Broadcasts.com - "Teambuilding" (Life is Work)

RESULT: To address the concept of teambuilding, its intentions, how it usually manifests (which is often different from its intentions - a theme!) and discuss ways to apply the concept of teambuilding in a more meaningful, impactful way.
Danecdote
- Basically a long history of me avoiding these as much as possible

Protein - Main Event - Topic d’jour

Typical intentions of team building:
- Trust-building
- Relationship-building
  - A little different from trust building in that it creates a sense of enjoying each other’s company
- A break in business as usual
- Do something fun
How this usually manifests:
- Typical “teambuilding activities”
  - Escape Rooms
  - Bowling Alleys
  - Day at an arcade (this has happened to Dan twice?!)
  - “Bring your partner” to some kind of gathering - christmas party, baseball game, etc.
  - Also one of my least favorites, weird intimate conversations as part of a usual formal meeting, or some sort of collaboration game or competition
Why these particular manifestations aren’t ideal and don’t typically honor their original intention:
- We spend a lot of time solving problems together in our usual job, why do we have to do it in the form of a puzzle?
- Is this how your team has asked that you invest in them? (re: relationship and trust building)
- Related, who decides where and how these teambuilding activities take place?
  - Whose preferences are honored?
  - Who does it serve?
- Why are we in need of a “break,” and if we are in need of a break, why do we need to do it together?
  - Once we have the answers to those questions, is the answer ever really a bowling alley?
- I ask these questions because the answers are clearest to me in response to them. The typical teambuilding activities do not honor the original intention of teambuilding because if you need to create a “teambuilding day” to build your team you are creating a technical solution to an adaptive problem - which is that you need to build trust and relationships with your team.
How to do Teambuilding better:
- NOTE FROM DAN: My stance on teambuilding is this: if you invest your time and energy into cultivating a healthy work culture that honors your team’s humanity, while giving them autonomy over their work and providing them with tools to navigate inevitable challenges of conflict, every day at work will feel like team building. AND, in the event you do something “fun and different” like go to a sports game or host a dinner, the idea will come from team members themselves and if someone is not comfortable with that everyone will understand and respect that reason because you have done the work of relationship-building every day at work.
- Okay, so here’s how you do it:
  - Mental Model Change: Teambuilding is not once a quarter, one day a year thing, it is something you are intentionally thinking about every day
  - Ways this can look:
    - Check in/check out questions (relationship building)
      - What is one small thing that brought you joy this week?
      - What is something you are looking forward to this weekend?
      - What routine do you have that you really enjoy?
  - Have informal meetings in whatever way that might work for you - outside at the picnic tables, coffee shops, in your community (ask for input from your team!)
  - Center the humanity of your team
    - Survey of preferences - ways they like to receive information (phone, text, email, etc.)
    - Fav personality test results
    - Talk about how you handle stress - both how it feels in your body, how it might show up at work, and what would be helpful for you
    - Make it a practice to articulate what you appreciate about your team members, both as a practice in a meeting and ongoing
    - Understand and respect teammates’ boundaries and preferences when you learn them. Examples:
      - I like to take vacation this time of year - check in and see how you can support!
      - This person needs to leave by this time for xyz responsibility (this can be anything from childcare to a hobby), be sure to avoid asking them for things that will encroach upon that time (Cam always remembers Danielle likes to take movement breaks at lunch, Danielle remembers that Cam likes an afternoon coffee break and prefers to have notice of things in advance!)
    - Vulnerability baby
      - See Episode 15
      - Not the same thing as oversharing - when comfortable, name things like nervousness, anxiousness, tiredness, distraction in whatever way is comfortable for you
    - NVC as a practice
      - Workshops on NVC and then consistent modeling and everyday practice
    - GIVE PEOPLE TIME OFF
      - This is part 1 of a systems level change that can be modeled best by supervisors and managed up by individuals who feel safe to do so
        Take the time
        No shame about time off
        This includes flexibility - trust people with remote work schedules, coming and going at flexible times (do we all gotta be here all day every day? If so, are we all clear and in agreement on why?)
        “The way power justifies controlling a group is by conditioning the masses to believe that the group cannot be trusted.” - Glennon Doyle, Untamed
    - PAY PEOPLE WELL
      - One of the number one things I hear about teambuilding and have thought myself is, could we have taken this big team building budget and just given people a raise?
    - Final thing - DO THIS FOR EVERYONE!
      - Not just a few ppl on the team
      - Not just ur favorite ppl
      - Not just people who can get you things that you want
      - Every.One.

Mel’s Mindful Minute: ????

????

We Are Always Students

Team Preference Survey
Google Brene Brown
- Daring Greatly book

Sharing is Self-Caring

Self-care
- What tool of every day teambuilding can you begin to model for yourself and others? Do it!
Community-care
- The next time one of your team members’ does something that you appreciate, let them know!
Systems-care
- In what ways can these tools be implemented organizationally, so the burden of modeling is not on individual team members, but is a part of how organizations are designed? What would make that possible?

Reach Out!

lifeisworkpod.com
- Find questions submission link
Insta & Twitter - @ lifeisworkpod
info@palanteconsulting.com