Cambodia – 2018 Staff Retreat

Every year, PN Cambodia organizes a staff retreat. The aim is to strengthen ties, increase the understanding of PN’s vision, mission and values but also for staff to relax and have fun after a busy and demanding year.

The staff retreat took place in Mondulkiri province (northeast of Cambodia) for three days for all members of PN Cambodia. A number of activities were organized to reinforce team spirit, help staff get to know each other better, as individuals and teams, focus on PN’s vision, mission, values from a broader perspective, and improve staff’s skills.

A host of games, physical activities and discussions were organized on our values: TRUST, SOLIDARITY, RESPONSIBILITY, RESPECT and DEMANDING APPROACH. Those values inform all our education and training curriculum for our students but also our team as all the members are role models. Reaffirming these values was also a good opportunity to put them in a broader context. These activities were also great fun and very rewarding: we were put into small groups and had to overcome obstacles and succeed.

TRUST was the first PN value that we focused on. To test and improve it, we got together for a game: in groups of 3 (two blindfolded, one not blindfolded), we went on an obstacle course. This required working as a team and completely trusting one another!

On the same day, we exercised our SOLIDARITY through another exercise: each group was lined up and blindfolded except for the leader, who had to pass on information and communicate instructions to his/her team in order to pick up as many folded papers on the floor and place them in a basket. All the game had to be done without speaking.

On the second day, RESPONSIBILITY was highlighted. Each member of each group was given a specific task (such as bursting a balloon, picking up ping-pong balls, etc.). The tasks had to be completed in order and one by one. The main goal was to rely on one another but also on each other’s strengths. The idea was to show how combining everyone’s skills and working as a team leads to success.

Next there was a ‘RESPECT’ exercise, in which listening was the key to success. To be part of the team, each outsider had to ask questions and listen carefully to the answer to guess the specific characteristic of each group. For one group, for example, this was giving quirky, tongue-in-cheek answers to questions.

After that, we enjoyed an incredible tour of Busra waterfall, the coffee and strawberry farms, Sunset Hill, Phnom Doh Kromom Pagoda and the “sea forest”. The refreshing weather of Mondulkiri Mountain was great to breathe fresh air and calm our stressed minds.

The last day was dedicated to DEMANDING APPROACH. All staff played six games one after another (Walk with Balloon, Water Bridge, Back Flip, Yang Me, Office Tennis, and Balloon Breakers). Each game required discipline, rigour and precision for the team to succeed and was designed in a fun and entertaining way which made for a fun morning. We also managed to find a Khmer term for PN’s “Demanding approach” value!

We also did some exercises designed to help us gain a better understanding of ourselves through two specific games: the first one, “PNimal’’ involved choosing and drawing an animal and explaining our choice. Funnily enough, most of us chose Chinese signs!
The second one, called “Colored Hats’’, involved identifying our main distinctive character. Each one of us had to choose one colour (from blue, green, red and yellow) and make a hat out of those colours. This well-known test is designed to get a better understanding of others and learn how to make the best out of each one.

There were other activities such as group thinking, bonfire storytelling which helped bring us closer together but was also to have fun and gave us the energy to continue our journey with PNC.

The 2018 staff retreat 2018 was rewarding and productive, in which everyone got involved, with happy energy, team spirit and motivation. It contributes to our belief: “We work together’’, rather than “I, working on my own,’’ which is central to PN’s mission to support underprivileged youth. Let’s see what 2019 will bring us!