WARC teambuilding

April 13, 2016

On April 2, 2016, the Writing and Academic Resource Center team (WARC) held an out-of-town teambuilding retreat at Kara Bulak Resort near Arashan. The trip’s goal was teambuilding. During the day, the team went to see a waterfall, played some games, had lunch, and reflected on their team.

WARC Director Mariya Antonova and some of the WARC tutors who took part in the teambuilding excursion shared their thoughts about the day.

“Most of the time, our tutors share workspaces without having to interact with one another directly as our tutors work with pupils on an individual basis. Nonetheless, the idea that the WARC is first and foremost a team—of professionals, at that—has always been strongly present in our philosophy. A well-developed team atmosphere impacts absolutely every aspect of an organization: performance, morale, workflow, communication between management and coworkers, and the speed with which people learn from one another. That said, the very concept of teambuilding as a separate and definite organizational aim is still relatively new to our corner of the world. Some of those teambuilding activities may seem strange to an outsider: people hiking over some fairly steep and muddy hills, groups of people trying to fit themselves on an increasingly small piece of plastic, or coworkers having to use all their powers of persuasion to convince someone to cross a line and join their “team”. Each of these games, however, leads to very serious reflection on what it means to be a team member. We are glad that our tutors have had a chance to experience this kind of teambuilding and understand its importance. Hopefully, they will carry those memories and skills into the wider world once they graduate,” commented Mariya Antonova, the Center’s Director.

Takhmina Egemberdy kyzy, a WARC tutor said, “I enjoyed my time spent there, because all of us had a lot of fun, ate delicious food, and partook in interesting conversation. I think all the tutors were open to talking and became closer to each other because of it.  

While hiking up to the waterfall, we sang songs, made jokes, and laughed a lot. Playing games was the most interesting part of the day. The goal of the games was to build trust and develop a sense of cooperation between the tutors. Playing various games in different groups made us learn more about each other. I discovered several facets of my peers on the retreat I hadn’t known before.

After lunch we sat in a circle and discussed teambuilding, talking about the most important traits in a good team. At the end of the day, I recognized that even though we are different from one another, we are still a single WARC team.” 

Aidai Beishekeeva, another WARC tutor, echoed her peer’s remarks, “Nature seems to have this remedial property that gives you a break from urban noise so that you can find solitude within yourself and with other people. We all felt like we needed to get out of the city and enjoy the mountain passes, getting to know our fellow tutors outside of work in the process.

We departed from the campus early, listening to music on the bus. Upon arrival, we were excited to climb up to the waterfall. The mud on the trails did not faze us. Even though the waterfall was the final destination, I appreciated the team-building activities. The games reminded us what it means to work on a team and that each of us is a representative of our Academic Center. When we finished our games, the fog pushed us back towards the huts, and we headed back.

At the hut we found a delicious reward for our hiking: fresh bread, jam made out of mountain berries, hot soup, and tender meat which renewed our energy to continue the hike uphill. Communing over food, we discussed the work we had done so far at WARC and how appreciative we were for working in the learning environment. For me, the hiking was a breath of fresh air that gave me the strength to finish the semester.”

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