The Grad Post, Spring 2022, MBA Students Use Fun and Teamwork to Accomplish Goals

April 14, 2022

In a Parker PEP event this month, Parker MBA students completed a series of teambuilding activities led by Southern Adventures of the Georgia Southern Department of Campus Recreation & Intramurals (CRI). Graduate assistants from Southern Adventures led the MBA students through a number of different games and activities that were designed to challenge them to effectively communicate and think through strategies to accomplish their goals. These activities required students to step up and be leaders in the group to help accomplish the task at hand. 

One such game required the group to split up into groups of three, with each team member set up in three different parts of the gym forming a line stretching across the gym floor. The first member of the team was given a set of LEGO pieces that had been built into a puzzle. The first student had to run to the middle of the floor where the second team member was and explain how to recreate that puzzle. After the first team member left, the final team member had to come to the middle to receive the instructions for how to recreate the puzzle. “I loved the teamwork aspect of the game with the LEGO pieces,” Zachary Kahrs (MBA ’23) said. “It was all about communicating well. Not being able to see the pieces and trying to put together a puzzle was a fun little exercise.”

In another game, the students were given the name of the game with no instructions and were expected to complete what was required with only a fictional story to give the game some background. Several students were able to take a lead, and, after some trial-and-error, they eventually completed the task. In the cool down time after this game, Southern Adventures GAs talked to the MBA students about leadership, detailing what it means to be a good leader and a good team member. “What I learned about communication: being precise, brief, having the same language, just communicating clearly and effectively to accomplish the task that is at hand. That’s something I can take back to the workplace even tomorrow in responding to emails or in phone conversations with customers,” Kahrs said.

For more information about the Parker MBA program, please call the Graduate Programs Office at 912-478-5767 or email at mba@georgiasouthern.edu. To learn more about Southern Adventures, go to recreation.georgiasouthern.edu/southern-adventures.

by Benjamin Tankersley