Since when did I say I was knowledgeable about team building events - what I said was:
Anyway Bluey, I don't think you get the point...or perhaps are choosing to not get it...
It's not about 'drawing a picture' or 'making a sculpture'. It's about a purpose-selected group of colleagues working together towards a common goal. Unless you're an 'einzelgänger' (a loner), the rather simple act of working together for a common goal, using skills not often utilized for day-to-day tasks, such as creativity, and having a concrete result to evaluate at the end of it is a worthwhile exercise. Especially if the group and the theme is carefully chosen. But there will always be those who prefer to 'not get it' and block the process.
You're right, you didn't say you were knowledgeable, I did. My mistake, obviously.
Obviously. I have indeed said this at least twice!
Again, you did not answer my question. In what way is "drawing a picture" relevant to a company full of engineers or financiers? How does this help the company become more productive?
Couldn't the participants instead have been given a task that actually solves a problem RELEVANT to the company? Like, ask the financiers to come up, as a team, with a proposal to increase the company's revenue by 30%?
Or ask the engineers to brainstorm cool features for the next product release?
How is "drawing like Andy Warhol" using any creativity that is USEFUL to the company?
How is "making a picture of our company's motto" a worthwhile way to spend the 100-200 CHF an hour that the company pays in a skilled employee's salary??
Again, other posters have suggested this before and I wholeheartedly agree: Be very, very clear of why you want to make a team building event. Trying to come up with "fun" exercises without understanding what it is you really are trying to accomplish is absolutely useless, even if the nice burritos prepared in the Mexican cooking class taste nice. Unless your company is in the burrito business, it will be a waste of time.
Unless they're not doing their job, I would expect the financiers and engineers to already be working on cutting costs and brainstorming cool features.
Event building are all about the soft skills, such as inserting a bit of fun to aid staff retention, ensuring maximum effectiveness from teams who then better know how to work like teams, etc.
Stop devolving it into 'painting a picture'. Instead, how about you offer a constructive idea for the OP arranging a team buidling event? I for one would be very interested to see an engineer's ideas for an effective team building exercise.
Do you have no skills or interests outside those that you use/pursue at work? I hope you do.
The WHOLE point is that you do something that has NOTHING to do with your daily environment otherwise it is not a team building exercise it is just a project, it is just daily business.
You need to find something that has no negative impact on the business if the team fail, this way you can explore what qualities people have beyond what you see at work, people can try to work on a problem together with no real fear of failure.
What would be the team building benefit of taking a team of financial controllers out of their day job and asking them to work on month end together for example? They already know they can do it, they already know they have the skills to do it, that's why they are still in gainful employment.
Well, usually I prefer to pursue my leisure activities AWAY from an employment context.
Well, I may be the next Andie Warholina, but why the heck would I want to share that (or any of my other leisure activities) with my coworkers if I haven't done so already???
This already is so upside down it hurts. Fear of failure? A team building exercise that might FAIL? Hmmm...not very morale boosting, IMO.
Erm....o.k. if you don't realize how funny this question of yours is then we're obviously on completely different wavelengths!
Then I sincerely hope you never lead a company - this is rather shortsighted and so far removed from reality or understanding of team dynamics, it's sad.
In a dynamic company environment, new teams are formed on a regular basis. Today's company structures are increasingly project oriented, with matrix management structures. Team building events (correctly organized) allows a company to get maximum effectiveness in a shorter time. And allow for a bit of fun too, which is also important.
I work for a great company which understands the value of movie nights as well as team building events and uses both (and other 'soft' tactics) rather well.
There's no I in "team" Blueshrimp! If you go into these things with a cynical attitude you're guaranteed to get nothing out of it. But you have a point. Badly executed team events can be meaningless at best and at worst, rebound on the employer. Maybe that's all you've experienced and explains why you are cynical. I can understand that. I've been there myself. However creating an environment where people feel part of a team is important in keeping employees happy. Not everybody is a mercenary (and I'm not suggesting you are) and money is usually only one factor in a happy workplace. One afternoon in and of itself won't turn around an individual based culture but it's a start if well planned and followed through. That's where trained facilitators come in. If people find the process badly planned and useless they should be constructive in feeding that back to the facilitator with suggestions on how it could be done better so that the process can be improved next time.
I've got a budget of about 100CHF/pp and 40 attendees. I really like the idea of a treasure hunt or something close to it, but I have no idea even where to look for that in Zurich. Does anyone have any ideas of Vendors that do this stuff?
Just one tip if I may...avoid paint balling at all costs if you actually want to build a team.
Despite being great fun for some my last one resulted in an office divide that even Nelson Mandela himself couldn't sort out!! Vendettas, grudges, water cooler gang death squads, jocks executing geeks, arguments as to the provisions of the Geneva Convention, conscientious objectors and hospital treatment all packed into an afternoon in North Wales...
old post, but i'm reviving it to suggest http://www.foxtrail.ch/ for teambuilding - they organise treasure hunts in 5 swiss cities..... i hear it's fun, but at 50chf/head it's not cheap.
Adding to that - I organised a team building exercise a few years back. 70+ people - divided into teams - and then engaged in school yard games - egg and spoon, 3-legged, space hopper races, buckets with holes in - etc.
There was also indoor challenges (a box of mixed puzzles), Rubic cube, guess the number of sweets in the jar.
There were joker cards.
The "teams" from the office were mixed up - and it seemed to work quite well at integrating teams.
We did the Thun foxtrail in June - it was pretty good - got everyone talking, kept everyone busy. You need to be divided into groups of no more than 6 though if everyone's going to participate, which divided the "team" we intended to "build".