My take on this is that in the workplace environment a popular team building approach is to go out and build rafts together, or walk on hot coals so you really get to know and work with your colleagues. I have always been somewhat sceptical of this approach based on a “Team Olympics” team building exercise I did years ago to build team rapport between two departments in the company I was working for. The IT team were full of the stereotypical brilliant but “nerdy” types and the engineering team included some people who actually played sport at a national level. Whoever set the team building exercise up, obviously thought if we all go to know each other better, morale would improve. It backfired horribly, as whereas previously there was at least mutual respect at a work level for each other’s expertise and contributions, on the sports field the competitive bully behaviour came out in the “jocks” and the “nerds” were ridiculed for having poor hand-eye co-ordination, something which in absolutely no way affected their work performance. Highlighting these differences in fact worsened team spirit back in the workplace. In contrast to this, I have worked on big projects, where the adversity faced by real workplace difficulties, in an environment where the end goal was clearly defined in terms of importance and urgency, actually pulled the team together very well, despite many differences in personality or out of work interests and abilities. I am not suggesting all team building exercises are bad, but I do think there is sometimes an over emphasis on getting to know each other well outside of work, as a technique for improving team work, rather than building the team spirit in the workplace through clear, common goals and outcomes with a high tolerance for diversity of styles in how the job is done.
I read a blog this week by Phil Hesketh. In it, he refers to a recent study by Michael Norton of Harvard Business School that shows the unpopular adage of “familiarity breeds contempt”, may be true. His work concluded that while in the early stages of meeting someone you look for similarities and therefore the more you interact the more you like them, when that gets taken further, you discover the dissimilarities and start to like them less. Hesketh concludes - it all comes down to balance. If you hang around with people for long enough, you’ll eventually generate some mutual respect and discover common interests, even if they're not your type.
My take on this is that in the workplace environment a popular team building approach is to go out and build rafts together, or walk on hot coals so you really get to know and work with your colleagues. I have always been somewhat sceptical of this approach based on a “Team Olympics” team building exercise I did years ago to build team rapport between two departments in the company I was working for. The IT team were full of the stereotypical brilliant but “nerdy” types and the engineering team included some people who actually played sport at a national level. Whoever set the team building exercise up, obviously thought if we all go to know each other better, morale would improve. It backfired horribly, as whereas previously there was at least mutual respect at a work level for each other’s expertise and contributions, on the sports field the competitive bully behaviour came out in the “jocks” and the “nerds” were ridiculed for having poor hand-eye co-ordination, something which in absolutely no way affected their work performance. Highlighting these differences in fact worsened team spirit back in the workplace. In contrast to this, I have worked on big projects, where the adversity faced by real workplace difficulties, in an environment where the end goal was clearly defined in terms of importance and urgency, actually pulled the team together very well, despite many differences in personality or out of work interests and abilities. I am not suggesting all team building exercises are bad, but I do think there is sometimes an over emphasis on getting to know each other well outside of work, as a technique for improving team work, rather than building the team spirit in the workplace through clear, common goals and outcomes with a high tolerance for diversity of styles in how the job is done.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorTMC Global has been established to provide real-world training and consultancy in wireless technology and technical management. Archives
August 2021
Categories |