Sunday, March 23, 2008 Gil: How to bond a division By Sandy Gil Sunday Dunes
ONE of the first things I did as a division head was to treat my colleagues to an overnight, all-expense paid rest-and-recreation delight at the mountain resort of Eden Nature Park in Davao City. Everyone thought it was going to be a strategic planning workshop for our division. And really, I had a very difficult time convincing them otherwise. That is how badly my colleagues needed this indulgence.
I have always thought that planning is important in an organization. And planning is a task that my colleagues and I will have to do together. But in Filipino culture, what takes precedence over planning is friendship. If you are friends, then planning becomes a synch! More than that, friendships last longer than collegial bonds...
And so the treat...
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It was a personal invitation so no one was obliged to accept it. Out of some thirty colleagues, twenty were able to bask in this once-in-a-lifetime pleasure. Not bad...
Some of those who had previous engagements and could not join us went out of their way to apologize to me. I smiled and told them that it was I who must apologize -- for they were about to miss the craziest moments of their lives.
This was going to be sheer fun!
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The idea was to have a bonfire after dinner. And so we decided to bring hotdogs and marshmallows to roast. That's so American. Yeah, and Filipinos roast goats, beef and pork ribs! That poses a problem... okay, we decided to compromise: only marshmallows without the hotdogs.
Shall we bring drinks (as in alcoholic drinks)? Okay, I said, I'll bring a bottle of wine; you bring the rest. One colleague brought a bottle of sangria; another brought two bottles of juice mixed with gin. Was that enough for twenty? We'll soon find out.
And everyone else decided to bring a wide variety of junk food. No laptops, office papers or books were allowed. These would be burned in the bonfire. And with these plans, we were all set to go!
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Eden Nature Park provided the most sumptuous and abundant feasts during our R&R! An absolutely delightful vision as well as a gastronomical decadence! To die for, as some would say. There was enough food to feed an entire barangay!
While none of us knew how to start a bonfire, we learned how to keep one going. While there was not enough alcoholic drinks to deaden our already dead brains that night, one of the girls (!) drove all the way to Toril to buy more drinks. And while no one thought of bringing a guitar so we could sing around the bonfire, we decided to sing and to dance without music (this latter activity I found rather disturbing).
I retired at 11 that evening. Everyone else slept at 3 in the morning. That showed our age gap.
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The following day, I feared that some would never return from an early morning mountain hike. Some went on a tour of the resort. Another was totally mesmerized by peacocks roaming around. The rest skipped breakfast but we all had lunch together -- basking in our lack of sleep and in such pleasurable stupor. How we all wished work was like this everyday!
