Do You Believe In Team Building Exercises?

[Markus]

I think its a load of shite to be honest. I almost think it's just a ploy to keep people within your company (certain HR) in jobs. I've never done outdoor stuff, it's mainly been in office shite. Writing down feelings in certain situation and crap team tasks. I think i would like the outdoor stuff, not for the team building but rather it's being paid to go out doors.

[rayge]

no

Nor do i believe in 'teams', 'HR' or 'company'.

[Half Machine Lipschitz]

I've never seen a team building exercise in real life, so no, I don't believe in them.

[rayge]

[Reactionary Rage]

HR is one of these made up jobs that came along at some point for reasons I can't quite fathom (how many made up jobs do we have these days?) but which has to justify its existence through any number of absurd initiatives aimed at improving the organisation.....team building exercises, diversity and inclusion insanity, wellbeing bullshit etc.  It's dominated by women predictably.

Utter nonsense and a complete waste of time but there is now a whole industry built up around this shit so you have companies charging thousands to host some team building event. It's like being in a special needs class on a day out. .

"write down 5 things that make a strong team...."
"er....good communication.....respect....strong management....."
"well done children!"

And of course the actual events are awful affairs because everybody is trying to be "on" to make it look like they are ENTHUSIASTIC and COMMITTED and you shouldn't express any kind of disagreeable IRONY or IRREVERANCE at the pantomime so you end up with people braying like donkeys and people having these earnest conversations about shit nobody really gives a fuck about. The last time I was sat on the table with the head of the organisation so you have to try and participate to some degree but you're dying inside whilst humourous fantasies play out in your head ("imagine if I just got my cock out...I mean really just whipped it out, put it down on the table right now and said, "what do you think about THAT ladies?!").

[A.R. Parsons]

Jun 16, 2022 13:04:33 GMT Half Machine Lipschitz said:

I've never seen a team building exercise in real life, so no, I don't believe in them.

Consider yourself lucky.

While at the supermarket one morning a while back I witnessed a group of wage slaves huddled around their manager chanting some cult-like positivity 'team building' shit. It was horribly depressing. Mainly because they all seemed so damn enthusiastic & sincere.

[Markus]

Jun 16, 2022 13:03:42 GMT rayge said:

no

Nor do i believe in 'teams', 'HR' or 'company'.

[osgood]

Jun 16, 2022 13:12:53 GMT Reactionary Rage said:

HR is one of these made up jobs that came along at some point for reasons I can't quite fathom (how many made up jobs do we have these days?) ...

Well, these jobs do exist because developed societies need less and less labour for the essential tasks, so nonsense jobs have to be invented. The alternative would be to work less and share the wealth, but I have the feeling you don't like that.

[osgood]

Back to the topic, yeah, the idea is a load of shite. I've been to many and normally they are embarrassing.

[Markus]

I'd say some people get something from it, but if they start with that "Ok, i'm sensing you're angry that I shat on your desk, i can feel your anger and right now i am feeling shame, enjoyment but mostly shame. I think we should meditate for 5 minutes and then discuss this with HR". They're probably be shunned by their co workers. 

[fonz]

I’ve been on a few, and I’m a cynical cunt at the best of times, but I’ve always found them useful.
It is really good to see and work with people outside the usual pressured work environment.
Often learned a bit about myself from them, too.

The HR comments are funny, and mostly baseless ignorance. My wife is an HR professional, and I can tell you that, as an employee, you want professional HR people in your organisation.

[DarknessFish]

In the 20+ years I've been in my current job there has only been one team building exercise, and I missed it. About a month after, the majority of people who went were made redundant.

So my experience hasn't been largely positive.

[oh oooh]

Jun 17, 2022 5:32:37 GMT fonz said:

...I can tell you that, as an employee, you want professional HR people in your organisation.

You do. They're helpful in many ways - with regard to work benefits, salaries, holidays, complaints, whatever. Relatively modern invention but that doesn't mean they're evil. In big companies they're essential. They DO tend to be staffed mostly by women, in my experience, that's fair. But that's not a bad thing because women tend to be easier to deal with in companies.

As usual there's been a tossed-off OP and everyone chimes in with all kinds of stuff, tenuously related or otherwise.

