Team building

Let's try a bit of a psychological experiment.

Team Building Activities.

What comes to mind when you hear/read those three words? Images of people trust-falling into the arms of their colleagues? Building egg-drop mechanisms in small groups? Do you get excited at the prospect of the challenge? Or do you react with disdain, disgust, and/or fear?*

Starting out, my hypothesis was that I would see a clear trend in the sorts of activities that people loved and the sorts of activities people hated. I should have known better.

I did a quick Twitter (aka highly unscientific) poll, and canvased some folks at work as to their best and their worst team building experiences. I heard everything from horror stories where people were taking stress leave and filing worker's compensation claims afterwards to stories about lifelong connections forged afterwards.

Here's a quick summary of some of the responses I got:

GOOD	BAD
- Going to play pool over beers (yes, I realize beer isn't always feasible)	- Trust exercises
- Canoe trips	- Kayaking trips
- Building buildings (à la Habitat for Humanity)	- "Touchy-feely roundtables" ("my hero is... because...")
- Marshmallow towers	- Marshmallow towers
- High Ropes courses**	- Personality tests
- Presenting your teammates as super-heroes	- Watching cheesy videos
- Strategic thinking games (i.e.: get all teammates standing on a small piece of paper)	- "Telephone"-like games (transmitting a message from one person to the next, whether aurally or physically)

A couple of things that I found to be of note:

1. Overlap 
Note that Marshmallow Towers appears twice on the list - once in each category. I spoke to two different colleagues who had done this activity (and have done it myself), and they both had extremely differing opinions of it. One thought it was a brilliant way to demonstrate peoples' thought processes and to re-think their team dynamic. The other found it unbelievably frustrating and said that it made her want to scream at her colleagues, not get closer. I, personally, completely disengaged after about one minute, and wanted to go work on my own.

2. Purpose
Why do this? What is the point behind the exercise? Do you have a new team that doesn't know each other yet? Did you just have a shakeup and were a large number of team members changed? Then sure, team-build away. As a team lead, I'd treat it as an observational exercise. What are peoples' working styles? It's an excellent opportunity to learn. However, there's a lot of team building that seems to be totally random. I sometimes think managers feel that they have to do something team-building-y at least once every six months, or else they've doing things wrong. But really, are things going well with your team? Then why fix what's not broken? Or if there's something broken, and it's a problem with an individual, address the problem with that individual. Don't inflict team building on everyone. Odds are if you pull people away from a project where they're on a roll, they're probably not going to be too pleased. One of my respondents even said that his worst team building activity was "all of them, esp. those with [others] who don't want to be there". Which brings me to my last point...

3. Engagement
Yeah, I know, engagement is the buzzword du jour. But I don't believe team building can magically create engagement out of nowhere. In fact, some of the activities I've been made to do have entirely turned me off of my coworkers, my work, etc. and others I spoke to felt the same way.

Team building doesn't have to be an all-day thing. With one of my previous teams, we had bi-weekly staff meetings, where I quickly zipped through relevant announcements, and then we had a round table. No touchy-feely stories, just a "tell us about something going on outside of work". I got everything from vacation plans to "a car crashed into my house the other day". I even let people pass if they wanted (a couple of times each) - but encouraged them to tell a joke instead (one guy on the team had a wealth of amazing pirate jokes - which was a cool thing to know about him in and of itself). I'm sure not everyone loved it, but the feedback that made its way back to me was good.

The key here, though, was that it was a way to get to know individuals.

I know you can't please all of the people all of the time, and please don't get me started on stereotyping people (especially not based on their age - I honestly believe that the way we are categorizing generations in the workplace borders on ageism - but I'll save that for another post), but it's worth shaking things up. Don't go on that same retreat every year. Don't do trust exercises all day.

CONCLUSION: INDIVIDUALS MATTER.

No matter how many times you build a tower of spaghetti and marshmallows, it won't make a world of difference if your people don't feel valued. Don't automatically assume that because someone isn't engaged, your team is broken. Remember that sometimes there are factors in peoples lives that will be beyond your control. Maybe this is a temporary thing (I know that I was pretty useless and snarky at work in the week after the tornado hit my grandmother's town). Maybe the person isn't in the right job - know that they will thank you for helping them find their right fit, even if it means you have to let them go. Talk to them. Ask them their opinion on things. Acknowledge that you can't always take their suggestions, but that you will always _consider_ their suggestions. Remember that there may be no "i" in "team", but there sure is a "t" and an "e" and...

PS - Just because I'm still curious, if you didn't respond in my original poll, what was your best-ever team-building exercise? Or the worst? And why?

*For the record, I generally fall into the latter camp. Say "Team Building Exercise" or "Ice-breaker", and I will likely run away screaming. I am a certified introvert, and team exercises just aren't my bag in general.
**My personal favourite. I am still in touch with some of the colleagues that I did this with - 9 years ago. There is nothing like having your entire team cheering you on as you make your way through what is, to a large extent, a personal challenge.

On compliments

The other morning, a woman I work with popped by my desk to ask me a question. There was a potentially prickly issue that she needed to deal with; some new requirements that we had to communicate to a sensitive client. She outlined the situation to me, and I gave her my $0.02 on the matter.

