Teamwork? Why is this called TEAMwork?

Every so often, I am simply struck by what some people call team building. I have written extensively in my other blog about things like go-kart racing, golf, bowling, firewalking and other activities and how a connection to team building behavior and organizational performance change is tenuous at best.

FUN is not team building.

CHALLENGE is not team building.

This image, from an article on teambuilding, just pushed me to post on this again:

I love challenges. So, I am challenged to figure out how this has anything to do with team building…  Can someone explain?

I mean, cool on the activity and neat being outside. It would be fun to BUILD a course like this and being an active participant would be a neat thing. But we are expecting some kind of organizational change because we play on a rope at a high altitude. If someone lets go of a belay line, I guess that makes them a bad teammate. (But sometimes, ya gotta do what you just gotta do, I guess…)

For the FUN of It!

Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools. Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant.

 
Connect with Scott on Google+ – you can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com

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Scott’s blog on People and Performance is here.

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