There’s no better school than the old-fashioned one. The best retro team building occurs when the boss is the one who takes the team out for drinks. It’s tried and tested, but is it actually efficient?
Take into consideration that a great team-building experience should include:
1.) Share a common experience
2) Promote disclosure among participants
3) Play fair between colleagues
4.) Create trust
5) Enhance self-awareness
Let’s look at it in detail and find out if the old-fashioned team building works. What does drinking a beer with an entire group of friends do on these five team-building elements? We’ll evaluate the teambuilding elements on a scale of one (low) from 1 to 10. (high).
1.) Drinking a beer can be the opportunity to share a moment.
In its most extreme form, the shared experience of the Sgt. Hulka the Bootcamp phenomenon. It is a way to put people through an experience that is a challenging experience (even an unpleasant one). It usually creates camaraderie in the long haul. It’s the shared connection of achievement with a common goal and shared experiences.
We’d rate beer 5/10 for this experience. Sometimes, the issues surrounding the incident aren’t too challenging, and the entire evening may be dull. Sometimes, stories are shared, and games are played in the bar, and the night leaves everyone feeling more relaxed and conscious of the various things happening within the life of coworkers.
2) Drinking beer promotes disclosure.
Transparency builds trust. Trust makes the team. Why? If you share your personal information, you’re investing in me on my behalf. You are granting me the privilege of trusting me with the data. The second reason is that your disclosure might show a side of yourself you aren’t aware of, an ability that could someday provide me with some relief in the future when it’s time to decide if I can trust myself or not. For instance, a manager discovers that his new analyst is an amateur actor. The analyst may be more relaxed with the analyst when she has to present important investor presentations during her week of vacation.
Beer scores 9/10 on disclosure. However, it can trigger disclosure of inaccurate information, particularly when one drinks too much and the pub is a loose environment, allowing for a little personal history about each of us to be shared. The atmosphere encourages transparency. The reason people go to the bar is to have a social. In general, it’s a great thing.
3. Drinking beer can level the playfield.
The structure of the office must be rearranged in order to allow hidden talents and abilities to shine through as well as for mutual respect and connections to improve. Everyone should feel that they have a role to play in whatever is going on. If we all think that we must do as the boss tells us, then that means the playing field isn’t even.
Beer is rated seven on this score. When you’re at your bar area, structure changes, you’ll likely enjoy the jokes of the boss. However, the one who is the boss of the bar is likely to be the most engaged person on the team or the most professional darts player, or the most hilarious. The downside? Certain people aren’t a fan of bars or pubs, which means that certain members of the group may not attend all of the events. (Actually, it’s the Down Side is not a good name for a pub, does it?)
4. Drinking beer builds trust.
A positive experience makes us trust others to achieve success and requires different abilities than those needed to perform our daily job. It’s unlikely that this will be the case in your bar, except if your group wins at darts against forces of the evil (talk of “old school”), that happens to be at the same bar for teambuilding.
Beer scores a score of 3 in trust-building. In general, there is there’s no direct trust-building happening in this instance. However, it is still 3 points because we can mark a checkmark on the box that promotes disclosure, and, as we’ve mentioned, that’s a fundamental element to build trust.
5. Drinking a beer boosts self-awareness
A great teambuilding experience should include the time for structured reflection, where participants are able to review their responses to the occasion and consider their reactions, their communications, and the impact on other people.
Apart from the lovely taxi ride back as well as taking off your tie and earrings at the bathroom vanity, not enough. The consumption of alcohol is rated 1 . Self-awareness.
Score: Drinking Beer scores a 25 out of 50 on our scale for team building. It’s significant, but it’s not an outright hit.
However, let’s consider this score from a half-full viewpoint. With this understanding of the elements that make a great teambuilding event and knowing that a quick visit to your local watering hole will be a good start and more, it shouldn’t be difficult to devise an idea for a fantastic team-building event.
If you imagine a team-building event, it’s usually the presence of physical risk. This could be the well-known trust falling, ropes course as well as a scavenger hunting or even a mock Olympics. There are hidden talents that emerge, and the hierarchy may shift, and, if done right and documented, self-awareness increases. We support each other during the challenge and can all laugh and feel comfortable that we’re being supported and helping our fellow colleagues. Physical team challenges get participants out of their heads and away from the structure – particularly when it’s professionally managed, such as Outward Bound. Outward Bound adventures – and is a great way to assist a group in improving the performance of their teams.
There are some risks.
What’s the Down Side? (besides being a fantastic name for an establishment)
One disadvantage is that it’s far away from the actual work environment. Without facilitated dialogue, the learning potential isn’t realized. A third issue is that one is injured. In the time it takes to poke the eye or strain your ankle, benefits from the incident can be reverted.
You can develop a sense that you are part of a team with any kind of content. Create a list of things your team can do better and transform your wish into a team-building and skill-building exercise. Instead of climbing mountains and climbing, the emphasis should be on overcoming challenges with new problem-solving skills. As opposed to cooking, you can make the recipe a way of taking notes and providing feedback. Instead of a wine tasting, consider A meeting to discuss how to foster an environment that encourages the idea of innovation. As opposed to a treasure hunt, you can have a public speaking workshop on how to deliver precise and powerful presentations. Layering is all about taking the time to think about how you can accomplish many goals when you’re in front of each other.
Build a team while you build lasting skills, capabilities that can be used professionally and in your personal life, and create the foundation that your group can work and communicate more efficiently.
After that, enjoy the help of a drink, as it’s better than an eye poke.
Tim Dunne is an innovation and creativity facilitator with a base in Paris as well as New York. For the past 16 years, Tim has been using organized creativity to help his clients increase their sales, create products, develop leadership skills and develop a design strategy.
Tim is on the faculty teaching for the Crea Conference in Italy and the Creative Problem Solving Institute in the U.S. He earned a B.A. in Economics in the year 1986 from The University of Rochester and is now pursuing the M.B.A. in Finance from the William E. Simon School of Business Administration.
