STAR TREK DAY:
ORGANIZE A TEAM BUILDING IN THE SPACE

September is the month of the restart, the month in which the activities and business objectives of the entire year are planned, it is a bit like a New Year, but business. On the occasion of Star Trek Day 2021 – an anniversary decided by Paramount + to celebrate the lasting legacy of the series with fans – we intend to offer you a new Star Trek Team Building activity that, in a historical period like this, could become the future of Corporate Gaming . . Because? It is totally virtual! For years now, the largest companies around the world have encouraged the members of their teams to collaborate and work as a team , also through recreational-training activities that allow them to “play together”. Usually these are activities, such as treasure hunt in an outdoor location or ping-pong in the company’s relaxation room, which therefore require all participants to be in the same physical location.

Regardless of the Covid19 pandemic, in today’s globalized work environment, team members can live and work thousands of miles away from each other, making it impossible for them to play together the old fashioned way and increasingly we hear. talk about virtual reality, virtual spaces and artificial intelligence .

Especially in the world of virtual reality, a game produced by Ubisoft has made its way in recent years, which focuses on teamwork: Star Trek: Bridge Crew . In cooperative mode, players (who can be located anywhere in the world) form a crew of 4: Captain , Helmsman , Tactical Officer and Engineer .

Although there are already other games that allow geographically dispersed users to play together online, virtual reality allows you to reproduce real body movements in a shared environment , exactly as if they were all in the same room … or spaceship! In this way, players are able to collaborate by sharing a strong sense of social presence .

“Our main goal from day one was to create a highly social game that allows people to truly feel together, on the deck of a Federation spaceship, even when they could actually be anywhere in the world.” David Votypka , Ubisoft Senior Creative Director.

D. Votypka himself believes that the experience of being a virtual “ Bridge Crew ” could extend beyond entertainment and into areas such as corporate team building ; especially in a world where work teams are often spread across the country or even the world.

In fact, Ubisoft has already experienced trading partners who meet in the game and work together through complex scenarios, an activity that transcends basic development work.

“After all, whether you’re executing your business strategy or fighting the Klingons in space it takes a lot of communication and coordination to be successful,” says Votypka.

To complete the missions proposed by the game, it is necessary to make strategic decisions and coordinate with the team and how during any self-respecting team building the individual skills of each participant will have to combine to overcome every challenge: trust , communication and coordination are the key. for victory.

As highlighted by the digital magazine Inc. , the Star Trek universe and consequently its interactive videogame also provides some valuable leadership and teamwork lessons that can also be applied to business reality:

1. Meetings and meetings happen only when a decision needs to be made
In Star Trek, the crew confront each other whenever there is a crisis or imminent danger that requires the Captain to make a decision on what to do. Basically, no PowerPoint presentation lasting 3 hours to share information already within the reach of the whole team.

2. The inputs provided are always limited, but effective
In Star Trek, during the meetings each participant provides only the minimum amount of information necessary for the boss (captain) to make the decision he deems best, without sharing superfluous data that would only slow down the decision-making process and therefore the performance of the whole. team.

3. The most complex technical concepts are always simplified
Whenever a Star Trek character says something like ” the barrier of the inter-space dimension could swing “, someone else asks, “Is this like pinching a rubber band?” . In the TV series the simplified explanations are provided so that viewers can follow the plot more easily, but also during company meetings it is advisable that all participants can actually understand the technical skills of the colleagues of each team, even if from different departments: exploiting analogies and metaphors is therefore a great way to simplify even the most complex concepts.

4. The team’s final decision ends the meeting
During the episodes of the series the protagonists leave the meetings knowing exactly what just happened and what to do next. They never question the decision taken, especially because it is the result of their collaboration and cooperation, and they certainly do not discuss topics already covered in a previous meeting. Lastly and most importantly, in Star Trek, everything the team decides is actually accomplished.

Facing corporate reality as in an episode of Start Trek might seem like pushing your team towards an unexplored dimension or rather an unexplored universe, but not only is it now possible thanks to virtual reality, but it could also be the turning point at least for the endless hours of meetings on Zoom to which the covid and the pandemic have by now accustomed us.

So, as Captain Picard would say, if you are looking for new team building activities to engage employees and encourage teamwork : “MAKE IT SO!”