Over the last weekend on 10 March 2018, Force 21 participated in a dragon boat competition, DB Hearts, and won 1st runner up under the novice category. Whilst the outcome of any race is always exciting and everyone wants to strive to achieve the top 3 placements in any competition, there are other more meaningful aspects to endeavour towards or learn from this event.

For one, Force 21 has not been represented on a corporate level in any competitive team sporting events before. Therefore when the chance to compete in DB Hearts arose, a decent amount of ground sensing was garnered before surfacing the idea to the management. It was a pleasant surprise to have the management to be supportive of the idea, even permitting some time off work for two training sessions prior to race day. This created an excellent opportunity for a section of the Force 21 team to bond, especially for in-office staffs and on-ground trainers to come together on a common platform to meet each other and do something interesting together. Our CEO, who always claims he has no time for exercise even made the commitment to join in too!

Being pulled out from the office and placed in an external but challenging environment like dragon boat helps break down walls and corporate hierarchy, as only when team work is present, then the boat will move. By being out of their comfort zone (in the water), everyone is placed in an awkward situation where all had to work together to make it happen! Everyone get to experience something novel together and bonded on a more personal level, encouraging each one to continue rowing and to follow the timing.

Having such settings encourage deeper bonds to form, naturally fostering closer ties among colleagues. Positive social relationships amongst colleagues and management within a company definitely boost morale, trust and support for one another be it during or outside of work hours. This positive environment improves employees’ motivation to work, maybe harder, as well as effective communication which, in turn, can lead to better problem-solving solutions or combining different skillsets from individual staff to achieve more as a unit together.

With the realization of this initiative, hopefully the staff at Force 21 will be more empowered to share other opportunities to represent the company in other sporting events or to engage in community/social events. After all, a happy employee is a productive employee.

Lynne Soon, Community Fitness Executive
FiTSA