Middle East Leadership Academy: MELA Buzz

MELA 5, DAY FIVE: 10 MARCH 2014

"Lost at Sea" is a team challenge that tests the ability to mobilize and negotiate with other members of a group towards a common goal. In this case, that goal is nothing short of survival itself. What is it like to perish miserably of hunger in a lifeboat, mercilessly tortured by sun and thirst, attacked by ravenous sharks, abandoned and despairing on the high seas, thousands of kilometers from land? A lot of our MELA members are about to find out... Let's go – yalla, yalla!

The instructions specify ten items in the lifeboat that each team has to hand. Ranking them correctly, according to their value to the group's survival, is going to be a life-or-death decision.

Given the choice of maximizing their survival by reading the instructions, or posing for photographs, some people prefer to pose for photographs. Asim and Jassim may be devoured by sharks, but they're determined to look great doing it.

If Siham or Mashael had been captaining the ship, it wouldn't have gone down in the first place.

Mohamed's crew has provided helpful diagrams how they will attach a floating cushion to the boat, and how they intend to generate fresh water from seawater using a mirror and plastic sheeting. It sounds like a certain someone has got a degree in manufacturing engineering...

Salah's team has put shark repellent last on the list. Quite right. To put it higher would be a cultural affront to Saudi manhood. There is no honor in shark repellent. If a Great White appears, Salah's team expects him to be worthy of his ancestors to the seventh generation, and fight the animal with honor, in hand-to-hand combat.

Ghareb checks the shark repellent again. Qatar is an honor-based society as well. *Gulp.*

Hamid dodges the autograph-hunters.

Safely back on dry land. Debriefing the exercise.

The focus on teamwork continues as Jim conducts a session on building high performance teams. An exercise illustrates some of the dynamics and pitfalls of operating as a group.

Almost always there is somebody observing who wants to toss clever ideas from the sidelines. And almost always, that somebody is Abdelrahman!

MELA staff member Yazan Faouri ushers us into the afternoon activity. Participants will be put to work in the notorious Neon Buzz factory, run by the formidable and frightening Mr Buzz.

Not everything is hunky-dory in Mr Buzz's factory. For example, there is the small matter that the company's frustrating organization has the managers at one another's throats.

It is truly unfortunate that poor supply chains and unclear lines of responsibility mean that things keep going wrong in the company, and nobody knows why.

Mr Buzz chews out his managers. Patently they must be to blame for the situation. Not himself, or the system he has established...

If Arwa could get her hands on that dreadful Mr Buzz, she'd...

One can only rejoice to witness such a placid, harmonious, and well-run factory.

After returning from a genuinely inspirational, eye-opening leadership workshop called MELA, Mr Buzz announces that he would like to solicit his departmental teams for their thoughts on how to improve the company's organization and processes.

Monah rises to the challenge.

Mohannad et al. turn out to be fire hoses of fresh ideas.

We all hate these things. What are they for, anyway?

Correction: Everybody except Suha hates these things.

Correction to the correction: We used to hate these things, but now that factory organization and efficiency have increased a hundredfold, we feel proud to be manufacturing such attractive, lovingly wrought products.

The thrill of superseding the production target.

Evening small group discussions afford participants the opportunity of drilling down into specific topics in a round table format, led by seasoned experts in those areas.