So how much do you really trust the people you work with?
We all hope that we are good enough judges of character to be able to answer the question. But how do you put your judgment to the test?
Well, how about hauling yourself up a pole over 10 metres from the ground and then throwing yourself into mid-air in the hope that a colleague can catch you before you don’t plummet to the ground? Or you could climb a 15m wall blindfolded, with your feet guided on to footholds under the directions of your trusted workmate ... Understandably enough; such high-adventure exploits can easily promote a sense of putting your life in their hands.
Failing that, you could always elect to join in a simple team tug-of-war competition to attempt a little bonding with your work colleagues.
The measures may seem a little extreme, but the results appear to deliver an unmistakable success rate for ABAMI, one of the UAE’s premiere learning and development companies. ABAMI specialises in ‘experiential learning’, learning by doing, and it has put hundreds of employees from scores of companies in the region through their paces to hone leadership skills and team development qualities.
The company already has two established activity learning centres at Hatta Fort Hotel and Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa. But due overwhelming demand, it is now launching a new centre at the Al Ghazal Golf Club in Abu Dhabi.
Using a wide range of bonding techniques, ABAMI runs both classroom and outdoor sessions. For those, like myself, who don’t fancy the prospect of dangling from high wires, or having to tiptoe 10m in the air along narrow beams, the good news is that courses can be tailored for individual groups. But whether on land or dangling in the air, there is little doubt that ABAMI has captured the imagination of the business bosses in the region.
Its programme for team and leadership development is one of the most successful ever seen in the Gulf – delivering 374 team and leadership programmes for 191 different clients, including for instance most of the major oil companies in area. To date, some 16,500 people have passed through its doors in just three years.
“We have never been busier,” says ABAMI’s charismatic MD Graham Nugent. “At present we’re running about 10 or 12 programmes a week.
“The courses do work, and they do develop a sense of team spirit and leadership that is essential in business. Everyone can choose exactly what they want to do within the realms of their own limitations. If someone doesn’t want to take part in the really physical stuff then they can easily sit out. We never force people to do something that they don’t want to.
“But we often find that someone who does choose to drop out of one particular part of the programme for whatever reason tends to change their mind when they see others around them doing and get encouragement from that. That’s all part of the bonding process.”
Certainly you’ll find out who your friends are! More information: www.abami.ae

[Writer] Patrick Hill

[Originally published in Abu Dhabi Week vol 2 issue 24]

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