Or there are the "split into small groups to do a task" tasks, which are usually won by teams where one person 'just does it', whilst the rest are bickering around how to break down the task and assign r&r. Again, not sure if this is the point, but you very rapidly notice which of your colleagues are both loud and useless.
Oh and final whine, 'the prizes' There doesn't need to be one - but if there is, could it please be something that's actually wanted? Branded merch, $100 Apple voucher, ask the CEO a question etc...
..actually, I wouldn't mind asking if his bonus is an f'in polo shirt.
Is it the same reason that hazing create shared trauma which we cope with by forming bonds?
Team-building is the only legal form of hazing allowed by companies. Now that's not to say all Team-building is hazing - but...
Maybe it's me but I can't think of any question that would produce an answer of information I didn't know and actually want to know. From any CEO.
What would you ask Musk? Or your own CEO if you had the chance?
They might not be good advice, or they might not have insight in to you as an employee (though I would challenge them to get that first as part of the question), but you just might uncover some unknown unknowns and open some doors.
But there's another (probably larger?) subset of employees who like casual conversation, coffee, drinking, little 5 minute chats in the kitchen, and who have little to no interest in games. I don't think the proposal is going to do much for this subset.
Forcing social interaction (corporate mandated fun) is just another tool to tie employees to an employer to make it more difficult/less desirable for them to leave for better opportunities.
Companies are not your buddies. They are not your friends. We make a deal. You pay me. I return value. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
You’re not family. You won’t be there when things go south. You will not hesitate to fire, if it’s in your interest.
Don't sugarcoat the relationship.
However, note that you're spending 8 hours most of your days with these people. It is undoubtedly easier if the relationship is cordial, friendly, and if you can banter with them during the off moments.
There is a human element to every interaction and people are not robots.
"You pay me, I return value, that's it" reduces you to a nameless, faceless, replacable, fungible resource.
I would not like to work in a place where that's it.
In other words, I agree with everything you're saying, but I don't see how it rebuts team building.
Yes, I will occasionally have true friends at work with whom I can talk about that on a private channel, but that's the exception.
Leaving people to their own devices, you will have a couple of go-getters who hobnob with managers and everyone else cut out of the cliques.
Liking your coworkers is a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone and setting aside structured time to do it makes it more egalitarian.
I'd agree with you any day except the current ones. Given recent events, do you not Counter Strike Fridays might bring some much needed social interaction? Yes, making them mandatory would be stupid, but what company makes socializing events mandatory?
I think the ideal would be that it just happens organically - your employees get along, groups want to spend time together outside of their employment, you reap the benefit when they're working in it. It's invaluable to know what makes people tick and how best to work with them.
If the groups don't form naturally, maybe try to 'seed' some. Stick some cash behind a local bar, ask if anybody wants to go karting after work, pop along for an informal 5-a-side on Sunday morning etc. Never force it, though.
I was made aware of a 'fun event' that didn't get enough uptake to hit it's KPI. Therefore people were encouraged to press-gang their people - and you end up with a bunch of miserable people all resenting the intrusion into their personal time and everybody involved.
I think there's an emphasis on forcing the employees to do things rather than creating the evironment where employees do it naturally.
The limit is that games will have the same effects as other "offsite" activities. Some people will be into it and it'll work for them, but others will just not be interested (whatever their reasons).
For example the first picture of the article shows basketball. That could be seen as a great team building exercise (for non-remote teams) but some people just don't like basketball or sports.
Unfortunately there are no silver bullets.
I also find that team building can be stressful depending on how your work is fluctuating. If it’s under a heavy load, then it feels frustratingly like a waste of time when you could be getting things done. While I think team building is important, I think it’s so hard to get right. Frankly, the best teams I’ve worked in are ones where everyone had a similar work ethic.
On the other hand, companies/teams shouldn’t force you into such high workloads that being human with your coworkers feels like a waste of time. You’d be surprised how many wasteful discussions, long meetings, bike shedding debates, and managerial overhead melts away when people talk the same language and understand each other’s quirks.
Was that snark or is the person just tired? Are they rude or busy? Are they slacking or dealing with a newborn? So much easier to understand nuance when you know the people you work with.
Maybe this is a good use for the "shotgun approach", then. Basketball for people who want it, games for people who want it, etc. If you want people join team building events, I don't think the right approach is to mandate one thing, but to give people choices & let people own their team building experience.
I also think the flip side of this is that management also has to understand that it's fine if not every single team member contributes to every team building activity - my team had to give our manager that feedback recently.
Among Us: https://innersloth.itch.io/among-us
Telephone Pictionary: https://rocketcrab.com/game/drawphone
Codenames: https://codenames.game/
I’ve been making time for more one-on-ones and mentoring, which has been going well for my team.
That's a key feature of remote work that I enjoy.
I like to imagine that those exercise bikes/puzzles are an example of this morphed into something horrible.
We found that everyone has become quite a bit more miserable. The outgoing people are spinning their wheels furiously, and the introverted employees got in these really bad mental funks.
I think we often forget that for a LOT of people out there, work is the primary source of friendships and human relationships.
We started setting aside time specifically to do something fun once a month and even as corny as it is, it really helps.
A few months ago we started playing Among Us twice a week for 30 minutes in an optional happy hour. It has been a ton of fun, and has made a huge difference. You can't force people to socialize, but if you give them something fun to do, it happens organically.
It's not mandatory, but it's fun for the people who attend and I think it does bring us a bit closer together.
I am strong believer that such creating human relationships between teammates solves a lot of trouble down the road.
It's very casual and doubles as a wonderful conversation starter.
