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Nothing quite strikes fear into the heart of employees like the words
"team-building event" - especially
for those who have attended enough of these events to know how downright
bizarre they can sometimes be,
says author Alison Green, and creator of the workplace advice column Ask a
Manager.
What's the strangest team-building exercise you've ever been on? Circus skills,
ice-carving or even
sheepdog herding are all genuine days out workers have been subjected to.
Team-building events are, ostensibly, designed to boost the cohesion of a team
and increase communication,
co-operation, and morale.
Those are all worthwhile business goals, but in practice, many such events
involve things like blindfolded
trust falls, humiliating dance performances, rope-climbing courses, and other
endeavours where the
connection to those business goals isn't quite clear.
Image copyright Alison Green Image caption Too often employers schedule
team-building events without really
thinking how they'll produce better results, says Alison Green
I heard from one reader who worked on a team of people who were having trouble
getting along, so her
manager organised a team-building event where everyone present had to share
what they didn't like about
each other.
Unsurprisingly, tears ensued. She noted that, contrary to the purpose of the
event, she and her colleagues
went from not being able to work together well to actively disliking each other
in about 30 minutes.
Another reader wrote in about a team-building event that her office held on a
horse farm. One horse got
over-excited and nearly trampled one of her colleagues. "It was a bonding
experience to a certain extent,"
she wrote, "but only because we all thought we were going to die."
Another reader described a team-building exercise where she and her co-workers
had to spit soda into each
other's mouths - why, I don't know - and another was made to watch videos about
the leadership skills of
dolphins.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Getting workers to share what they
dislike about each other can
be fraught with danger
Another person's team had to line up and pass a grapefruit down the line
without anyone using their hands
or arms, and without letting the grapefruit fall.
Still other team-building exercises put pressure on people to do things that
they physically can't do.
Recently I heard from a reader whose boss was requiring everyone to gather
together in a room to do tai chi
several mornings a week - allegedly as a form of team-building. My reader had a
medical condition that
prevented him from participating.
Rather than excuse him entirely, the boss told him to sit silently and watch
everyone else do it.
"It has left me feeling singled out and punished for not being able to
participate, and fielding questions
from co-workers about why I'm not following along with the programme," he told
me.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Often, such events can have little
relevance to real-life office
work
Not exactly what team building is supposed to achieve.
And some team-building exercises ask people to share things that would normally
be considered way too
personal for an employer to ask about - things like your deepest fears or
experiences from childhood.
I heard about one where participants were asked to share the story behind a
scar - physical or emotional.
Yes, emotional. Those questions can be easy for some but if you're someone who,
say, dealt with trauma or
abuse in your childhood - or if you're someone who just prefers privacy - these
are not fun games to play.
As a result, these events can be tremendously annoying to employees and - the
opposite of raising morale -
they can actually lower morale, especially if they're a response to
deep-rooted, problematic team dynamics
that require more serious solutions.
Real team building isn't about one or two events per year. Instead, it's about
how a team runs, day to day.
Good managers prioritise communication, co-operation, and morale year-round,
not just for the duration of a
team-building event.
And good managers build strong teams by having people work together on projects
with clear goals, clear
roles, and appropriate feedback and recognition; by creating opportunities for
people to get a deeper
understanding of each other's work; and by giving people the chance for
meaningful input into the direction
of the team.
People are more likely to feel like part of a real team if they have a chance
to share their input and talk
over challenges, and if they see that that input is welcome and truly
considered.
And oddly, many team-building exercises are based around solving artificial
problems as a group, like
building a balloon tower or untangling a human knot - things that aren't likely
to come up in our actual
work for most of us.
It's far more effective, and useful, to instead involve your work group in
grappling with real challenges
as part of the normal course of business.
In other words, what builds strong teams is… good management, day after day
after day. That may not be as
entertaining as dance performances or rope courses, but it's what works.