Team Building

[Walkman]

The words "Team Building" has become buzz in a number of arenas. I've seen a ton of team building activities, most are better suited for elementary schools than anything else. Then there are your garden variety Dilbert-esque corporate TeamBuildersPlus® activities. The idea of activities specifically designed to foster unit cohesion and morale, however, is a good one.

What kinds of things have you done that have resulted in your unit being a stronger group? We have a solid foundation in my squadron to build on, but I want to keep us growing and hitting higher levels, especially as we start a new recruiting push soon.

[EMT-83]

My personal opinion is that team building exercises are a complete waste of time. It's all about how you treat your people on a daily basis.

[jeders]

Team building exercises are a great tool for quickly building unit cohesion at an activity where you are throwing strangers together and don't have time for the normal forming-storming-norming cycle. Examples are places such as encampment, RSC, and NSC. At the squadron level, however, where you already have a solid foundation, these sort of exercises are often more of a distraction. That's not to say they are a complete waste of time, but you would be better served by just continuing to work as a team on regular business and treat everyone with respect.

All of that said, a team building exercise, even of the cadet variety, can be a welcome break from the norm and can help bring some people further into the fold. Just don't over do it.

[a2capt]

My personal opinion is that team building exercises are a complete waste of time. It's all about how you treat your people on a daily basis.

You and me both. It's a slick way of masquerading a fun outing at corporate/tax payer expense. The marketing people succeeded.

[Private Investigator]

Team building exercises are a great tool for quickly building unit cohesion at an activity where you are throwing strangers together and don't have time for the normal forming-storming-norming cycle. Examples are places such as encampment, RSC, and NSC. At the squadron level, however, where you already have a solid foundation, these sort of exercises are often more of a distraction. ...

Exactly. We had a new Member who became a Squadron Commander and his first year he thought he could make his Squadron more like the corporate model he worships. He lost 20% of the members.     

[Al Sayre]

Together Everyone Achieves Mediocrity...

[JeffDG]

Together Everyone Achieves Mediocrity...

[Walkman]

I agree with the responses in general. Most of the time anything "team building" goes on, it's pretty lame. I guess I didn't really word my post well. I'm not looking for the newest version of "trust-falls", but what things make a real impact on the solidarity of a group?

Were you ever on a great sports team - what was the coach like and what did they do to get everyone to play well together?

Think about the best CC you've had. How did they motivate the unit? How did they help people work together smoothly?

I know doing the human knot exercise once isn't going to suddenly turn a group into a well-oiled machine. I'm looking for things to keep in the back of my head to build my unit up.

[JeffDG]

The main issue is that people try to use "Team Building" exercises to shortcut the stages of team formation:  Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing.

Every team goes through those stages.  And every time the membership in a team changes, you reset to the beginning...now if you take a large team and add a new member, the stages go pretty quick, but they do happen.

You can't avoid the "Storming" stage.  What you can do, as a leader, is be prepared for it and be prepared to deal with a certain amount of conflict.  Conflict is the breeder of creativity, if appropriately channeled and managed.

[Walkman]

The main issue is that people try to use "Team Building" exercises to shortcut the stages of team formation:  Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing.

Every team goes through those stages.  And every time the membership in a team changes, you reset to the beginning...now if you take a large team and add a new member, the stages go pretty quick, but they do happen.

You can't avoid the "Storming" stage.  What you can do, as a leader, is be prepared for it and be prepared to deal with a certain amount of conflict.  Conflict is the breeder of creativity, if appropriately channeled and managed.

The 2nd week after I took command, I did a short briefing on those stages with everyone. We had been in a "storming" stage for a while (previous CC was ill for a while, new c/CC, several new cadets with high grade moving in from other units, almost all of Dec & Jan meeting CNX for WX). We had a few cadets that were ready to quit because of the situation. My intent was to explain where we were and where would be going. I really wanted to point out that we would be going through the "storming" stage and it would be up to everyone how well we moved through it.