It was only after she left that I stopped to think.

I’ve been in this position for right around a year at this point. In 2008 and 2009, I briefly managed some tangential programs within this unit as part of a management training program, but have only been working on this particular program since I re-joined this unit in the fall of 2010.

My co-worker has been working on these programs for 20-odd years.

I found myself wondering why on earth she would possibly come to me for advice – I'm the kid (there are a number of folks I work with that are certainly old enough to be my parents), the rookie (even if you add up my time in management training, I have just under two years’ experience here – a little bit more than a couple of people, but not by a lot), the n00b…

I’ve come to the conclusion that it must be because she respects my opinion.  I am oddly uncomfortable with this.

I threw it out on Twitter not that long ago that one of my ex-staff had called me an inspiration and a role model, and that this also made me uncomfortable. When someone seeks me out for advice and guidance, I feel like an impostor. As if any minute now they will see through the façade of confidence and intelligence that I put on, and realize that the only reason I am in this job is because I was fortunate enough to move up through that management program, that I ‘cheated’ my way to where I am, and that there are plenty of other folks out there that are just as smart and insightful as I am, and that the only reason they haven’t made it quite this far is because they missed out on a now-defunct program. I guess this ties in to my post a while back about leadership pathways, about how where I am is mostly a result of accidents and circumstance.

I wouldn't call myself insecure. I am confident in my skills and abilities. I don’t have low self-esteem. I believe that no matter how overwhelming things sometimes seem, I will be able to get through them, one step at a time, even if it just about kills me. I step back when I know that I'm in over my head. I admit that I don't know what I don't know.

I just do what I do; I don’t know that there’s anything particularly remarkable, inspirational, or role-model-esque about it.

I don’t entirely know that there’s a point to this post, other than getting my thoughts on this out in the open, but if there is, it would probably be to thank L, J, E, and P for their recent compliments, both open and implied. I am humbled, and I hope I can continue to live up to the high bar that I have apparently set for myself.

Who are you running for?

I hate fundraising. With a vengeance. I hate being asked to do it. I feel like I'm begging for support for one cause amongst the gazillions of causes out there, when there's absolutely nothing to say that my cause is more worthwhile or urgent or pressing than any of the others.

That being said, I make an exception once a year. 

RFTC 2008

For the past three years, I've run in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's CIBC Run For The Cure.  I did my first run (well, in all honesty, I walked) in 2008 when a friend called, very last-minute, asking if I wanted to do the Run. I said sure, why not? I wasn't doing anything else that day. I paid the registration fee and showed up the first Sunday in October to participate. I had no expectations; if nothing else, it was a chance to walk my friend's dog and get in a little pet therapy.

RFTC 2009

Little did I know that I was going to be so impressed with the atmosphere - the hope, enthusiasm, and sense of fun that all the participants put into the run - that I vowed that the next year I would train up, and actually run the course. 

Fast forward to 2009, and I did it. Not only did I run my first-ever 5k, but I also raised more than $600 for the Foundation. In 2010, I set a personal best 5k, and raised more than $1000. I was insanely proud of myself and all those whose generosity supported me.

So where does the money go? You can find out more by checking out the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's website - but in a nutshell, it goes to breast cancer research and education/awareness programs.

RFTC 2010

So why this run? Why not? I realize there are lots of other cancers out there. I've lost friends to them. And ironically I haven't lost anyone to breast cancer. But I'm running for my friend Vicki. She beat it and is now 6 years cancer-free, but so many others haven't. I'm running for a colleague's best friend, who is just about to undergo treatment. I'm running for friends who have spent countless hours researching and trying to find a cure. I'm running so that we can find a cure for this, move on, and start curing all the other cancers out there. You gotta start somewhere, and there have been some seriously promising breakthroughs in breast cancer research over the last little while.

This year the Run is October 2. My goal is to raise more than I did last year, and set another personal best 5k. If you think you can support the CBCF, please consider donating.

I play with needles

Also, occasionally, I’m a hooker.**

Don’t worry – it’s all totally safe. When I was about 10, my cousin taught me how to cross-stitch, and it’s been a pastime I’ve enjoyed ever since. I learned how to latch-hook rugs at about the same time. In the intervening years, I’ve also learned how to sew, crochet, punch-hook and knit. And shortly, I intend to learn how to do Bayeux-style embroidery.

A scarf I knit in 2009-10

As a kid, this marked me out as decidedly un-cool. I mean, who would go out of their way to learn what is essentially an obsolete skill for the vast majority of the modern population? So old-fashioned. So pointless. So… very… nerdy… While other kids were playing with their Nintendos (we’re talking NES and Super NES here, if you want a guesstimate at my age), I would sit, half paying attention, further down the couch, a bunch of embroidery floss or yarn in my lap, contentedly working away. If I was offered a turn, I would occasionally take it, but let’s face it – I have never had any talent as a gamer (and to this day, Rock Band guitar on medium difficulty is about as good as it gets).

