Author: Kristine Nguyen

I was at a Girl Scout camping trip and my group had to make our camp gate out of poles and ropes. This was an activity that required teamwork to be successful. What made it work was assigning roles to specific people so that everyone knew what they were supposed to do. If there were no roles, then either everyone would try to jump in with a specific job, or nobody would jump in. As an example, someone could hold the poles together, while another person lashed the poles together with rope. It was necessary to have at least one person stabilizing the poles otherwise the lashings would become very difficult and could end up loose. So even if holding the poles together seemed like an easy job, it was still an essential one. Although it may seem peculiar, one of the jobs was to tighten the rope every time the lasher wrapped it around the poles. This was to ensure that the lashing was at its absolute tightest. We could also take turns lashing and stabilizing the poles so that different people could have the opportunity to try different jobs. When it came to that time, someone could drive a stake into the ground and tie the rope to it to add extra stability. All while several other people were supporting the gate by its foundations, of course. By giving everyone a specific job, we were able to get the work done efficiently and successfully.