Together We Can ... Build a Rollercoaster!

February 1, 2011

London, UK – “It was great to see all of us work together to ‘keep the ball rolling,’ which is, in essence, what we all do, day in and day out, and today was a nice reminder of that,” said Dina Nowilati after testing the success of the rollercoaster each of the teams helped build throughout the day.

After the launch of the Aramco Overseas Corporate Values at the start of this year, the theme of January’s outreach activity was “Teamwork”, with all UK staff members delighted to be dropped off at a hotel in central London to meet with their challenges for the day. The 43 AOC’ers were split into four groups to kick off the tasks assigned to them. The first of these was to go out on a scavenger hunt locating items that would gain the team points at the end of the day. The second task was to build a portion of a rollercoaster using nothing more than bamboo sticks and a few strings of rope. The third challenge had one team stage and film a commercial about “teamwork” that the rest of the teams would then continue. The fourth and final challenge was for each team to paint a quarter of a canvas that represented the “teamwork” force of AOC.

Each of the teams had to participate in every task, working on what the previous team had left for them, doing their portion of the task, keeping in mind that they had to leave enough for the other teams to work on. By the end of the day, the results of working in groups but together as one team fascinated everyone as they witnessed the end result each had worked so hard to achieve.

“Personally, I felt this was a great way for all of us to get to know each other better in a relaxed, fun and casual atmosphere. I am so glad I was able to be a part of it!” said Insha Ali, a member of the Professional Development Unit, once the day was over and she was able to catch up with members of other units.

“We hope that such activities will happen on a more consistent basis, as it had a great uplifting effect on everyone’s mood,” said Khalid Safar, AOC UK Chief Representative. 

By Dena Zedan