The acquisition of the skills needed to start an exercise will involve teaching, but the moment the exercise starts, the teaching stops and our staff change from instructors to tutors whose task is to make learning easier. Neville Howard, Greystoke Castle’s Director, explains how British Energy adapted the Armageddon activity into a graduate assessment programme.
Recently, British Energy brought its graduate entry to Greystoke Castle to undergo an assessment of the abilities of individuals to work with others and in a team. Some twenty-one graduates experienced this team-build over a three-day period, the vehicle for the assessment being Exercise Armageddon.
The exercise consisted of a series of practical, ATV-based problems, each
designed to practise a number of team-oriented skills. The thread linking
these problems was an unexploded bomb. The graduates spent the first afternoon
gaining the skills necessary to undertake the exercise, which included ATV
handling, radio and GPS work, scaffolding and knot tying. This instruction
was given in isolation; the participants did not know how they were going
to be using their new skills.
The next thirty-six hours saw the graduates, in two teams, undertake a wide
variety of activities under increasing pressure. They were observed throughout
by Greystoke Castle staff, who proffered advice where appropriate, conducted
debriefings after each exercise and finally provided feedback to each graduate
based on criteria supplied by British Energy.
The graduates’ motivation was high and they reacted very well to the
exhortation to keep both their eyes and their minds open. The Greystoke staff
found the three days challenging, exhausting and invigorating.
