BlogBreak

By Paul

October 30, 2007 12:27 PM | Link to this

The company I use to work for (a fortune 50) use to encourage them. A change in the upper echelon (and in turn culture) killed it. Our dept still tried to do something fun every 3 months outside of work be it bowling, a Braves game or what not. It was a small group and the manager picked up the tab. We would make it a half day at work and it did boost our little moral. Team-building will work as long as it is outside the office. The problem that companies run into is using ‘text-book’ exercises and trying to run it through during a hour mandatory meeting. Seems they forget that human beings work for them and that only away from shadow of the ivory tower will a group actually bond.

By Skegee

October 30, 2007 12:31 PM | Link to this

I believe that in a hostile working environment, these types of pep rallies serve no purpose other than to make employees in a bad working environment feel worse. These employees just want to go to work and then go home to their life. What would make these employers think forcing employees to spend time with each other away from the workplace will help ease tensions that they aren’t capable of or willing to get to the root of? These little outings don’t fix the problems.

By Angela

October 30, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this

I’ve been a part of teambuilding that worked and some that didn’t. What made some of them work was the respect you develop for your co-workers by seeing them in a different light than normal. What made some of the others not work was the dynamics being manipulated by the management who wanted to protect themselves from criticism. Those were a true waste of time and only fostered more hostility among the team members.

By TeamBuildingSurvivor

October 30, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this

Years ago, I went to a 3-day “team building” retreat that was intended to build a team out of two different companies that had recently merged and were suspicious of each other. It got really nasty, and some people got into shouting matches. We even had to do the “falling backwards” stunt… and they almost dropped me (my head hit the ground: I’m lucky I bounced off some arms first to break my fall). The weekend turned simmering disagreement into open hostility. At least the CEO’s buddy (who ran the team-building exercise) made some money off of the debacle.

By JohnF

October 30, 2007 1:07 PM | Link to this

First of all, I absolutely hate whirlyball…why is that game the team building event that every company thinks has to occur. The cars don’t work half the time, the rooms are smelly, and the food sucks…plus it’s in Roswell…which is fine but try to get home at 5:00..bleah!!

These things might be fun for some but I’ve always found them to be a pain in the a$$. You either work well with co-workers are you don’t…and if two people really have a conflict no bowling, braves games or whirlyball is going to fix that. And if people want to socialize with each other they will do that anyway.

And it’s also a bit insulting for the designers of these events (usually some HR do-nothing that relies on some trade rag and not real world experience) to imply that workers aren’t professional enough to work well together without these “team building” time wasters.

By Big Gun

October 30, 2007 1:23 PM | Link to this

I read a few books on team building exercises and came up with a great one that everyone in my company of 20 employees seem to enjoy….and learn something.

I bought all the material for a fence building project for my backyard. Everyone arrived on time and we all got to work and we completed the job about 12 hours later.

It took teamwork to build that fence and everyone seemed happy with the result. It took diversity to build that fence. I for one am very proud of that fence. I invited my employees over for a swim in our above ground pool and hot dogs.

By kerry

October 30, 2007 1:24 PM | Link to this

just want to go on the record as saying i absolutely despise them and my company loves them. I know how to be a team player and to respect my coworkers. I get that some people do not. But send them to a team seminar, not me!

By Lee

October 30, 2007 1:38 PM | Link to this

Big Gun, re “It took diversity to build that fence.”

Oh, please. Not the diversity crap.

For your next team building exercise, I’ve got some grape koolaid I want you to drink — trust me.

So, you coerce your employees to come over to do some yard work and call it “team building”. I’ve got news for you, your employees are talking about what a cheap SOB you are. You brought them together all right, they now ALL hate your guts.

By Alexis

October 30, 2007 1:40 PM | Link to this

It is a bunch of liberal hippie nonsense being popularized by “feeling coaches” and the like who think that the key to running an effective organization is emotional happiness and a sense of “team spirit”. I personally detest these silly, often idiotic little excercises and refuse to allow my employees to participate if someone in the company tries to organize such things during office hours. It is a complete waste of time, money, energy and valuable resources.

By My 2 cents

October 30, 2007 1:41 PM | Link to this

Do team-building exercises build camaraderie? no

I am a certified team builder, I have worked for various team-building firms for over the years and taught it at a university for two years. As a self-designated “expert” I can say that team-building has a shelf-life of 3 months, 6 months if your employees already have good working relationships. If your organization doesn’t commit to continuous activities at 3 month intervals, it’s a total waste of time. And if you’re going to do it, get real facilitators; someone who thinks they know a few activities doesn’t qualify as a team builder.

