#5 Wrong activity, wrong time. #4 No application to work or life. #3 A covert therapy or gripe session. #2 Making ‘get out of your comfort zone’ the goal. #1 Chasing ‘fun’ and calling it team building.
#5 — Wrong activity, wrong time
There are many activities and each has its place. The right one at the right moment is magic — the best discussion your group has ever had. The wrong one at the wrong moment feels like you volunteered everyone for a root canal.
#4 — No application to work or life
Time away has to matter. People don’t need to map every second back to their job, but they must learn something and leave with a way to make a real change — even a tiny one. If every person makes one small positive change, it adds up.
#3 — A covert therapy session
We’ve been hired countless times because two or three people had a conflict a manager didn’t want to address directly — so they scheduled ‘team building.’ Everyone knows why they’re really there, and they resent it. Never put a team through a session aimed at a couple of troublemakers.
#2 — Making the ‘comfort zone’ the goal
Yes, people learn fastest slightly outside their comfort zone — that’s why immersion works. But pushing people out of it should never be the goal; it’s just a means to a better learning environment. When is ‘be uncomfortable’ the point at work?
#1 — Chasing ‘fun’
Fun is great — we love fun. But if fun is all you did, you didn’t build a team; you had a nice time and a couple of stories. There’s a place for that (it’s called bowling). Just don’t call it team building — that’s the number-one way good team building gets a bad name.
Do the opposite of all five and you’re on track for something that lands. It’s the same discipline behind our approach and every event in our experiences.
Frequently asked questions
Why does team building fail? +
Most flops come down to five things: the wrong activity at the wrong time, no application back to work, using it as a covert therapy session, making 'get out of your comfort zone' the goal, or chasing fun and calling it team building.
Is getting out of your comfort zone the goal of team building? +
No. A little discomfort speeds up experiential learning, but it's a means, not the goal. If discomfort is the point, you've missed the point.
Isn't team building supposed to be fun? +
Fun helps, but fun alone isn't team building — it's just a good time. Without learning and application, you have stories, not a stronger team.
Let’s run one that doesn’t flop.
Tell us your goal, your group and your timing. We’ll design an experience that avoids all five traps — and actually changes something.