Team Building Activities

Caporegime
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22 Jun 2004
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Has anyone been on one of those management away day/team building type things that you've actually felt helped you work more effectively as a team?
 
Apart from getting to know your colleagues a bit better (which in some cases isn't a good thing), I find the majority of it to just be corporate BS. If they wanted to increase productivity, they could stop wasting all of our time with pointless team building exercises.
 
I think often the problem is that if you're sending people on team-building exercises to try and 'fix' something that is seen as a problem, then usually the problem is some of your staff are incompetent or your management is incompetent, neither of which will be fixed by a team-building exercise and so you end up with it being like that episode of The Office.

If you have a good team/management in the first place who already work together fairly well and aren't overloaded and understaffed then usually the people attending will get a lot out of it.
 
Has anyone been on one of those management away day/team building type things that you've actually felt helped you work more effectively as a team?

Nope. No one in the history of mankind.

Teambuilding is textbook management ********, it doesn't work it just wastes loads of time. I categorically refuse to have anything to do with it.

How does balancing a load of nails on one nail or listening to some middle aged woman yammer on about her kids in any way make us a more effective team? It doesn't.

If you've got a lack of teamwork that's a culture problem and the root could be any number of things, teambuilding doesn't do anything to resolve that.
 
Reminds me of when all the managers of the company I used to work for used to go on 'retreats'. My old manager would say that it's basically just a big corporate **** up that's being paid for by them.

Waste of time
 
Reminds me of when all the managers of the company I used to work for used to go on 'retreats'. My old manager would say that it's basically just a big corporate **** up that's being paid for by them.

Waste of time

Yep. Can confirm, corporate retreats are a waste of time.

I mean get as ****ed as you like on a business trip and expense that - because you're obligated to be there, rules of a business trip is get ****ed on company money.

But purposeful ****up in the companies money? Stupid.
 
Going on my first ever Team Building thing in Wales next month, going coasteering and kayacking.

Told one of the officers at work if I get a chance to push him into the sea I am taking it, tbh most of the work collegues could do with the same treatment.
 
Split in two, borrow a large hall and see which can build the largest bridge out of spaghetti and play-doh. ;)
 
Our team-building exercises normally just involve going out for a meal.

But yes unless you're introducing lots of new staff, it's a good way to "break the ice", otherwise for regular employees it can be a pretty much waste of time.
 
I love how you bunch of grumpy sods see having a laugh with work colleagues, getting a fancy meal and an open bar paid for by work as a waste of time :p
 
I love how you bunch of grumpy sods see having a laugh with work colleagues, getting a fancy meal and an open bar paid for by work as a waste of time :p

It is a waste of time though. And more often than not the entire day is longer than 8 hours, especially with travel to somewhere away from the office, I'm not being paid that overtime or being given it in lieu.

I walk to work in 10 minutes, work exactly 8 hours and walk home in 10 minutes then live my life, and that's the way I likes it!

I don't go to work to socialise and a free lunch/ bar isn't really high on my list when I'm annoyed about being dragged away from the office to satiate some ridiculous HR ******s idea of how an office should be run.

Usually having to listen to some nobhead training person who likes to tell me how to do my job despite the fact they couldn't get a real job themselves.

At most teambuilding should be going to the pub at lunchtime - that I could do. I like beer, I like the pub and I especially like drinking on the job.
 
I love how you bunch of grumpy sods see having a laugh with work colleagues, getting a fancy meal and an open bar paid for by work as a waste of time :p

3 problems with that.

1. Most colleagues aren't a laugh.
2. The food is usually awful.
3. Most of us tend to drive to team building activities so can't abuse the bar tab.
 
Yeah so we do the whole going out at lunch time/after work thing but we've done it so much it's getting a bit stale imo and not improving team spirit. I was just thinking what else could be done - day out doing clay pigeon shooting type of thing. I know that people will moan, but that doesn't mean they don't enjoy it in the end ;)
 
It is a waste of time though. And more often than not the entire day is longer than 8 hours, especially with travel to somewhere away from the office, I'm not being paid that overtime or being given it in lieu.

I walk to work in 10 minutes, work exactly 8 hours and walk home in 10 minutes then live my life, and that's the way I likes it!

I don't go to work to socialise and a free lunch/ bar isn't really high on my list when I'm annoyed about being dragged away from the office to satiate some ridiculous HR ******s idea of how an office should be run.

Usually having to listen to some nobhead training person who likes to tell me how to do my job despite the fact they couldn't get a real job themselves.

At most teambuilding should be going to the pub at lunchtime - that I could do. I like beer, I like the pub and I especially like drinking on the job.

3 problems with that.

1. Most colleagues aren't a laugh.
2. The food is usually awful.
3. Most of us tend to drive to team building activities so can't abuse the bar tab.

I'm so glad I don't work with people like you! :D
 
Yeah so we do the whole going out at lunch time/after work thing but we've done it so much it's getting a bit stale imo and not improving team spirit. I was just thinking what else could be done - day out doing clay pigeon shooting type of thing. I know that people will moan, but that doesn't mean they don't enjoy it in the end ;)

Some colleagues went on a go-karting event which went down well. Was too far for me to travel otherwise I would have joined them as well.
 
It is a waste of time though. And more often than not the entire day is longer than 8 hours, especially with travel to somewhere away from the office, I'm not being paid that overtime or being given it in lieu.

I walk to work in 10 minutes, work exactly 8 hours and walk home in 10 minutes then live my life, and that's the way I likes it!

I don't go to work to socialise and a free lunch/ bar isn't really high on my list when I'm annoyed about being dragged away from the office to satiate some ridiculous HR ******s idea of how an office should be run.

Usually having to listen to some nobhead training person who likes to tell me how to do my job despite the fact they couldn't get a real job themselves.

At most teambuilding should be going to the pub at lunchtime - that I could do. I like beer, I like the pub and I especially like drinking on the job.

You have a lot of angst in your posts. You strike me as angry office bloke who thinks the world is **** and it's all because of someone else.
 
Airsofting is awesome for team building. Takes away the silliness of paintballing and actually requires you to work as a team to make progress & win. It's also fun to shoot colleagues, especially managers.
 
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