etv78, I had positive team-building stuff in several companies.
They were called “company lunches”, “company dinners” or “days/nights out”, were set at times when everybody had had time to rest after their last shift (the last shift having been the previous day’s afternoon one), may or may not have involved giving little presents to people who’d been with the company a long time, if presents were involved they were somewhat-useful things (engraved keyrings, not engraved plaques), no distinctions were made between in-company employees and subcontractors, and were intended to be a way for people to have fun together. Oh, and attendance was required but it also counted as a full day of work (except in graduate school, where any mention of work would get you wet).
Sharing a barbeque with your coworkers under threat that “the first person to mention chemistry or any chemical compound other than table condiments or water gets dunked” is fun. Getting to sample the minidishes of the most expensive restaurant in town in the company of guys who need to ask “how do I know which fork to use?” and who are perfectly able to eat a whole chicken in one sitting is fun. But by the time we got there, we were already a team.
You can enjoy the occasional team building exercise and still hate the concept.
Once, on a training retreat, we were forced to play baseball. Now, I don’t mind baseball, and am average at it - neither good nor bad - so there wasn’t that sort of humiliation.
But I still resented having to do it. Really, you should have just taken us all out to dinner, and then left us alone. I mean, you already have trucked us halfway across the state, to the place convenient to YOU, just let us have our evenings to ourselves.
I like my coworkers. But they are just that and not my family or friends. Every moment I spent with them - and I already spend 40 hours of my week!!! is a moment away from my beloved family, whom I chose. I like to keep a barrier between myself and my coworkers. I am not a big gossip and hate hearing what I have said bandied all around the office.
Like I said in the other thread, just give us the money!!!
The thing that really kills me about them is that they take you away from doing your actual job, and yet nothing about the deadlines and expectations associated with your job get accommodated.
If I have to spend 4 - 8 hours at an offsite, I am expected to shift any meetings I’d already commited to. I’m expected to figure out how to still meet crucial deadlines or previous commitments in a week that has magically become shorter by 20%. I do appreciate that we generally get about a month’s notice beforehand, which makes it easier to schedule around, but we don’t always get that much advance notice.
I had to watch it every year in one of my college jobs. Every. Year. “Choose your attitude!” No, douchewad, you can’t choose your fucking attitude. You can choose how you present your attitude to others, which is important in any role but especially a customer-facing one, but you can’t choose to magically not be in a bad mood when you have five papers due and your mom just called to tell you the cat died.
Not the ones called “team building exercises,” no. The *good *activities that actually *do *strengthen you as a team are the optional ones, that you just *want *to do because you like the people you work with.
Personally, *I’m *looking forward to Thursday afternoon, where we’re going to shut the office down as much as we can around three p.m., order in Chinese, drink, have cake (gluten free for our coworker with Celiac’s!) and ice cream, etc.
And on Friday we’re doing a salsa-tasting contest with carne asada. Nobody has to join in on our “events,” not even on potlucks, and we don’t even begrudge anyone who enjoys without contributing. Not everyone participates and so far as I know, there’s no mental checkmark for not doing so unless not participating is a symptom of a surly attitude in general.
Now we see the REAL reason that you’re an apologist for team-building exercises: You’re one of the thoughtless, pointy-haired, asshole managers who force these asinine things on others!
Mystery solved.
Actually, yes, it is. Are you aware that medical professionals charge for written letters? Even a brief paragraph or two will set you back anywhere from $15 to $50.
But I guess, since you’re an apologist for idiotic management, you probably think it’s the employee’s obligation to foot this cost and cough up a written doctor’s note. :rolleyes:
Seriously, etv78, take a break. Go fishing. Go back to playing FaceBook games. You’re just getting on everyone’s nerves.
I was dinged last year for not participating in the faculty-staff pot luck Christmas luncheon while I was on vacation with my actual real-life FAMILY.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Bite me.
Ah yes, I had a review years ago with a guy who was a good boss but who had actually spoken with me twice (he was my boss but I didn’t report to him directly).