One thing that has been running through my mind is that great teams are built when they overcome obstacles or go through rough times together. Isn't that why military units have the reputation for being so close?

I'm trying to be proactive with this new CC position. I have a big picture idea of where I want to end up, so I'm constantly searching for ideas and practices to help me get there.

[sardak]

Conflict is the breeder of creativity, if appropriately channeled and managed.

A federal Type 1 incident commander gave us a couple of bits of wisdom at a training:

Constructive insubordination can be OK.
If you're trying to think like me, one of us is redundant.

Mike

[JeffDG]

Conflict is the breeder of creativity, if appropriately channeled and managed.

A federal Type 1 incident commander gave us a couple of bits of wisdom at a training:

Constructive insubordination can be OK.
If you're trying to think like me, one of us is redundant.

Mike

Lack of conflict in a team situation, to me, is a symptom that the team has descended into the hell called "groupthink", which is the epitome of Kennedy's Comment on Committees:  "A committee is 12 people doing the work of one."

[jimmydeanno]

For cadet related stuff, I like "team building" activities that make the cadets assume different roles to accomplish the goal.  If there is a junior NCO, they're good opportunities for them to learn how to lead small teams, etc.

[SunDog]

Shared near-death experiences work pretty well for establishing mutual trust. Unless someone runs away screaming like a little girl.  Hurts the rep for reliability. 

Short of the threat of sudden grusome death, shared hardship works almost as well.  Two weeks adrift in a life raft, maybe? With rescue uncertain, some severe injuries, and insufficient water?

If you can arrange a loss of control aircraft accident, terminating with a last second recovery just before a semi-successful ditching, you could have the makings of a good team building event.

Else, the run-of-the-mill events seem contrived, with little at risk and less to be gained. I guess long association with other members, where you come to appreciate their talents and contrubutions, builds some trust, as well. 

[Brit_in_CAP]

Conflict is the breeder of creativity, if appropriately channeled and managed.

A federal Type 1 incident commander gave us a couple of bits of wisdom at a training:

Constructive insubordination can be OK.
If you're trying to think like me, one of us is redundant.

Mike

:clap: :clap: :clap:

[Brit_in_CAP]

The main issue is that people try to use "Team Building" exercises to shortcut the stages of team formation:  Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing.

Every team goes through those stages.  And every time the membership in a team changes, you reset to the beginning...now if you take a large team and add a new member, the stages go pretty quick, but they do happen.

You can't avoid the "Storming" stage.  What you can do, as a leader, is be prepared for it and be prepared to deal with a certain amount of conflict.  Conflict is the breeder of creativity, if appropriately channeled and managed.

The 2nd week after I took command, I did a short briefing on those stages with everyone. We had been in a "storming" stage for a while (previous CC was ill for a while, new c/CC, several new cadets with high grade moving in from other units, almost all of Dec & Jan meeting CNX for WX). We had a few cadets that were ready to quit because of the situation. My intent was to explain where we were and where would be going. I really wanted to point out that we would be going through the "storming" stage and it would be up to everyone how well we moved through it.

One thing that has been running through my mind is that great teams are built when they overcome obstacles or go through rough times together. Isn't that why military units have the reputation for being so close?

I'm trying to be proactive with this new CC position. I have a big picture idea of where I want to end up, so I'm constantly searching for ideas and practices to help me get there.

Personally, I think you're doing the right thing.  Like several other correspondents I have an innate dislike of 'team-building' events because I've been to Dilbert-land far too often and I refused to go to the last debacle that my previous employer tried to organize.  I think that Walkman and JeffDG have it right: you can't avoid the basic stages of team formation and you can't short-circuit them.

For the cadets, I have used some of that type of exercise, borrowed from places like the USCG Training Center, to get them to try different roles and to get them used to giving briefings etc.  Worked well and it was a fun thing to do on a warm summer evening at the HQ.

