The story of….
CEMEX Team-Building Activity in Leona Vicario, Mexico
I’ve thought a lot about the true
meaning of social responsibility and whether we just talk about it or whether
we actually do it. So I want to share a story of how it applied to re-building
a school in Leona Vicario outside of Cancun to create the CEMEX team-building
event. It was an event that succeeded so well that lives were changed forever.
I want to believe that changing lives is something for which we all strive, and
so I encourage all readers to copy, steal, modify … but do it. Let me tell you
what we did, why we did it, and how.
It's a long story, so let me say
that if you don’t want to read the specifics, know these things and then skip
to the end…
*Believe that you can make a
difference and then figure out a way to do so.
*Don’t give up when challenges arise.
*Legacies have to start somewhere.
Start one.
*Find a purpose and then find a way
to connect your audience to it that is unique to them.
Our legacy creation started with a
client who wanted to do a team building activity. We were at a beach resort, so
building a cardboard boat sounded fun to them. But I thought differently. Part
of the objective was to unify two disparate companies that did not see eye-to-eye.
CEMEX had purchased an Australian company… wing tip shoes vs. shrimp on the
Barbie was a good description. I thought that by having both companies do something
for the greater good would be far more bonding. It took a bit of convincing,
but in the end it accomplished just that.
After much looking around Cancun, we
found a school in Leona Vicatio, about 45 minutes outside of the main town. The
school was in heartbreaking condition when we first saw it. After weeks of site
inspections at the school, meetings with contractors and suppliers of building
products and internal CEMEX personnel, we began three months of hard work prior
to the conference. The objective was to start to turn the school into a place
of pride for the children and their town.
At first, the requirements to start
this project seemed insurmountable, since everything had to be accomplished
while school was in session. For every item completed, 10 more appeared. The
job required 36 truckloads of cement, 122 gallons of paint and 700 yards of
grass sod not to mention plumbing, electrical, landscape, mortar and a variety
of other elements.
Our first major obstacle was the fact that, as with many small
communities and their leaders, the school was very proud and the administration
slow to respond to the offer of charity, worried that it would acknowledge they
needed help. Discussions were handled with respect for the administration’s
concerns, and it was finally determined that the community and school leaders
would take part in, and take credit for, arranging the event. Once this was
agreed, we were able to move forward, now with the local police (for crowd
control and safety) and the school’s grounds managers fully on board.
It quickly became clear that not
only was additional building necessary but the existing rooms and facilities
also needed to be upgraded to accommodate the number of children attending the
school.
For 90 days prior to the conference, CEMEX and its partners did
everything. Contractors poured cement, restructured plumbing, installed
electrical, refurbished bathrooms, rebuilt the school cafeteria and began to
construct a small library.
We immediately began by clearing the
school grounds of trash, dismantling a dilapidated structure and then grading
tons of dirt to accommodate a proposed new building and playground. As with
most remodeling, it was easier to start from scratch rather than add to an
existing substandard substructure. Because of this, when remodeling and adding
multiple boys’ and girls’ toilets and stalls, all existing plumbing
feeder-pipes needed to be ripped out and replaced, as well as electrical sub
panels to accommodate the additional donated computer stations and Internet
connections.
Because the school had no trash
disposal service or facilities, all trash and waste had been burned in the play
yard and behind the cafeteria. As a result, rats and vermin were attracted to the areas where the
children ate and played. To resolve this challenge, CEMEX and Extraordinary Events
built two enclosed areas to store new trash cans that CEMEX donated.
Access to the school for
construction was another challenge. Because the town was very small and not
built to any standard city codes, many of the electrical poles and power lines
were mounted to large posts and, in some cases, large tree branches buried into
the ground. This made access for our cement trucks and large buses used to
transport the multiple CEMEX executives impossible.
To make access possible, we raised
all power lines of the surrounding city block and all lines leading up to the
school site from the main access road. Needless to say, this was not a simple
task.
It was also very hard to judge how
many supplies would be needed. The solution was having plenty of runners
onsite. The overall productivity during the re-building was better than
anticipated, and our runners had to sprint out for more plants, more paint …
all in a town where none of those things existed. Ah, the beauty of cell
phones. Call Cancun and rush those things
back!
Another issue was making the project
relevant to the executives at the conference. This was the first time CEMEX had
ever initiated such a complex, lengthy community service activity. In order to
understand what they would have to accomplish, the CEMEX executives needed to
see the “before” pictures of the school. Because there were three months
between the initiation of the construction and when executives would actually
see and become part of its completion, a documentary film was created every
step of the way, both for archival purposes and also to be shown at the
conference. The objective was to bring attendees up to speed while tapping into
their emotions. If they saw where the process started, and also where it ended,
they would know what they achieved. Interviews with the town mayor as well as
the school officials were ongoing as construction progressed.
The work we began was completed by
the 300 executives during our event. Now don’t think that means 300 executives
did a tiny bit of hammering and called it a day. They worked their butts off.
Let me give you a glimpse of their day.
After a morning of intense business
sessions, the executives were shown the documentary video taken of the school
over those past 90 days. The first shots showed the school before CEMEX took
hold. The horrible conditions of the classrooms, the kitchen and the
playgrounds and the lack of athletic equipment, books and proper kitchen
facilities were all visible. Then the video commemorated the activities leading
up to this day with CEMEX trucks and contractors visibly laying the groundwork
for it.
