Teambuilding

If there’s one thing that still amazes me after working as a flight attendant for so many years, it’s how we manage to build a team during each and every flight. Mind you, most of us have never met before. We usually meet for the first time around an hour before departure.

While introducing ourselves, we try our best to remember each other’s names. This is followed immediately by a briefing. The most important aspects of the briefing are flight safety and security, and the other topics discussed are specific to that particular flight. This leaves very little time during the briefing to get to know each other better. On numerous occasions I was convinced I could tell what kind of person a colleague was by the way he or she acted during the briefing – only to find out that my first impression was completely wrong.

Our first social contact usually takes place as we make our way to the departure gate. At this point, we exchange the basics, like where we live, how long it took us to get to the airport, how we spent our days off, what we plan to do at the destination, and so on. If our gate is a distant one (therefore leaving us more time), we might even get to share more specific information, like the existence (or non-existence) of partners and/or kids and what’s going on in our lives at that moment.

I’ve worked on very few flights in which, by the time the passengers started boarding, the cabin crew didn’t have a general impression of one another. We manage to tune into our colleagues in no time – while at the same time adapting our most explicit character traits to fit in. Instinctively, we know almost exactly what kind of communication is best. Sometimes it’s a joke, other times a more serious chat that makes the ‘click’.

First introduction

On longer flights, we usually get the opportunity to get better acquainted. But, even on shorter flights, most outsiders wouldn’t notice that crew members had most likely met for the first time just before the flight.

When I head home after work, it often strikes me that I learned more about a handful of colleagues on my flight than many of the people I worked with for years at past jobs.

Maybe I’m just lucky, but only very occasionally do I witness a team that doesn’t start to work in sync within no time. Imagine all those different personalities mingling with each other, time and time again!

Now that’s something I find amazing.

Caroline

Posted by:   Caroline  | 
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Vizz Media

Team building is good thing to improve your business opportunities also. Some really wonderful ideas you have shared. Great post.

Vizz Media

Team building is good thing to improve your business opportunities also. Some really wonderful ideas you have shared. Great post.

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