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Team Building Training

Success is a team effort. There's only one seat in a racecar and drivers know they would never be successful without their pit crew and mechanic teams working together. To be successful, individuals need to share a vision, agree on goals needed to achieve that vision, and understand their role and responsibility in accomplishing that goal. By working together we are all successful and everyone shares in the celebration.

Simulated NASCAR Pit Stops!

SCPCC has transformed Teambuilding from the same old tiresome material into an exciting, sensible hands-on event.

The SCPCC uses authentic race cars, impact wrenches, knee pads and gloves. The pit stops are designed so everyone can participate. We created the process over the last 10 years to improve teambuilding training to accommodate large or small groups.

2011 Pit Crew Challenge

and Auto Cross Team Building Event at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, TN

with the

Company

Pit Crew Challenge:

How many Tauberites does it take to change a tire?

Written by Ashish Vatsal (MBA '11) and Raghav Wate (MBA '11). Edited by Matt Brady (MBA '11) and Paula Baker. Photos by Alice Carlson.

Recruiting blues, group assignments, midterms… the list of challenges facing MBAs goes on. But a group of Tauber students had different plans on Saturday, January 23 – they decided to head to North Campus to change tires on a NASCAR stock car!

Pit Crew 2010 The Pit Crew Challenge is one of the many leadership and team building modules that the Tauber Institute for Global Operations organizes for its first-year graduate students. These modules teach key skills in leadership, team building, and social etiquette. In addition to the standard MBA curriculum, Tauber MBA students, generally recognized as the best and brightest at Ross, take a series of classes with Tauber engineering students to study topics like factory physics, global operations, and Six Sigma. They are then matched with a 14-week paid internship to test their skills at companies like Dell, Boeing, and 3M.

At the pit crew challenge, students were assigned to teams of 4-5 and assigned a role: front and rear tire changer, front and rear tire carrier, or crew captain. The task was to remove, rotate, and reattach the front and rear tires as fast as possible. Teams were allowed to regroup after each of the four rounds to improve their strategy, technique, and time. Team members were also encouraged to help each other by passing on tips, tricks, and motivational pep-talks. The simulated pit crew atmosphere added to the intensity, with teams competing against each other for glory… and candy.

The “Road Rage” team clocked the fastest time at 12:61 seconds. Pictured left to right: Michael Trent (MBA '11), John Woo (MBA '11), Kellie Jensen (MSCM '10), Anup Paradkar (MSE-IOE '10), and BJ Wiley (MBA '11).

Lesson of the day: only a supportive team with a common goal can achieve continuous improvement. The exercise has always been rated as one of the best modules in the Tauber experience, and its rating just improved!