This week, the Canadian Red Cross is holding an intensive training course for specialists who have been recently been accepted for work as international aid workers for the Red Cross. The training, called IMPACT -- short for International Mobilization and Preparation for ACTion – covers important information, such as, what it means to work with the Red Cross, how Red Cross societies operate and how to be safe in the field.
This week there are a wide range of professionals taking the course, including health professionals (doctors, nurses, mid-wives, etc), social workers, logistical experts, architects, etc.
So why then are a group of professionals training for field work sitting around a table with blindfolds on?
This exercise was part of a team-building workshop where everyone in the training had to work in teams, blindfolded, on a puzzle exercise. The goal is to identify which pieces of the puzzle are missing. This is tricky because you cannot touch your neighbours' puzzle pieces, and therefore you need to describe the pieces – which have unusual jags, points, curves and flat lines – to your team so that they can determine whether they are holding the same pieces.
The real point of the exercise is to highlight the importance of working in organized groups with strong leaders, and to ensure we are communicating in ways that everyone can understand.
The exercise was also a reminder that each person, with their own skills and experiences, is coming to the table with different perspectives, languages and communication styles – and to be efficient, each team member needs to be clear and take the time to ensure understanding of one another. For some teams, it was also a reminder to be patient while in the midst of a frustrating task.
On the ground, especially in an emergency situation, this kind of team work is critical.