PARIS — Antoine, an employee at a large French company, recalls the day employees were told to come to the office in casual outdoor clothes. “They took us to a lake. There, we gathered department by department to build a raft. Then we had to make it across the lake without taking on water.”
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This Survivor-like team building didn’t convince Antoine*: “Maybe in summer, but it was November, and one person fell and was soaked for the rest of the day. I don’t really see the point of building a raft with my boss, or what I gain professionally from the experience.”
Team building first appeared in the United States in the 1980s. These activities are organized by companies for colleagues to spend time together and develop a spirit of cohesion. For management, the aim is to motivate employees by making their work more enjoyable and therefore more effective.
Over the past 40 years, the American model has become well established in Europe, and many sectors now offer their employees a wide variety of activities. They even compete for creativity: laughter yoga, tree-climbing, escape games, mural painting, river cleaning, and so on. On the professional network LinkedIn, CEOs showcase their management by posting photos of a range of activities they’ve offered, combining sport, leisure and creativity.
As well-intentioned as they might be, these activities often fail to have the desired effect — and can even go too far.
Taking your team hostage
In 2010, a company director was convicted by the criminal division of the French Supreme Court for “complicity in aggravated violence, with premeditation and use or threat of a weapon.” He had organized the kidnapping and hostage-taking of his executive team during a team-building event at a château in the Yvelines region outside of Paris.
The aim? To motivate them and test their ability to cope with stress. A company run by a former member of the GIGN elite police tactical unit of the French National Gendarmerie police force organized the two-hour exercise.
You shouldn’t do it just because it’s a trendy activity to post on LinkedIn.
Even while some offer calmer, less stress-inducing activities, not everyone agrees with the general concept of team building. “Team building on a Friday at 6 p.m., to which we don’t dare say no, is not at all convivial,” says an employee in the insurance sector.
“In a company seminar, we organized an afternoon of ‘theater’ with three pseudo actors. That same evening, we had to present our show to the management committee. The result was stress, tears and unease,” says an employee in the pharmaceuticals sector. “I still don’t understand what the point of these team-building activities is, because in the end they do nothing positive and are often despised by the majority of employees.”
Do it right
A crucial point. Apart from the form, the symbolism of the activity is essential. “To pull off activity of this kind, you have to know why you’re doing it: If the company is in the middle of a reorganization, bringing the team back together is justified. You shouldn’t do it just because it’s a trendy activity to post on LinkedIn,” says Annabelle Guiraud, consultant trainer and professional coach.
She also stresses the cost to the company: “Companies call in specialist consultancy firms, which can be very expensive. You also have to mobilize your employees at at time when they won’t be reachable,” Guiraud says. “Something must come out of this time spent together, with a short- and long-term impact on the company“.
It is important to adapt the schedule and the form of the team-building activity to include non-athletes, and to anticipate the costs involved. Another parameter to take into account is the duration. “For the 8-hour rafting activity, some shift-workers exceeded their attendance time, which was quite disrespectful,” says Antoine.
For Guiraud: “Half a day of team building is enough.”
