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We're doing some teambuilding ...

By Andrew Mayo (June 2005 Issue)
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One of the things I missed most when I left corporate life was events that went under the name of ‘teambuilding’. As HR director in the International Operations team, I must say we did have some great times. We walked the Valley of the ‘Merveilles’ in Provence, staying in alpine refuges. We played ice hockey and had cross-country ski races in Les Diablerets. And who will ever forget the privations and challenges of a week at the John Ridgeway Adventure School in Ardmore, Sutherland? None of the 18 of us was the same at the end of that week.

Personally, I loved every minute. The only problem was that we didn’t do any building of our ‘team’ at all. We stretched ourselves individually, sometimes into new territories. I will not forget climbing a rock face (an activity I always thought was reserved for the insane) with shouts of encouragement from below making it impossible not to continue. We made stronger personal relationships with various individuals. Walking for three or four hours in the mountains with one or two colleagues is a long way from an after-work drink. We had plenty of tales to reminisce about at subsequent gatherings around the bar. I have some great photographs. But when we went back to the office things continued just the same as before.

So is what goes frequently in the name of ‘teambuilding’ just corporate spin for having fun at the company’s expense? I hear howls of protest and keyboards being reached for so you can tell me about when it really worked for you. Well it worked for me once, too. So what were the factors that made that occasion different?

To begin with, the people involved were a team and not just a group of individuals who were on the same page on an organisation chart. They shared serious common goals and common rewards. They really wanted to work together as well as possible. The objectives of their time away were clearly stated. Our one day in team-based competitive exercises in an adventure centre was part of a longer time away together. Various incidents on that day brought out into the open several issues that prevented full functioning of the team – both to do with its leader and with individuals in it – and these served as illustrations for discussions back in the ‘indoors learning environment’. The team also worked with comprehensive feedback data about itself collectively and the individuals in it. Team members learnt together, unlearnt together and finished by tackling three or four real-life business issues, facilitated by two outsiders. This was a systematic planned effort to ‘build’ and strengthen the teamwork between ten senior and mature individuals.

There is no doubt that outdoors learning aimed at personal development can be very effective. My experience with young people, including graduate trainees, is that there is so much to learn about teams, leadership and working together that well-managed outdoor challenges provide many personal and valuable lessons. But if the need is about how we work together, there is a real issue of transferability. I know for myself that I enjoy leading in a work situation, but in the more practical environment I am always conscious that others are better than I am and I happily defer to them. I behave quite differently in the two situations.

So if a client wants help with being more effective as a group working together, I will rarely recommend leaving the indoors other than for relaxation. If we want to have a shared vision, be better at sharing knowledge, use each other’s talents, avoid blaming one another and communicate openly, then we need to use real work issues as the platform for discussion and debate and bringing out differences. A person outside of the team and its mini-politics, acting as facilitator who can design and lead a process for the discussions, is very necessary. Such a person needs skill and sensitivity to surface and deal with issues that are getting in the way of the functioning of the group, and it is a significant bonus if s/he has a sound understanding of the content of the discussion as well.

It is rare today for the participants in a teambuilding exercise all to be in the same positions for very long, or even at the end of the next six months. However, if a team leader and his/her group are able to agree on their own values and ways of working, a new member will need to conform (or be rejected) and the work done to create that cohesiveness can last for as long as the same leader is in place. But when team leaders are constantly changing (an acquaintance has had four in the last year) there is little chance at all of building any effective teams.

Some companies have ‘fun’ as part of their set of values. The supplier market offers a great variety of options for having fun; the latest, I gather, is cooking a meal together. It may be a good investment of time and money to motivate or reward people through such activities. But let’s be honest and upfront about what we are trying to do, and if we really want to build an effective team in the workplace think intelligently about how that will be achieved.


Andrew Mayo is a consultant, speaker, writer and facilitator in international HR management, with specialisms in people and organisation development. He can be contacted on +44 (0) 1727 843424, at andrew.mayo@mayolearning.com or visit www.mayolearning.com

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