Barcelona Teambuilding 2007

Published: 01.06.07

Employee contribution: Karina Hovden Stava

If you think that arranging a teambuilding for 130 participants is an easy task - think again! With four days at her disposal, hundreds of hotels, thousands of sights and almost half a million restaurants to choose from, Service Coordinator Aslaug Nesheim had to go with her gut feeling!

Having now arrived home again, I think it's safe to say that she made the right decisions and made sure we had a fabulous teambuilding. Aslaug had even cut a deal with the weather man to ensure we need not succumb to the heat in the narrow streets of Barcelona...

Saturday, April 28

"kkkrrrrrp - this is your captain speaking..." Hmmm, now where have I heard that voice before? This year's biggest teambuilding kicked off as Torleif Heggebø's voice sounded through the speakers 10 000 metres above ground.

We received our name tags and Barcelona programmes at check in at Sola airport, and then on the plane we also got our first glimpse of the colleagues with whom we were to spend the next few days. Upon arrival at the airport in Barcelona, we had three buses waiting for us. The buses took us on a guided tour around the city and allowed us a stop for refreshments at Montjuïc – a hill that provided a wonderful view of central Barcelona.

Finally we drove to Hotel Catalonia Ramblas, a great four-star hotel where we were served tapas and welcome drinks by the pool before gathering for a dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Whether the cheese served in the first course was made from a sheep or a goat is a subject still under debate, but at least there was a delicious strawberry served with the dish and this was highly praised by most of us!

After dinner, we were told why we, on our name tags, had been divided into groups, and were asked to locate the others in our group. Each group was given a list of questions (e.g. How many shoes did your group bring with you to Barcelona) in need of our careful consideration. The challenge was finding the teamwork needed around the table to make it easy for the "secretary" to keep scores of both answers and calculations. The answers were submitted and the winners were awarded shortly after. These winners and prizes were as follows:

• Omega’s globetrotters – cover for sun bed + colorful ribbons for identifying baggage
• Omega’s party lions – party hat and party flute
• Omega’s recruiting managers – condoms with holes
• Omega’s cat walkers – pink sun glasses
• Omega’s veterans – strange looking glasses
• Omega’s Zporty – pink headband

What our accountant will say when we the 16 condoms appear as an Teambuilding expense remains to be seen, but if we don't get approval of this purchase, we can always deduct the cost from the salary of the employee that receives 100 000 Advantage+ points from Omega in about 9 months..?

Most nights concluded with the Omega Team hitting the streets of Barcelona in groups. In addition, the hotel lobby became a meeting point for everyone who didn't fancy sleeping! In the lobby we were entertained by our own sing alongs and harmonica music care of Ståle Sagvåg – to the great dismay of the hotel's night watchman.

Sunday, April 29

After breakfast it was time to learn something about Spanish culture. We were in for a guided tour of some of the constructions created by the famous architect and artist Antonio Gaudí.

Three new buses appeared and we visited Casa Milà (Gaudí's most famous building), Casa Batlló (according to the guide - a “bonus” house since it wasn't listed in our original programme) and La Sagrada Familia (a Church Gaudí started building in 1884, and is estimated to be completed in 2037!). We even had time to make a quick run through Park Güell before we ended the tour with a big lunch at Hard Rock Café.

After lunch we were rewarded some “alone time” to explore the shops in Barcelona, and to stroll down La Rambla, a pedestrian mall that started by the hotel and continued all the way to the sea. Our new companions - the three busses - stood waiting for our departure on this evening. We were on our way to a team dinner at Con Travi Nou, a Catalonian mansion just 25 minutes from the hotel.

Worth mentioning was the strange looking pitcher with liquid content that was placed on our tables after dinner. Believing that this was an addition to the desert, several team members poured this over their plates and made grimaces when the flavour didn't agree with chocolate pudding! The head waiter cleared up the misunderstanding by showing us the real purpose of the pitcher; it contained an apricot drink, and was shaped as a glass tea pot, but with a long, narrow spout. This was part of a Catalonian tradition and was to be consumed when drinking with family and friends. The art was to to drink directly from the spout without this coming in contact with your lips. The further away you held the pitcher, the more impressive the sight! Personally, I don't think the sights of our achievements were very impressive, but our efforts should be rewarded!

Approaching 11 pm, the waiters had closed the bar and thoughtfully started to blow out the candles on the tables where people were still sitting. This is probably the most subtle example of someone chasing customers out of a restaurant I've ever seen, and I have a pretty good feeling that the staff was relieved when the buses drove us back to central Barcelona.

