Hi, everyone!
We’ve been around for a month now, working with you in class, taking amazing (and sometimes embarrassing) pictures of you, and popping up at your workshops and events. So now it’s time to do some recap!
On Monday, January 21st some of your schoolmates took part in a workshop about leadership and team work, and guess what? We were there too!
The workshop was conducted by Eduardo and Pepe from Seville. First, we met in the school library, where Eduardo and Pepe explained us what the workshop was going to be about and what its goals were. We were going to do some games and activities in order to learn how to work in a group, how to cooperate with friends as well as strangers — but most of all, we were going to experience how important tolerance, respect, and understanding are. The workshop was divided into two parts — the first one was going to take place in the gym, but the second one was still a secret…
So we went to the gym with no clue whatsoever about what game we were going to play. The students were all chatty and excited to do something new (and to skip classes, let’s admit it!). Eduardo divided us into five teams, gave each of us a balloon and told us to blow it up. Then we had to line up in teams, placing the balloon between our chest and the back of the teammate in front of us. Wait, what was happening? We had turned into five colorful, noisy and vivacious caterpillars. So now that you picture the situation, we’re going to explain you the game. Each caterpillar had to move forward without letting any balloon fall down or explode. We know it may sound easy, but it really wasn’t: it was all about coordination, every single part of the caterpillars having to move at the same pace. So the first round was okay, but then we had to move backwards, then in a circle, and so on… It was hard (we saw some of you almost dropped the balloons!), but fun! Everybody was laughing, shouting suggestions at their teammates, and trying really hard not to break the caterpillar. Well, we made it! At the end the caterpillars were still safe and sound (which is good, because it was already break time and everybody was hungry!).
After the break we went back to the library. Pepe told us to take a sit, but in doing so we had to make new groups. This second part of the workshop consisted in four activities.
The first activity was meant to help us break the ice and get to know our teammates a little. We were given each of us a sheet of paper and had to fold it in three parts, so that, when we unfolded it, the sheet was divided into three columns. In the first column we had to draw our past, in the second one our present, and in the third one our dreams and plans for the future — but we only had few minutes for each column, because efficiency is one of the keys to team work, as Pepe explained. Afterwards, we had to show the drawings to our teammates and explain briefly what they meant to us and why we had chosen those scenes to describe our past, present, and future. It was an interesting and eye-opening activity, though being a bit uncomfortable — telling the story of your life to strangers is not a piece of cake for everyone, you know. Yet we think it was eye-opening, because we learnt to go beyond appearances; we came to realize that, even though we may all look similar, wearing the same clothes, sharing the same language, watching the same TV series, we don’t always share the same experiences. And even though some of us are always wearing a smile on their faces, it does not mean that they’re not in pain. Maybe we should open our eyes more often to try and understand the people around us.
For the second activity, Pepe and Eduardo gave each group a small bag with some wood cylinders. Each member of each group had to pick the cylinder that best suited them: some cylinders were colored, some weren’t, some had a rough surface, some others were smooth, and a few had a magnet embedded in the top. After picking, we had to explain our choice to our teammates. Again, listening to other people’s explanations and reasons was mind-blowing. It was amazing how the exact same feature had a number of different meanings, according to the person looking at them.
For the third activity we put into practice what we had learnt until then. We had to use the wood cylinders to create our group’s logo, choose our three main values, and the goal we would pursue. Then one person from each group would stand up and explain to the rest of the participants in the workshop what our logo meant and why. This we found harder than expected, we admit. Some people are more stubborn than others, which means that they’re not easily letting go of their ideas or point of view to accept someone else’s. Yet, we made it, eventually: ideas were put to the vote democratically and we were happy to see that almost no one complained about the results.
The fourth activity was the most creative. Each group had to invent a game, how cool! We had to think about the rules, choose a target group, etc — and write it down as clearly as possible. Then we would switch papers with another group and try to play their game. Immediate feedback would help us see the mistakes and the issues our games had but that we were not able to see. The hardest part was putting our ideas into words. For other people to understand your game, you have to detach yourself from your own way of thinking and think like someone else; you have to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. This is one of the most important lessons we have learnt that day: seeing the world through someone else’s eyes is key not only to team work, but to understanding the world around us and to try and make it a better place.
To wrap up, we want to thank Pepe and Eduardo for the valuable life lesson they gave us, and we hope that you got as much as we did from the workshop. Leadership is not only about being good at problem solving and decision making — a good leader is able to listen to and understand their coworkers’ needs, as well as to put their pride aside and accept other people’s ideas and objections.
We hope there are many more workshops to come, for us but most of all for you. In the meantime… se you in the corridors or in class! Bye!
Federica and Séphora
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