November, 2018
Monteith Farm in Grabouw, Western Cape explored ‘new territory’ (for them), when they involved drama therapists in a team building exercise for all their permanent staff members. The Waitrose Foundation conference exposed the farm’s project coordinator and representatives to this practice which confirmed their plans to introduce it to the farm.
This novel approach was met with a mixture of excitement and nervousness when the owners, management, supervisors and general workers were challenged to participate in creative activities such as drumming, dance and poetry. Mixed teams choreographed their own dance moves, wrote their own poems and presented it on stage to the rest of the staff.
These activities led the staff into an experience of enjoyment, self-discovery and -expression as well as exercising the creative abilities that were latent in many workers. The outcomes included the awareness of undeveloped areas of peoples’ lives, the replacement of negative and destructive feelings/thoughts with positive and constructive ones, strengthening of relationships as well as increased confidence amongst the staff to tackle new commercial and social challenges or opportunities as a team.
