How do you go about team building?

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How do you go about team building?

bkubicek

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July 10, 2017 at 9:12 pm

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item How do you go about team building?

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sean redmond SSCertifiable Points: 5817 More actions · Answer 1

My understanding of a team is the following:
1. It is a group of people working towards a common goal. It is a unit.
2. Despite the differences in ability and experience, there is a fundamental parity of esteem: the members of a team are equal. It is different to a squad. A sergeant is no more than a team-player than a boss is. They give orders and expect them to be executed.
3. As a rule of thumb, all team members can do the work that is required, although there may be some specialisation (c.f. a goalkeeper in association football).
4. Following on from the first three points, team-members help each other and rely upon each other to get the job done.

If there is no respect amongst team-members, the team will fall apart. Team-building is about the building of respect amongst the members. One doesn't necessarily need to like team-members on a personal level, just to appreciate what bring to the team. Within the team, stronger members help weaker members and more experienced members train less experienced members.

vliet SSCommitted Points: 1998 More actions · Answer 2

In my humble opinion, to work together as a team, it is indeed good to know each others strong and weak points, better and lesser qualities, and maybe some core aspects of one's character. However, there are team members (like me) that do not like to form a strong intimate bond with their fellow team members; after all, they are your colleagues, not necessarily your friends. I have experienced myself that not participating fully with great enthusiasm in team building activities can raise eyebrows and even questions at your next appraisal; please, do not forget that while our daily job is a major part of everyone's life, most of us will not climb a mountain every day and we do not need to trust each other with our lives. Let every member choose how much of their personal life they will share with their team, and do not assume that those who share less are also less valuable for the team. I certainly do agree that we need to respect each other and take our peculiarities into account without complaining to get the job done, but beyond that, for me, it should be a matter of personal choice how much members carry with them and how much they leave at home.

Ralph Hightower SSCrazy Points: 2843 More actions · Answer 3

vliet - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:14 AM
In my humble opinion, to work together as a team, it is indeed good to know each others strong and weak points, better and lesser qualities, and maybe some core aspects of one's character. However, there are team members (like me) that do not like to form a strong intimate bond with their fellow team members; after all, they are your colleagues, not necessarily your friends. I have experienced myself that not participating fully with great enthusiasm in team building activities can raise eyebrows and even questions at your next appraisal; please, do not forget that while our daily job is a major part of everyone's life, most of us will not climb a mountain every day and we do not need to trust each other with our lives. Let every member choose how much of their personal life they will share with their team, and do not assume that those who share less are also less valuable for the team. I certainly do agree that we need to respect each other and take our peculiarities into account without complaining to get the job done, but beyond that, for me, it should be a matter of personal choice how much members carry with them and how much they leave at home.

I agree. One of my former employers had several layoffs; I got caught in the third in 1991 (my wife was in the second group in 1990). Since then, I've been in layoffs several times. I have seen coworkers get emotionally upset about layoffs. Since my first layoff, I have not gotten emotionally attached to the company. My approach is just to remain calm when meeting with personnel or my manager.

Ralph Hightower SSCrazy Points: 2843 More actions · Answer 4

There wasn't any formal "team building" exercise, but I worked at one place where the group was tight-knit and fun. Daily, at lunch time, there would be a short group discussion about where to go for lunch and we'd eat as a group. There were many great places to eat in walking distance, including a dive bar that had chicken wings with an extremely toxic hot sauce.
Then there were the rubber band wars; one section would team up against another and we would shoot rubber bands at each other. A few times, one of our managers would participate. Every developer and DBA had a cache of rubber bands stored away in case war broke out.

sean redmond SSCertifiable Points: 5817 More actions · Answer 5

The rubber-bands brought back memories.
In one of my more enlightened companies with whom I've worked in the past, we were allowed to play network games in the office after 7pm in the evening (as long as all of the software was properly licensed).
While it was not an official team-building exercise, it did wonders for improving morale and relationships amongst the staff. There is something particularly satisfying about taking down your neighbour with a railgun.

Ralph Hightower SSCrazy Points: 2843 More actions · Answer 6

Sean Redmond - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 7:19 AM
The rubber-bands brought back memories.
In one of my more enlightened companies with whom I've worked in the past, we were allowed to play network games in the office after 7pm in the evening (as long as all of the software was properly licensed).
While it was not an official team-building exercise, it did wonders for improving morale and relationships amongst the staff. There is something particularly satisfying about taking down your neighbour with a railgun.