By Big Gun

October 30, 2007 2:14 PM | Link to this

Lee, you have no idea what it took to get them together on a Saturday!!

They are so polarized at work it is not funny.

The Republicans sit on one side of the lunch room and the Democrats on the other.

Don’t get me started on the infamous Barbara Streisand music marathon in our shipping department. It was J Z versus Babs all day. Babs won, by the way.

They were grateful for the sun and fun too. I had a few tell me they have never had a boss like me before.

You had to be there to appreciate how well it went for everyone. I had their kids picking up pine cones and raking the yard too. They got to keep the pine cones as a little gift from “Uncle Tom”.

By MP

October 30, 2007 2:15 PM | Link to this

Lee, Did it not dawn on you that Mr. Big Guy might have written a parody? That’s the way I took it. I hope to god he really did not do that.

By Big Gun

October 30, 2007 2:43 PM | Link to this

MP….it is Mr. Big Gun, not Mr. Big Guy.

Thanks.

And no, it really happened just like that.

By Subterranean

October 30, 2007 2:44 PM | Link to this

Team-building events are unnatural attempts to foster bonds and a sense of “community”. If folks like each other, they’ll get together on their own. If they don’t, why coerce them into it? I work to make money to pay bills. Believe me, I would not voluntarily be in close proximity to these clowns…

By ron

October 30, 2007 2:44 PM | Link to this

I have been involved in several team building efforts over the years and the best of them weren't too good.Teams have a tendency to reinvent the wheel.Mediocrity is their best product.Teams develop a pecking order and the members have to be well aware of what it is.A team meeting is a place where you have to be very careful of what you say.Unless you're the boss's favorite,you had best speak infrequently.In a lot of cases the decision has been made elsewhere and the team meeting is used as a venue to inform you what it is.

By ugh

October 30, 2007 3:37 PM | Link to this

I’d rather chew tinfoil than participate in another team building exercise.

I already devote 40+ hours of my week to my coworkers. Forced socialization isn’t going to make me like them any more than I already do.

I say forget the team building crap and let us off the clock so we can spend time with people we truly want to be with.

By Lee

October 30, 2007 3:43 PM | Link to this

MP, you’re probably right about it being a parody.

I mean, after all, no boss is that stupid.

Right???

By Old Physics Teacher

October 30, 2007 4:09 PM | Link to this

Big Guy,

I’m having a hard time keeping from laughing. Did you have the wives over too? Did you “let” them go buy food for everybody and cook lunch too? Darn, You probably forgot to “let” them build a team too by cleaning your house and washing your car!

I’ll bet you probably forgot to take up a donation to pay for the fence.

Oh well, you can do that next year when you put in your putting green.

By Rodney

October 30, 2007 4:17 PM | Link to this

I find team building about as useful as Kaizen or Six Sigma practices.

Makes great sense on paper - veeeeeeeeery difficult to actualize.

Then again, I work for a company that force feeds that sort of thing down your throat, so maybe I’m a little bitter.

By bill

October 30, 2007 4:25 PM | Link to this

Team Building? Blah, Blah, Blah. The reality is that I don’t want to be here with these b******* anyway. Why would I want to socialize with them? “Oh yeah, and Friday is gonna be Hawaiian shirt day, so if you want to go ahead and, uh, wear a Hawaiian shirt…..”

By Jenna

October 30, 2007 5:01 PM | Link to this

Big Gun, I seriously hope you’re kidding. Quite frankly, if you would have asked me to “donate” one of my few off days to build a fence (what exactly was this fence for anyway?) I would have had no problem telling you where you can stick that fence post.

As far as team-building exercises go, I think they are one of the most hokey, useless wastes of time and money. Really, nobody wants to participate, everyone thinks its retatrded, and nobody wants to play whirlyball. Please stop subjecting us poor employees to them. I do like the Chateau Elan idea though, mainly becasue it sounds less like a “team-building” excursion and more like a chance to socialize with your fellow cube-mates in a relaxed atmosphere.

By Cruzin

October 30, 2007 5:03 PM | Link to this

My company is always looking for ways to fire people. If they were ever to have a team building day, I would opt to line the managers up on one side, and the employees up on the other side for a great game of tackle football! I’m sure it would build great team work, and make a lot of people happy too!

By Big Gun

October 31, 2007 8:24 AM | Link to this

Let me answer a few questions about the fence building…some have a reading comprehension issue.

