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Why corporate team-building events can be terrible

2018-08-27 07:07:29

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.