Coke bosses play with the Army

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 502, 7 September 1993, Page 7

Coke bosses play with the Army

BY

Jenelle

Frewen

A convoy of red Coca Cola cars containing 148 marketing and saies executives arrived in Waiouru last Thursday for a oneday course in team building and personal development. The group was gathered from all over New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands for a three day conference including a day in Waiouru and two days at Huka Village in Taupo to discuss corporate planning and strategy, Managing Director of Coca Cola Bottlers, Tim Woodward said. While in Waiouru the group spent a day at the Military Camp participating in various activities designed by Physical

Training Instructor, Sgt. Theo Marama. The range of activities, completed in teams of eight to ten included climbing a rock wall, traversing a confidence course, building and floating a raft in the swimming pool, erecting an ll'x 11' tent without instructions, as well as a series of command based activities. All activities had the aim of developing functional leadership and building confidence, whilst still being enjoyable. The tasks had also been made "user-friendly by removing the overt Army presence and instead replacing it with a company scenario", Sgt. Marama said. The group is the largest to participate in this kind

of team development exercise at Waiouru. Mr. Woodward commended the Army personnel involved with the day's programme saying they had "done a great job, creating tough exercises that were also fun", and had set the scene for a productive team effort at the conference. Army staff were also pleased with the running of the day-long programme, thanks to the organisational efforts of Sgt. Stan Cannell from 4 Transport Squadron and the enthusiasm of the people from Coca-Cola. Staff Sergeant Bill Schoch, who was in charge of the command tasks, described the group as "very co-operative, keen and energetic."