Monday, April 30

Today the clouds had disappeared from the sky, and we got the change to experience Spain in a radiant sunshine.

Shortly after breakfast the Omega Service Centre invited everyone to a presentation of Omega's online employee magazine, Panorama, and was visited by almost 60 “fully woken” teambuilders. It could have been Torleif's mention of a small that seduced many of those who attended, but we feel (and hope) that everyone left the meeting somewhat wiser than when they came.

The rest of the day was at our own disposal, until it was time to meet again for new activities. The Barcelona Extras offered prior to departure included sailing, wine tasting and a football tour. Since the response regarding the football tour was relatively poor, this offer was withdrawn and sailing and wine tasting remained.

Sailing (contribution from Jardar Lindøe)

The sailing school was located on the far point of the pier in the beautiful Olympic harbour. The wind tousled our hair and the expectations tingled in our stomach as we rigged the boats with sail and sheets. We were heading for the great sea in two small boats (24 ft) with no engines. How would this end?!

In perfect wind conditions, we were towed out of the harbour. The wind was fair, the boats danced on the waves, and the sea spray showered us on deck. The captain gave us good instructions, and everyone had a go at the wheel. In beaming sunlight we enjoyed a wonderful day at sea, and got to see the city from another viewpoint.

Wine tasting at Torres

...and a new bus trip with 50 participants. We brought along a guide that loved hearing the sound of her own voice and we therefore got to learn everything we wanted to know and didn't want to know about Barcelona (largely the latter to be honest and after one hour on the bus, it was a relief to step outside to relax our ears...).

Following a tour of the winery by train and on foot, including a visit to the wine cellar where barrels and barrels of wine were stacked, we looked forward to getting indoors and tasting the good stuff.

“All good things come to he who waits” we thought, having heard all about the great red, white and rose wines they made. Finally, we were guided into the wine tasting-room

We imagined a paradise of mouth-watering flavours that would sustain us on the one-hour drive home. Unfortunately, our guide didn't share our vision... We were ushered to a table, where we were allowed to taste one pre-selected wine type and were then hustled out to the gift shop. The tasting of other wines from Torres needed to be taken care of back at the hotel! With our bags filled with souvenirs from the wine farm, we headed back to the hotel, and enjoyed the rest of the evening in proper Spanish weather.

Tuesday, May 1

The day of our departure had arrived, and the sky had again opened the floodgates. Our last day would not to be adorned by dusty streets! Despite the fact that the 1st of May was Fiesta de trabajo (Workers' Day), we managed to find places to spend our money. Our wallets (and our feet...) welcomed our departure later that day was.

The luggage carrier at our hotel was probably equally happy when the buses arrived at the front gate ready to pick us up. I'm not an expert, but I don't think that they had counted on a situation where 130 people showed up in the luggage storage room to locate their luggage with no intention of waiting for the staff to do so for them.

The trip home was non-stop. After lining up in the wrong check-in queue for half an hour, the plane departed 20 minutes early. The winner of our Panorama raffle contest was drawn (travel gift certificate to the value of 1 000 NOK, won by Anna Kvalheim) and everyone landed in Norway safe and sound after the weekend's teambuilding. It is fair to say we learnt a great deal on this trip and in true teambuilding style we would like to share with you some of the information we have obtained. Did you, for example, know that:

• Guided tours and shopping crazy females can be an advantage when it comes to Omega’s Exercise Log?
• Five minutes in Barcelona equals approximately half an hour in Norwegian time?
• The pitcher of the Catalonian friendship-drink needs to be balanced very accurate in order to avoid wine running into eyes, ears, hair etc?
• There are approximately 300 sunny days in Barcelona, none of which are found on the weekend of 1st of May?
• Sleeping on a bus is no problem, even when you have a Swedish voice chanting in your ears?
• Gaudí didn’t like straight lines?
• Room service is useful if the hotel bar closes too early for thirsty travellers?
• To be served by a bartender at Hotel Catalonia Ramblas, it’s important to have given a good tip the night before?
• An average lunch at the Hard Rock Café is big enough to feed a whole family?
• Breakable bottles from Torres should not be left in the care of the hotel prior to departure?

Seriously though, it is all these things (like apricot friendship-drink on chocolate pudding) that add a distinctive flavour to a teambuilding event and offer us all a laugh afterwards! On behalf of all the Barcelona teambuilders, I would like to thank Aslaug and the Barcelona committee for an unforgettable weekend in Barcelona, and I hope we will all meet again in a similarly eventful gathering soon.