This has remained a pattern for me ever since. In fact, I find it hard to sit and watch TV or a movie without having some fabric in my hands. Looking back, though, I don’t think it was the embroidery that did it. I remember getting in trouble in class for hiding books in my desk to read while the teacher was talking. I got caught, and when I said in my defence that I had in fact been paying attention, the teacher asked what she had just said. I repeated it. Verbatim. I don’t think that teacher liked me very much from that point on. I also remember another incident that involved hiding my bloody finger after accidentally stabbing myself with a compass while chipping paint out of the inside of my desk (I didn’t get caught that time). I always needed something else to do, preferably something that involved my hands.**

One of my recent cross-stitch pieces

At some point in the last few years, textile arts have become sort of popular again, amongst a certain set. I count myself lucky that the majority of my friends fall into that set, and it is not unusual for a large number of us to gather for television viewing events and, once we’re all settled in on couches and chairs, to start pulling various projects out of our purses and backpacks.

I’m thinking that from time to time I may share some of my projects here – in a recent flash of brilliance, I thought I might also try to time-lapse my next project, and maybe get a video out of it at some point, just so I can really see how much time and effort goes into these things (my most recent cross-stitch project I’ve been working on for about 10.5 months now).

Detail of a recent X-stitch piece

Also, given that most of these projects ARE just things I do in order to keep my hands busy, I don’t have much use for them at the end. If there’s something I post that you like, let me know, and we might be able to arrange something (I’ll try and make sure to label things as unavailable if I’m not willing to part with them).

**Yes, I realize I have opened myself up to all sorts of inappropriate jokes. Go ahead. I've probably heard them all already. :)

There's no place like home...

At about 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 21, I was contentedly lounging on my couch, laptop on my lap, cold G&T in hand, editing a friend's thesis before she was due to submit the weekend after. Of course I had Tweetdeck running in the background, but I was only half paying attention to the various notifications I was receiving, until about 4:15 p.m. when this one flashed up on my screen and caught my eye.

For a good 10 seconds, I was numb. I couldn't process any sort of coherent thought. I didn't know how to react.

You see, my 97-year-old grandmother lives in Goderich.

My first coherent thought when I finally snapped out of the reverie was ohmygodgottacallmymom. My mother's not on Twitter, she doesn't watch TV during the day most days - I was betting that I was hearing this first. I picked up the phone, wondering as I did how on earth I was going to tell my mother that her mother was in a potential disaster zone. "You might want to try and call grandma," I said, when she picked up. "There's been a tornado in Goderich."

After a few more exchanges (Mom: What? Me: Yes, just flashed up on CBC News alerts. Mom: How bad? Me: I don't know, that's all I've got right now? etc.) she hung up. She called my grandmother.

There was no answer.

What passed next were the longest 50 minutes of my life to date. Twitter began to be flooded with images of the destruction and as I began to recognize landmarks, I began to fear even more. 

Image via CBC News

This church, you see, Victoria St. United, is two mere blocks from my grandmother's small apartment building. The courthouse square, where most of the damage seems to have occurred, is only one block away.

For the next 50 minutes, my mother tried the phone, I tried the Twitter to see if anyone in Goderich could check on her. I didn't succeed, but Twitter did give me useful updates - land line and cell phone service was sporadic, someone even checked in with a friend who could see my grandmother's block (but not get to it, blocked off by police) and said it appeared undamaged. This was good news, but still not the news we were hoping for. I'll admit it. I cried. A lot.

Shortly after 5 p.m., my mother called me back. Someone (a friend of a friend) had called her to let her know that my grandmother was ok. Her building didn't seem to be damaged, but the whole of downtown, where she lives, was a no-go zone, and so she was staying with a friend of the family.

The relief was immediate and wonderful and sunshine and probably the best emotion I have ever had. I cried again. It turns out that her building was not damaged, and she was back in just over a week after the tornado - power was on, and the gas was turned back on after 1.5 weeks.

I am incredibly grateful that my family (yes, in my anxiety about my grandmother, I neglected to think about the rest of my extended family that live in Goderich) are all alive and unharmed. But now, the reality sets in. Compare the Square when I was there not too long ago to the Square as it is now: 

Derek-Ruttan, The London Free Press

Check out the internet - a simple search for Goderich tornado photos will show you more. It's ... awesome. In the literal sense of the word. Completely awe-inspiring. My grandmother's cousin has trees down on her house. While it's still habitable, and the damage doesn't seem too severe, the full extent won't be known until the trees are removed. The cousin's daughter had the back ripped off her house - until a full assessment is done, she's been ordered out of the house she's spent the last several years single-handedly renovating - and her truck crushed by debris. The Square where I used to window shop is crumbling. The heritage buildings that I admired are in pieces. The trees I used to sit under to read in the summer sunshine by the courthouse are all gone. 

The town that is as close to a hometown as anything I've ever had (the problem with moving every few years when you were a kid) will never be the same. Looking at pictures of the devastation - I know it will take a long time to rebuild, but I am convinced that Goderich has it in her to become Canada's Prettiest Town again.

Of course, the emergency situation has passed, and now Goderich is out of the news, but if you can find it in you not to forget, and maybe have something to spare:

Goderich Disaster relief

The Edge Fund

I thank you, and I know Goderich thanks you.