A stupid game and the ingenious lesson it taught me about teamwork

One conference had a team game called Faraway Kingdom. It was designed to teach us about the importance of teamwork. Everyone hated it. They couldn’t see its point. After many projects, they realized the genius of the game.
Although we were split into two groups, Task Group and Waiting Group, we were all part of one team. Each group was assigned a facilitator to guide and answer questions. The Waiting Group was instructed not to move and to stand in certain places on the floor. They were instructed to stand in a certain place on the floor and not move. They were told to just wait and stand. The Task Group was given a logical problem to solve. The task was to move pieces in order to achieve a goal. These pieces were placed in accordance with the positions of members of the Waiting Group. After the problem was solved they were directed to go to the Waiting Group’s room and move the pieces in the correct place. The Development of Events
The Task Group began solving the puzzle. They tried many different routes and were great at working together. They spent hours in their rooms trying to solve the puzzle, and the time flew by. They finally solved the puzzle after 45 minutes. They were proud and excited and walked out of their rooms to arrange their teammates who waited in another room. When they returned to their room, they found the other half frustrated and bored. Task Group members rearranged Waiting Group players, and the game was over. Everyone could take a break. Everyone complained, even Task Group members: it was stupid, pointless and wasted time. The person who designed the game should be fired.
The game had an excellent point. The game’s purpose was not to solve the puzzle, but to communicate progress. Facilitators could tell other groups what they were doing and keep them informed. They didn’t. They were focused on solving this problem. The Task Group lost focus on solving the problem and became frustrated. The Waiting Group found it frustrating to wait rather than being in the dark. The Waiting Group found it more frustrating to wait than to be in the dark. This happens on a regular basis with projects. This happens constantly on projects. One group can’t move forward while the other doesn’t do its job. It’s perfectly normal. But it’s frustrating when you don’t post updates on progress. It’s not enough to isolate yourself from work. Communication is vital, even if it’s not directly related to work. They would draw a wrong conclusion if they only saw photos of them having fun during breaks, but not the hard work. Communicating progress is important. Human relationships are not like cactuses which don’t require watering but more like delicate orchids. It doesn’t matter if you were really busy, the orchid will die. The damage is irreversible once the orchid reaches a certain threshold.