He mentioned having had a complaint about me (one. In a whole year of having a job telling people how to do their jobs, of getting into arguments, discussions and windmilling contests. One): specifically, that I had not taken part in a team celebration. I said “that was So-and-so, about not taking part on the go-live celebration in Italy.” “… looks at his paper I didn’t say anything and it doesn’t say anything here either!” “No, but it’s the only time I’ve skipped anything and he’s the only one stupid enough to complain about it. I had gastrenteritis, the celebration consisted having pizza brought in and simply smelling it from 200 meters away was already making me green. Would you rather I would have been at the hospital? Or barf all over Mr. ‘I never talk to women’? I would like to know what to do if it happens again, you see.”
Having been with two large corporations now - by far, the best “team-building exercises” have been going to a bar (or pub, or restaurant) with managers and co-workers.
Everyone gets a little tipsy, they say what they really think, they cab home, and the next day everything is different.
You don’t know a person until you’ve spoken with that person when both you and they are a bit faded.
If the team building exercise my company forced all to attend had been optional, the only people who would have showed up would have been the manager who organized it and the people running it.
I loved Murphy Brown’s episode on a mandatory team building retreat. The news team banded together and used their skills to break into the team building manager’s office and steal the map to the next day’s treasure hunt.
I go to work, to work. Shocking, ain’t it. I do NOT go to work to play “touchy feely”, or to knuckle under to some self appointed guru or self proclaimed head shrinker. I don’t give a fuck if you want me to feel something or adjust my feelings, or think the right way. I do my work. I keep my mouth shut SO LONG as no one fucks with me too much. I’m getting too old for that bullshit, and none of it ever accomplished a fucking thing. So don’t waste my damn time. Stay the fuck out of my head. Besides, the one who talks the most shit about “team” is usually the one son of a bitch who is fucking it all up.
If the management really wants team spirit, then they need to be loyal to the workers, instead of treating workers like Kleenex. And that would instill far more team spirit than any of these nonsense games.
For as long as I can remember, my father was in management, and ever since I was old enough to understand the issues, he’d discuss his day at work with me. He’d tell me about how the company had given someone a paid leave of absence for an illness in the family, for instance. This was before way before the government had to step in and tell companies that it’s a good idea to do this. And one of the reasons that he retired early was because the corporate culture changed, so that everyone was stabbing everyone else in the back.
Depends… how big are you, and how big is the other guy? May I propose using Angelón (“Big Angel”) or Pachi el Camión (“Frank the Truck”) to represent the peons?
Mostly, that kind of transition happens when a company goes from being private to publicly traded. A publicly traded company’s first priority is to generate money for its stockholers, which means buh-bye to caring about your employees except as how to get the best value from them.
So if a manager is looking at two candidates for hiring, promotion, needs to let one go, whatever, do you think he should pick you with your “I don’t care”, “I don’t give a fuck”, “just leave me the fuck alone” attitude or should he pick the other guy who is pleasent and enthusiastic?
I don’t think a lot of you get the “point” of teambuilding. Have you ever been on a school sports team or joined a fraternity? The point of these exercises is that many companies look to establish a strong cultural identity. Part of that is to do these kind of mindless activities as a way for people to do stuff together and connect as part of a shared experience. If you are not connecting with your team or are resistant to their culture, well, getting rid of you is a lot easier than changing the culture.
Companies want these sort of cultures because if people have those sorts of connections they work harder, they are less inclined to leave for more money and they make the company more profitable.
… looks at his paper I didn’t say anything and it doesn’t say anything here either!” “No, but it’s the only time I’ve skipped anything and he’s the only one stupid enough to complain about it. I had gastrenteritis, the celebration consisted having pizza brought in and simply smelling it from 200 meters away was already making me green. Would you rather I would have been at the hospital? Or barf all over Mr. ‘I never talk to women’? I would like to know what to do if it happens again, you see.”