Yea, that company also had a Quake server on the network.

Rod at work SSC-Dedicated Points: 33900 More actions · Answer 7

Very timely article, Ben. I'm a part of a team now that is struggling. In fairness, this isn't the worst team I've been a part of. However, I think good teams, especially if there's a lot of them, are indicative of a corporate culture that encourages such things. Where I'm at now, I don't see much encouragement. Some of that, I believe, is a reaction to past team building exercises that some have felt were childish. Or maybe they just simply don't like getting to know anyone well. To them, this is just a job. "I come in, punch the clock. Sit at my desk. Do my job. Go home. Live for the weekend. No offense, but please leave me alone." Just being honest with myself, I tend towards this.

The other thing which makes it difficult here is that we're a team that's scattered around the state. One of our team members is 200 miles south of the majority of us. So, meeting in some relaxed manner is very rare, at best.

You made an excellent point which I've not seen before, and that's going to lunch "on the company dime". I know that some people in my department (not on my team, though) get together weekly for lunch. I don't, because I can't afford it. It would be nice if we had lunch monthly or at least quarterly, on the company's dime. That isn't going to happen.

I have been on better teams. But I'm not as astute at human interaction to be able to decipher what made them better as opposed to other teams I've been on which aren't as good. I look forward to following this thread, to learn more.

Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

phonetictalk Hall of Fame Points: 3582 More actions · Answer 8

Great editorial,

I enjoy going to lunch or other informal activities, but there's a limit to how much time I want to take off work for mandated team-building exercises. (After all, neither the work nor the deadlines take an afternoon off just because I had to.)

And thanks to family, I'm rarely available for after-hour drinks/socials.

I enjoy the work I do...I'm not a "live for the weekend" person. But I'm not looking for a best friend at work either. Mostly I look for a high standard of work from my colleagues, and aim to provide the same in return.

The reference to joking is an important one too: one person's joke is another person's toxic work environment. And if everyone else is doing it, that's a big clue that you shouldn't be. I know we can laugh about over-sensitive people and safe spaces, blah blah blah, but seriously, if one or more individuals are at the butt of the joke, it's not a joke.

Leonard
Madison, WI

m_swetz Ten Centuries Points: 1069 More actions · Answer 9

To me team building isn't about exercises or "fun" activities. The ability to work well together comes from actually working with skilled co-workers and everyone striving to be respectful of other people's time and workload demands while trying to be mutually accommodating within reason for unexpected circumstances. In my experience, a lot of mandated or socially expected extraneous activities can quickly become a distraction and a drain on productivity.

In my opinion, things aimed at filling your social circle with co-workers or perks meant kept to keep you at the office just erode work-life balance in the organization's favor. Personally, if I was interviewing at a company and they told me that we were allowed to play games on our company network after 7:00 pm, I would consider that a significant red flag. Why would I still be at the office at 7:00 pm unless I had important work to do? If I worked second shift, am I going to have nothing to do?

sean redmond SSCertifiable Points: 5817 More actions · Answer 10

m_swetz - Wednesday, July 12, 2017 8:03 AM
To me team building isn't about exercises or "fun" activities. The ability to work well together comes from actually working with skilled co-workers and everyone striving to be respectful of other people's time and workload demands while trying to be mutually accommodating within reason for unexpected circumstances. In my experience, a lot of mandated or socially expected extraneous activities can quickly become a distraction and a drain on productivity.
In my opinion, things aimed at filling your social circle with co-workers or perks meant kept to keep you at the office just erode work-life balance in the organization's favor. Personally, if I was interviewing at a company and they told me that we were allowed to play games on our company network after 7:00 pm, I would consider that a significant red flag. Why would I still be at the office at 7:00 pm unless I had important work to do? If I worked second shift, am I going to have nothing to do?

I don't see why.
In our case, there was no obligation or expectation to play. We finished up then at 5:30pm. If I had planned to take part in it, it was what I wanted to do. I would already have let my significant other know of my plans, I would have gone out to a Thai restaurant for dinner and came back in time to get started. It is no more social than going out to a pub for an evening. All of us there chose to be there and a good camaraderie was built up amongst those there.