Interesting article on the BBC which mirrors my personal experience. In short companies need to think these things through carefully.

[Link]

I worked for an American bank who were keen on these, I wasn't. I refused to go on a weekend outward bound course on Dartmoor in January. I told my boss if you think I am going to stand waste deep in icy water in the middle of winter on my own time think again.

The rest of the team went and it was a disaster. Some people were good at physical challenges (became bullies) but that has nothing to do with their work in the office. To make matters worse two of the married staff had an ill disguised affair and by the Monday the "team spirit" had fractured as the office took sides. It didn't help that most of us knew their cuckolded partners. My boss at the time a good guy never did that again.

I agree with the article that the way to foster team spirit is in small ways on a daily basis. Unlike my colleagues I refused to have my own office (shutting yourself away). I sat in the middle of my staff so they could talk to me at any time. I was criticised by HR because I didn't have formal weekly staff meetings. "We don't need them I told them, I share information and listen to them on a daily basis". HR asked my staff a few questions about work and shut up when my staff all showed they were better informed than those who worked for the so call "good managers".

Another weekend team exercise I missed was with HR at a posh hotel, welcome drinks on the Friday night. The following morning some people showed drunk, others never showed. Over that weekend it got worse people still showed up hung over and one person had a breakdown over her first marriage (from years before).

By the end of the weekend HR had all the info they need on who were the redundancy candidates. As one of my mates said later how did you know? Duh, HR had never shown any interest in off-site meetings before. Well the staff loaded the ammunition and handed HR the gun.

Anyway thoughts, funny stories?

One more point

Fact is certainly stranger than fiction brilliant.

This story is not funny but on point.

At the American bank I worked they had a team building exercise for Managers from a department full of Harry Enfield "Loads of money", I should add we weren't all like that.

With so many alpha males it was win at all cost. They were broke up into teams and apparently one team member wasn't as enthusiastic as the rest. He was badly beaten up by the team for not trying hard enough.

If this had been staff they would have been sacked. As they were high ranking managers the whole thing was hushed up. However I heard the story from enough people naming names that I believe it. I am not surprised, some of my colleagues would have stepped over a dying body if there was a promotion on offer. The only surprise to me was that it didn't happen more often.

Edited by Badger11 (25 Aug 2018 11.36am)

One more point

8 engineers(of which I was one), working at a building site in Kidderminster for the week. We found a loophole in the hotel invoicing to the company we worked for, and ran up a £5,000 bar bill over 3 nights (we didn't drink cheap stuff)

The boss went mental, and decided to have a team-building evening at a restaurant close to site. After a few pre-meal beers, the boss says "I want to hear about any gripes, as we want a smooth-running team. I want to hear about any problems"

"apparently, you're a c v n t" says this female engineer from the Sheffield office to the boss.

Raised voices, recriminations and ultimately fist-cuffs, as the workers and boss are ejected from the restaurant

I disengage, I turn the page.

I think this qoute works..
In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.
Mark Sanborn