WITNESS: Dorking about? It was a management course

(Dina Kyriakidou has been the Reuters bureau chief for Greece and Cyprus since 2005. Before that, she was posted in Bucharest, where she was in charge of news coverage of Romania and Bulgaria. A Cypriot citizen, she has worked for Reuters since 1989. In the following story, she charts her latest discoveries in the art of management.)

By Dina Kyriakidou

DORKING (Reuters) - In a stately home in England I discovered my Worldview but also realized I was blue. No, it wasn't my mood: it was a management training program.

When I told an American friend I was going on the course in the English town of Dorking, he quipped: "Is that where dorks come from?"

Web research produced a New York Times article from 1887 offering many theories for the origin of "Old and Queer Dorking". It did not mention dorks but Romans, Saxons and Normans did at times invade this area.

Now it was high-flying executives from around the world who descended on the ancient estate in stunning English countryside, eager to explore their softer side and get better results from their teams.

In three days, we got to defuse a mock bomb, managed to raise a bamboo stick on our fingertips, and at one stage my team and I lined up, standing on sheets of white paper.

The point of these exercises was to learn that planning is essential before embarking on a mission, and that getting your team engaged in a project is key to its success.

Inspired by our venue, I had packed what might be an appropriately titled novel: Persuasion, by Jane Austen.