At the end of this presentation the
executives were more than ready to pitch in. They were assigned to their team
(electrical, landscaping, plumbing, carpentry, mortar, etc., all based on their
defined skill set, a combination of EE’s careful investigation and forms we had
them complete). In teams they boarded buses to the school.
During the trip to the school,
several planned activities were implemented. All were designed to create a spirit
of “team.” First they were given detailed printed instructions as to exactly
what they had to do once onsite. They were told what equipment they would have
and the task they would have to accomplish. Then they were told more about the
school.
One man asked, “Couldn’t you find a
school that was closer?”
The guide’s response set the tone.
Here’s the conversation…
Guide: “Who would send his child to
a school without toilets?”
(No hands went up.)
Guide: “Who would send his child to a
school with rats running through his food?”
(No hands went up.)
Guide:“Who would send his child to a
school that had no playground, no desks, no library and no books?”
(Again, no
hands went up.)
Guide: “So, who would rather stay
close to Cancun and paint a blue classroom yellow? Or would you rather ride an
hour and change the lives of hundreds of children forever?
The group started cheering and
applauding.
Once at the site, each of the 35
group leaders took their teams to preset tables holding all the tools, supplies
and safety equipment they would need.
Each team was then joined by one of the school’s students and a parent.
Together they painted, laid sod, planted flowers and trees, poured concrete,
applied stucco, plumbed, finished electrical work and constructed the walls and
roof of a new library, the first the school had ever enjoyed. To make the
connection between CEMEX and the school rock-solid, CEMEX products were used.
The sight of so many active CEMEX cement trucks was awesome to many of the
executives who rarely had the opportunity to see their products in action, much
less personally put to use in the field.
EE suggested one final
innovation quickly adopted by CEMEX. We
asked each and every executive to bring a favorite book from his or her
childhood to share with the children on the day of the event and then to leave
behind as the first contribution to the new library they had built that
afternoon.
In a touching display, each CEMEX
executive did share his or her own special childhood book with a student from
Leona Vicario. These books, inscribed in more than 38 languages, were the very
beginning of the new library. The emotional connection as grown men sat with
small children on their laps telling them why this particular book had been so
special was palpable. One man brought a book in Polish that he had translated
by hand into Spanish. Another had done hand drawings of Black Beauty with an inscription to the children.
An official dedication ceremony
ended the event, consisting of a speech by the Vice President of CEMEX, “Thank
Yous” by school representatives and the parents of the students, and a song
performed by the children for the CEMEX executives. Additionally, gifts were
exchanged between the school, the community and the executives.
At the end of the day, the
executives had figuratively and literally influenced, if not entirely changed,
the lives and education of more than 600 children and families as they
experienced first-hand the core business of CEMEX. It was a lesson in the
importance of their product. Plus, they had learned a valuable team-building
lesson as they worked with one another across cultural and language barriers to
achieve a common goal, one that was lofty and inspiring and immensely
satisfying, while changing the lives of an entire community.
The Lesson
Community service events are not out
of the norm but usually consist of a bit of hammering and perhaps some
superficial painting. This project was entirely different.
From its inception to its execution
to the lasting effect it left on all participants, this event was a powerful
experiential manifestation of the message that the client wished to send. Not
only did the community service activity serve as a team-building lesson, it
also gave attendees first-hand knowledge of the company’s product and illustrated
its corporate culture to newcomers joining the company as a result of the recent acquisition. It also did something
not every team-building activity does – it created a legacy for CEMEX.
The school’s new buildings, library
and grounds will be used for generations of children to come. The books that
the executives left will be read by the children and grandchildren of those kids enjoying
them today. And, best of all, the event launched a series of future events like
it that CEMEX and EE will produce throughout the world.
Can an event’s success be measured
in emotion? Return on emotion might be a measurement for the future. We know
that ROT (return on time) is now highly prioritized. I watched as 300 tired
executives, hands filthy, splattered with paint and cement, sweaty and grimy,
smiling, crying and laughing shared stories of what each of them did and what a
difference it made. Carefully manicured fingernails were history; blisters were
sources of pride. This was a true team of happy people who had bonded for a
cause, one much bigger than themselves.
Without exception, every executive
was engaged with the other executives and with the children. Because of their
product, a world had changed. Together, they really did build the future, and,
together my team and I did too.
Taking on
projects that make a difference in the world is close to my heart, as it should
be to us all. If each of us can leave even small legacies to others, we can
change the world.
If You Have Jumped Ahead to the
End…and You Want to Create a Legacy:
It does not matter what business you
are in, you can do this either internally or externally.
Do you produce a festival? Find a way to include benefits to
your community through activities that better it.
Are you planning a corporate event? Find a way that every
event has purpose within it and is branded to the client, annually.
Fundraiser? Involve the recipients of the funds in the event
so people know where their money is being spent. Engage the actual people into
the event instead of letting them be photos on a large screen.
Within EE we have committed ourselves to supporting Dining
for Women and will have monthly fundraisers to support their initiatives. We
invite you to read up on it at DiningforWomen.com
