Leadership Event with the Marines!

Partnering with the local Marine Corps, BWUA hosted Leadership with the Marines, which was geared at developing the membership’s leadership skills through unconventional means. Three local Marines who are currently in the recruitment divison divided the members into three teams and put each team to the test with creative games. Each team elected a leader who was given all authority and responsibility for guiding his/her through the task. The leaders’ responsibility and privileges changed with each game. In the first game, the leader was charged with moving 3 imaginary packages from one side of the room to another. The catch was, however, that the subordinate team members were stuck stationed in four hoola hoopsm, each with a different handicap. One’s eyes had to remain shut, one could not his/her hands, one could not turn around, and finally one had to remain standing on one foot. The leader’s job was to direct his/her teammates according to their handicaps so that each of the boxes could be moved from one side of the room to the other side of the room all the while following the rules of the game. The second game was reminiscent of Twister, whereby teams had to cross an imaginary river by jumping on imaginary stones. Much to the amusement of everyone else, teams working on this challenge were seen stretching and twisting themselves about in order to complete the task!  The final game was probably the most challenging for the leader. Blue, green, yellow, and red Legos were strewn across a table and the leader was given a blueprint of a structure to construct. The catch, however, was that only the leader was able to see the blueprint for sixty seconds. He or She then had to direct his/her teammates in building the structure. To make it even more challenging, each teammate was only allowed to touch Legos of one particular color! Though the task was taxing, the Marines admitted that the BWUA teams performed better than average. In all, three tasks were fun and lighthearted ways to teach what it is to be a leader. In each activity the leader had full authority in coming up with the solution, and whatever decision reached by the leader was the course of action taken by the team. Furthermore, the leader bore full responsibility for the success of the team as a result of his/her decisions. In all, the Leadership Event with the Marines was an excellent addition to a GBM on Tuesday and all who attended have hopefully developed skills that they can take with them to the classroom and their future work places.