Surviving on 3 hrs sleep....zzzzz

I have just got back from an overnight expedition on Dartmoor.  I am managing a group of apprentices who are participating in Level 3 ILM - Institute of Leadership and Management.  Anyway, part of the course which has been specifically created for these particular apprentices is a 24hr experience on Dartmoor.  This involves a task of trekking to certain locations all over the moor to pick up "battery cells" to create a large energy saving device to cut consumer spending and to keep them all in a job.  It is all in the way it is presented you know!  The teams got given their brief on Tuesday evening and by yesterday lunch time they were out on the moor after 'Jenny's Crash Course in Navigation'.  None of them got lost so I consider that a bonus.

A fair few of the guys had never experienced anything quite like it; carrying packs, radio comms from one meeting point to the next, walking across the Dartmoor landscape, camping, night navigation for 4 hours and mild sleep deprivation - most having had only 4 hrs sleep.  This is my eleventh time and I am still not used to it.  Some of the team members had to man an ops room throughout the night, so they had even less sleep to operate on.  And to top it all the moor was rather eerie last night, as the mist settled and the moon's halo tried to throw some light on the moor.

The most rewarding thing to see was these teams of people, who had never met before, gel to achieve a common goal. They got to know their own strengths and weaknesses, they gave constructive feedback and they developed their own individual style in leadership.  It was through these 'Action Learning Sets' that the apprentices could push their boundaries but in a safe and secure environment. Tomorrow they are in a sinking ship, and that is another adventure.

And of course they saved the world by creating an energy saving device!