RE: Team Building

[Darren Barefoot <dbarefoot -at- mpsbc -dot- com>]

Good morning,

Well, coming from a background in the arts, I think any sort of camaraderie
or team building exercises are time well spent. The less social barriers or
awkwardness between team members, the more easily they can communicate and
the more quickly work can get done.

We've got a particular cerebral (i.e. unathletic) group here. Some of them
would probably curl up and die if confronted with clown school. I've always
thought good, low-key team building activities for our team would be more
along the lines of "Olympics of the Mind." You know, split the team into two
smaller teams and have them build spaghetti bridges, etc. Just a thought.
DB.

-----Original Message-----
From: CBamber -at- castek -dot- com [mailto:CBamber -at- castek -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, November 22, 1999 8:36 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Team Building


Hi everybody,
I get all the good jobs <sigh>...
One of the ways we are looking to integrate tech writers into our
development and design teams is to strengthen the infrastructure and
"bonding" in the teams themselves. I have been asked to find good team
building courses for both the info products team and for integrated
development project teams.

Has anyone ever been on a corporate or project "team building" course - the
kind where you do trust exercises, and perhaps go on an adventure? I've
been asked to find something interesting for new project teams, to get them
bonded in a hurry. I would like to find something interesting and fun that
doesn't necessarily involve athletics or getting dirty in the great
outdoors (some teams will like the physical challenge, others might prefer
something more social or performance focused - I'd like to be able to
present some choices). someone recommended clown school, which I thought
might be fun.

So two questions:

Can anyone recommend something?

and

What is your opinion of such activities for bring a team together? Will it
really help the tw's, qa people, developers, etc bond into a more effective
team?

Any input gratefully accepted!!

Thanks,

Candace

-------------------------------------------------------------
Candace Bamber
Implementation Project Manager &
Information Products Lead

mailto:cbamber -at- castek -dot- com

Castek
--Putting the Future Together
___________________________________