Team "Building" Exercise

 

I have never taken an architecture class, but I am certain that some combination of iron, steel, and a lot of concrete create a sound foundation for a building. While the notion seems logical, the most recent team building event at Lawline proved otherwise.

The Cortlandt and Broadway offices joined forces in an effort to start an architectural revolution. Breaking up into six teams, Lawline’s best and brightest were challenged to create skyscrapers made from…raw spaghetti and marshmallows. The team with the tallest tower after forty-five minutes would be crowned the champion of this very strange event.

The teams were given a few minutes prior to the start of the competition for brainstorming purposes. Members of each team had to figure out the most efficient method to start building. Most likely, the critical problem that came up during this time was figuring what type of base would be best. My team decided to create an octagon base and, from there, build up by using triangular reinforcements. This all sounded good in theory, but once we were instructed to start building, our base turned into some irregularly shaped figure that happened to have eight sides. At this point, the team building aspect of the event really kicked in.

As our tower grew higher it became less stable. The building stood on the brink of disaster and we had to think quickly. Most importantly we needed to work together. Each member had to voice in his or her opinion on how to efficiently solve the problems that stood in our way. Communication between teammates needed to be clear and concise. Looking around the room, many teams experienced moments like this when improvisation was necessary. In the real world, companies are challenged every day to react to unexpected short-term problems. Whether by tweaking or by completely overhauling several aspects of the corporation, everyone involved must work under duress and not lose sight of long-term goals such as profitability and sustainability. Even after I realized all of this in my epiphany, our building managed to collapse and we lost. That is why buildings are not made out of marshmallows and spaghetti.

Shortly following the activity, Lawline tended to some very important business – birthdays! We celebrated FOUR days of birth (Rich, Pat, Micah, and Dave) with delicious cake. All in all, the day was a huge success and I look forward to more events like this in the future.