YOU know how sometimes you have to do things that you would not normally want to do?
Experts call it stepping out of your comfort zone.
Others call it torture, plain and simple.
This is the story of a group of people, 56 to be exact, who found themselves in precisely this predicament.
These were individuals drawn from all sectors of the government, from firefighters to diplomats, from doctors to prison officers, and from engineers to administrators.
It is the story of how a group of strangers brought together by departmental edict, ended up as friends and buddies.
Every trainer worth their salt knows that the first one-sixth of any training course is crucial.
This is why so many institutions have an ice-breaking event.
In the case of this particular group of people, their trainers decided that the best way to promote esprit de corps was to stick them in a bus for five hours, whisk them away to a remote location, and then see if they would stand together or fall apart.
So the group left for the remotest part of Sungai Petani and were told that their main task would be to trek through a dark cave, over a hill or two and out into a new village.
All were doable things, as the youngest of them was 47 years old, and many had not hiked in decades.
Yet the group persevered, and made it through their ordeal, only to find more sinister tasks awaiting them — abseiling, obstacle courses and a pitch-dark panic room where all you had was each other.
The panic room was designed to promote trust among team members and communication.
Once the person in front hit his head on something, the communication that filtered down was that everyone needed to duck his head.
But all these activities only created a cohesive group where once there was a collection of individuals.
All of these activities only served to strengthen the bonds of camaraderie that had started unfurling when the journey started.
When the outdoor activities ended, the group were tested with their mettle in the classroom, doing presentation after presentation — not as individuals, but as a group, all of them bringing something different to the table.
Group activities are fine when there is a leader and a whole lot of followers, but when everyone is so used to leading, who is then left to listen?
The idea behind the training was to develop civil servants who would produce better results.
Research has shown that companies that invest in training end up with a better workforce, lower labour turnover rate, and better productivity.
The Rummler and Brache research posits that job performance increased by 10 per cent to 20 per cent after training is effected.
But how many of us, comfortable as we are in our jobs and career path, actually voluntarily go for training during the course of the year?
Admit it. If it is not a course that you need to take for a promotion, or something that your boss has made you do, chances are we will find excuses why the training is not needed.
I bet you this group of 56 now wish they can do the whole thing all over again.
Not because they want to change things, but because they had such a great time throughout the training period.
At the farewell dinner, reminiscences abounded of their escapades — trekking through the jungle in a shoulder sling, overcoming your fear of heights because your team was waiting below, setting up a WhatsApp group even before the course started, the mortification of having your birthday during the course and having it announced.
There must have been a million more interesting stories that night.
They all know better who did what, and what actually happened behind closed doors.
I am sure Edwin (Bomba), Dr Sirajuddin (Perlis), Nizam (WhatsApp), Mus (Mexico), Vim (Trade), Dr William (Kota Kinabalu), Harjit (Engineering), Rosli (Tourism) and not forgetting the mamarazzi of the group, Dr Nor Izzah (Health), have more tales to tell.
From the conversation at the dinner that late September evening, it was clear that even though everyone had attended the course for extra training of sorts, what they actually received was so much more.
For many, the training course provided a network of friends across Malaysia and the globe that you could tap into to ease your work, a group of people whom you could use as contacts, and a broader circle of friends than one within your comfort zone.
The opportunity to network was priceless, the friendships made invaluable.
Let’s hope future individuals are as lucky.
The writer is a foreign service officer who writes on international affairs with a particular emphasis on Africa