Jun 16, 2022 13:12:53 GMT Reactionary Rage said:

HR is one of these made up jobs that came along at some point for reasons I can't quite fathom

- except it's a department and not a job.


Team building is another thing altogether, they just happen to be organised by HR. Dougie's characterisation, especially with the 'write five words and share....well DONE!' is spot-on, unfortunately that's very typical.

I had team building exercises out in the Lakes when I started studying for a PGCE 25 years ago. The fact that it was outside appealed to some, there was a sport element, you had to build a canoe or a bridge together, proper practical stuff. I understand how that can help create relationships between future co-workers, and it's fun. I fucking hated every minute but that's more to do with the fact that I can't put one foot in front of the other without falling over. But the 'how did you FEEL?' touchy-feely desk-based bullshit is infuriating to anyone with an ounce of self-respect.

[cousinlou]

I can't say I don't believe in them but the ones I have been present at made me contrary and loath to participate.

The corporate versions suck and were basically a shitload of platitudes, collected from not so good psychology books.

The essence of what they try to accomplish however, I do support. But I believe making a  team out of a random
group of people will have to go in a more natural way rather then forcing people into a joing collective activity.

Just like in real life.

[Reactionary Rage]

Jun 17, 2022 6:59:29 GMT oh oooh said:

Jun 17, 2022 5:32:37 GMT fonz said:

...I can tell you that, as an employee, you want professional HR people in your organisation.

You do. They're helpful in many ways - with regard to work benefits, salaries, holidays, complaints, whatever. Relatively modern invention but that doesn't mean they're evil. In big companies they're essential. They DO tend to be staffed mostly by women, in my experience, that's fair. But that's not a bad thing because women tend to be easier to deal with in companies.

As usual there's been a tossed-off OP and everyone chimes in with all kinds of stuff, tenuously related or otherwise.

Threads go off on tangents, who knew?

What exactly have they done for you really? And does the organisation or a university need a department for that? Could line managers not assist with some of this stuff? Previously we had one person as the HR department (hence why in my head I was referring to it as a job btw) but now she has an assistant. The assistant seems to spend a lot of her time posting stuff on Teams and “hosting” online events and things like that. One of the sessions she organised was an online “wellbeing” session during lockdown. I attended for a laugh and it was an hour of some lass suggesting hints and tips for mental wellbeing (they seem obsessed with that these days) such as….

Get up from your desk every half an hour and stretch your arms
Go outside for a walk at lunchtime and get some fresh air...

You know, really profound, insightful stuff that nobody had ever thought about before. The women delivering these wellbeing nuggets was paid for that and we paid her organisation for that too. Nice work if you can get it. What next? Helps and tips on how to wipe ones arse more effectively (hint: try wetwipes...life changing). How many organisations exist to do this stuff? Who drives that? It’s like a whole sub sector has grown up around this nonsense and HR is at the heart of it.

I’ve worked in a “toxic workplace” where mgmt. have been bullying staff, where there is a high degree of sickness (and I mean people vanishing for months at a time), poor mental health, overworked, stress staff etc to the point where some of us were trying to get union help. Both of the HR people (the internal one and the external one who works for our sister company) knew about everything but couldn’t do anything about it because of course they are beholden to management. They were basically impotent. You can talk about improving wellbeing, “supporting” staff, improving the organisation and other nice things designed to make themselves look good but when the shit hits the fan they are not on your side. That’s one of the misconceptions about HR of course. They do what mgmt. tell ‘em to do and they protect themselves ultimately.

Have you ever noticed when HR gets too involved in recruitment they recruit shit people? Have you ever read any of their job descriptions? It’s the usual word salad with keywords and corporate buzz phrases thrown in to make it look professional. I’ve seen this repeatedly in the public sector and when you talk to the person who has got the job you realise they are not suitable at all. Consequently you end up with a churn of staff, much time and money wasted simply because HR has screwed up. With respect, they don’t attract the brightest and the best. Like a lot of low skilled office jobs these days it’s like they exist to give over qualified graduates with daft degrees a job.

There is a reason people are hostile towards HR and it’s because they see little real value to staff or tangible output from them. I see it as a kind of performative role that needs to justify its existence with some basic administrative duties thrown in (making sure people get paid on time etc) that doesn’t require a department of people to do so.