Don’t Trust the Trust Game

“Let’s take everyone off-site for team building.  It will help get people out of their comfort zones.”

The last time I heard that, I ran away so fast, there was a Bob-shaped hole in the exit door.  I’m not exactly sure what logic leads people to believe that one day away from the office is going to make up for poor management and inadequate leadership on all the other days of the year, but you need to think very carefully about how and when you take your team offsite.

Don’t get me wrong… I do think some of these outings can be fun.  I just don’t think it will have any impact on the business or the people.  I am reminded of the manager who decided that taking his team out for Karaoke would be a good idea.  It would help them bond as a group, and promote creativity.  For the one aspiring rock star of the group, it was a great time.  The rest of the people, however, were jaded and cynical that they had to sit through Karaoke without the one necessary ingredient to make it fun – booze.

Think about it – if you want to breach people’s comfort zones, then it depends a lot on the people.  If you have a bunch of Type-A extroverts, then getting them to play silly games, and make asses of themselves is well within their comfort zones.  The introverts will be horrified, and the extroverts will be in their element.  If you really want to breach the extroverts’ comfort zones, get them to sit quietly for an hour and read a book.

I’m also reminded of the group that was encouraged to play the “trust game” where you fall backwards and trust that your team will catch you.  You guessed it – one broken wrist later, they discovered it had far less to do with trust than it did with the physical logistics of catching 200 pounds in the palms of half-a-dozen sets of hands.

The bottom line is that most forms of group training and other team building exercises are a waste of time and money.  There needs to be specific desired behavior changes that can be measured back in the workplace, otherwise save your money, and just take your team out for dinner instead.  It will be cheaper, it is more sincere, and it will be appreciated more.