multidisciplinary, the probability of these people working together, even if remotely, is increasingly high. That was the reason for organising the second activity of INESC TEC’S team building, known as “INESC TEC on the move” which took place in the afternoon of 13 June.

People, the main asset of INESC TEC

Just like in the previous edition, the Porto City Park was the place selected to carry out the second edition of “INESC TEC on the move”, a team building activity that allowed the INESC TEC members to interact outside the institution and to get to know each other better.

team building

In a universe of more than 1000 collaborators, which are deployed around five different geographic points and some distant ones, INESC TEC is now way too big for people to easily get along with each other. Considering the importance of these relationships for INESC TEC's professional purposes, the goal was to get different colleagues from different areas and services, with whom it would be difficult to connect on a daily basis, to get in touch with each other and this was successfully achieved.

team building

The activities ended with a snack and with the communication of the final score and the corresponding medals awarded to the first three places.

At the end, everybody agreed that the event was very positive, interesting, valuable and fun. Previously unknown people ended up meeting each other, new friendships were built, barriers were broken down. All in all, it as a success that contributed to the development of new skills within INESC TEC.

Competition reinforces the team spirit

There were 10 teams, which were as heterogeneous as possible, composed by different elements from different services and research centres. And each team had to complete 10 activities in order to conquer the greatest number of points. There were medals to award to the first, second and third places and every team strived for the best performance.

team building

In the “Miau” game, a blindfolded element had to go through a maze without touching anything and the other colleagues had to give him directions by only making animal sounds.

In the “Corrida de Skys”, four elements were tied by their feet in a sort of ski. The goal was to do a circuit as quickly as possible. The first element was blindfolded and had to guide his team.

team building

The “Prova de Estratégia” or “Out of the Box” tested the teams that had to solve an enigma as quickly as possible.

In the “Tubo Roto” game, the team had to carry water from one side to the other using a tube with several holes.

The physical activity was more obvious in the “Gincana de Andas”, the “Corrida de Barbatanas” and the “Corrida de Sapos” game. There were several games at the same time where the participants had to do a race with stilts, a race with flippers and a “frog” race (jumping with a Swiss ball).

team building

The “Tiro com Arco” game or "Airsoft", was a marksmanship activity, where the result of the team was the sum of the parts, that is, more than just achieving the maximum score, the goal was to for the team to achieve an accurate score.

In the “Jogo da Aranha” activity, with a ring and several wires attached the team had to carry a tennis ball from one point to another, with the ball settled on that ring and without anyone touching it.

The “Corrida Mais Louca” game consisted in a race with pneumatic vehicles without any pedals. The driver was blindfolded and the team was at the same time the engine and the instructor.

At the “Jogo dos Peixes” activity, the team split in half. Some elements threw sponge fish over a table while the others had a fishing net to catch them.

Finally, in the “Içar do Homem” activity, the team had to lift an element of the group to the top of a tree so that person could collect a ribbon, and then put that person on the ground as quickly as possible.

New activities, same concept

Based on organisational development strategies, the Team Building is an initiative that includes a set of activities capable of developing and reinforcing the knowledge and interaction between members of an organisation. It is considered to be an important tool that aligns organisational goals, promotes more effective professional relationships, reduces the ambiguities at the workplace and unravels unknown institutional problems.