I paid for the fence materials out of the company’s funds since it was a company expense.

It was a fence on my property, I assumed all the risk if someone got hurt too.

No, Wives were not asked to participate as they tend to be whiny and troublesome when it comes to physical labor or taking orders. And some of the Wives are jealous of some of the female employees. Some of them are REAL lookers.

By Disillusioned

October 31, 2007 9:57 AM | Link to this

Team building: a waste of time where employers don’t feel guilty laying off employees so their stock will go up. The only decent event I went to was bowling where beer was served. We stopped bowling and drank beer with the few people we liked. Managers, stop the idiotic activities! Let folks take off early on Friday if you want to boost morale.

By Teams

October 31, 2007 4:51 PM | Link to this

No they really don’t work, I personally do not care anything about my co-workers, I just want to do my job. That’s it. I work for a company that is big on teams and building the relationships between team members and most of us wish that management would leave us alone to do our jobs, but nobody will tell them that for fear of the backlash.

By Freelancer

November 2, 2007 2:07 PM | Link to this

To Big Gun Please tell me that you own the company whose funds paid for your fence materials!

And trust me, your employees are talking about you and that fence for a long time to come….and what they are saying is not very nice!

By Seen It All

November 6, 2007 10:18 AM | Link to this

Team building? It’s a joke and waste of money. It’s a perk reserved for a select few and the “unvited” onlookers get to hear about it the next day. You don’t think this creates animosity and resentment? Also, most of the time it’s very hokey. The group might as well join a blue haired bingo night for all the excitement you’re sure to receive. I agree with a previous poster…if alcohol is served, I’d rather sit and drink with those I like rather than be forced to have converstations and “fun” with someone I have absolutely nothing in common with! How many times are we forced to laugh at jokes that are not even funny and suck up to the management team during the event (rhetorical question)! Furthermore, what is entertaining to one person may not be to the next but everyone is expected to participate! UUUGH!! I’ve been on both sides, as an invitee and as an uninvitee. Neither accomplishes what some overpaid manager thinks he’s accomplishing by moron team building activities. Someone just plain and simple doesn’t have enough to do at their J-O-B.

By ExAdmin

November 6, 2007 10:41 AM | Link to this

Oh God. Whirlyball. As an Admin, I was forced to set up this horrific team building event because the VP thought it would be awsomely fun. I had never even heard of whirlyball but when I had to do the research for a team building event, I was completed miffed. Why would ANYONE think this would be entertaining to an entire group who all have different interests? It’s a game of direct contact rather than having the choice of sitting back and BEING entertained. What’s wrong with Comedy Club, Braves game, bowling, etc? But Whirlyball? I agree with previous poster, alcohol should ALWAYS be available to those who like to enjoy themselves in that way. But management goes overboard with “we have to protect ourselves against liability”…so no alcohol. But nothing wrong with a flying stick that can whack someone in the head, causing a concussion or stitches!

By SuzyQ

November 6, 2007 12:53 PM | Link to this

Teams are only as good as the individuals who comprise the group. We need to encourage respect, honesty, and cooperation while acknowledging each person’s unique attributes. Quick! Name a famous “team” (other than sports), committee, or other group which made a meaningful contribution to the world. We don’t know the names of the captains of the Nina or the Pinta, or any of the other “team members” who sailed with Christopher Columbus. Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus, Einstein and Bell are not remembered for their outstanding work in committee. Patrick Henry did not make the stirring statement “I’ll go along with whatever the team decides.” Our forefathers fought each other tooth and nail, and I don’t think either the Democrats or the Republicans have a cohesive “team” approach. The only teambuilding exercise we really need goes like this: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

By Kenneth

November 8, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this

Teamwork is a term that is used often and just as frequently misunderstood. It sounds good for organizational leaders to say, We are working as a team, or We have a team approach. However, the reality is that most organizations don’t know what teamwork is or how to utilize the concept. Often this term is used to create a sense of cohesiveness. The idea is to help people feel more comfortable and to have positive experiences within the organization.

Teambuilding exercises are sometimes used in an attempt to encourage people to interact outside of their everyday organizational roles. In reality, some of these sessions are better defined as stress-reduction workshops. These sessions may also serve as a reminder to relax and not take work and life so seriously.

Reducing stress and striking more of a work/life balance are worthy causes. Although this is true, teambuilding should not start and stop with the utilization of this approach. Staff members also need to be trained, developed, and released to fulfill their roles in an organization.