When the COVID-19 crisis is over, your employees are going to need your help. I learned that a long time ago. We didn’t know it at the time but our workforce was suffering from PTSD. By only the sixth week or Desert Shield, our cargo delivery had exceeded that of the 1948 Berlin Airlift. We were doing more airlifts over a longer period of time than ever before with an aircraft built by Lockheed in the 1960s. Like old cars, these old planes required a LOT of maintenance and repair.
This unprecedented workload almost burned out both the fleet and workforce. We searched for ways to help employees cope with mandatory overtime, twelve-hour shifts, and seven days a week schedules. We wanted to shift from a crisis mode and return to normal operations. We turned to team building, but we got lucky on the method of delivery. We stumbled upon experiential education because we were searching for a way to make our training fun, enjoyable, relevant, and memorable. Many other companies, such as General Motors, Exxon, IBM, AT&T, Digital Equipment Corporation, Du Pont, Schering-Plough, Canadian Tire, General Electric, and Westinghouse also turned to experiential education around this time (1995).
I’m not sure about these other organizations, but we used things like giant beach balls, darts and blow guns, hula hoops, race cars, tennis balls, parachutes, blindfolds, eggs, green buttermilk, twenty-pound rocks, utility poles, ropes, kid’s play tunnels, water guns, cotton balls, and hand lotion. And our employees never forgot this training. If you can’t hear the discussion, processing, and facilitation, it looks a lot like play. But make no mistake, it accomplished, in exemplary fashion, our training goals. Our training techniques invited and supported growth – individual, interpersonal, and organizational. Participants learned new skills, or improved and enhanced existing skills, in the areas of team building, conflict management, creative problem solving, leadership, and followship. They gained both a greater appreciation for diversity and enhanced self-esteem.
Take it from someone who has helped guide a workforce to recovery, when this pandemic is over, your employees will need your help to return to normal. You won’t find a better corporate training tool than experiential education. You can read more about this remarkable aircraft here and learn more about our story and vintage experiential education from the 1995 Association for Experiential Education’s Annual International Conference proceedings. Drop me a line, or visit our Contact Us page. I’ll be happy to discuss with you and customize your very own program.
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