For the Seniors, I think you're on the right track: treat them as adults who give of their scarce time voluntarily, explain where the group needs to go and keep sharing that vision.  It's better spoken regularly and concisely at meetings than it is being posted on the wall.  Don't get too hung up on finding the newest way to do things - the tried and trusted got that way for a reason!   

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

First off, I hate slogans and motivational posters.

Second off, I hate so-called "team building" exercises.

To me it's quite simple.

If you mistreat and/or let your people wither on the vine, you will not retain them.

If you work with them and not lord it over them, your chances of retaining them and them becoming productive are much better.

[pierson777]

I'm a professional pilot, but my background before that was BS degree in Business Management and HR with several years as a retail manager.  I've seen my fair share of teambuilding activities and have had to conduct them myself on several occasions.  They can be good, bad, and ugly.  I have a bit of a distain for them, because of how inappropriately they are implemented.  I once spent three days in a hotel conference room doing team building junk with other store managers.  None of us ever worked together before or ever after.  Why try to build a team that doesn't ever work together?  Beats me, but it was the popluar thing to do in the corporate world.  We were not sent back to our stores to conduct similar training.   They did not discuss the nuiances of the stages of teambuilding.  They wasted our time.  Teaching procedures, concepts, skills, etc. would be much more useful.

I have implemented teambuilding exercises with somine secretly assigned a role such as an antagonist, a "yes" man, an uninvolved person, a misdirector, a constant joker, a contstant story teller, etc.  This actually becomes a different exercise disquised as teambuilding.  The goal is to have participants gain experience in dealing with these types of characteristics, and hopefully open their eyes to how their own behavior may affect a group.

[Private Investigator]

Together Everyone Achieves Mediocrity...

I like motivational posters. I am going to do something awesome in the corporate world today  :clap:

[THRAWN]

Nothing like a large scale natural or technological disaster to bring a team together. Blizzards, hurricanes and terrorists have done more to build team work that all of the "what kind of animal are you?" exercises and corporate mission statements ever devised.

[Private Investigator]

Think about the best CC you've had. How did they motivate the unit? How did they help people work together smoothly?

The first year is the toughest. So if you keep a heads up and think about what you did, the second year will easy. Also I tell people do it 'their way' we do not need another Eisenhower or a Patton. Your second and third tours as a Commander will be awesome. But do your best on your first.

BTW, the best Group CC was me, for Squadron CC a few stand out for different reasons. Of course the worst CCs really are memorable and for the wrong reasons. I had a chance to know some very exceptional Wing Commanders too. 

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

My first CC was very good.

However,  he got rapidly kicked upstairs - first, to Wing IG and then to Wing Commander.  He did not do his full tour as Wing CC.  He resigned because of health issues and I think he was just burnt-out in running things.  He later became a Region PD Officer...I think he is retired now.  CAP had been much of his entire life since he was a teenager since he was ineligible to join the military (again, health reasons).  He was well-known at National...after he pinned on his "chickens" I said to him, "Sir, at this rate you will be our National CC soon!"  He gave me a very dark look and said, "Because I like you, Lieutenant, I will forget you said that."

My second commander (same unit) was very good at what she did.  She had been an Air Force nurse and was spit-and-polish as they come.  However, she was "cadets, cadets, cadets," and once her daughter got out of CAP she rapidly dialled-down her involvement and handed off to my third (and best) CC.

He and I had an unbelievably good personal and professional relationship.  I eventually became Deputy CC and we had a very "Picard/Riker"-like relationship.  He was very even-handed and fair, and really paid attention to the fact that we were a composite squadron.  He also built up a relationship with a (relatively) nearby squadron that had an aircraft (where I got most of my Aircrew qualifications).  I spent a lot of weekends there.

Probably the thing I will remember most about him was at our last meeting before the holidays one year as we were leaving...he said, "Captain," and I turned around and he snapped-to and saluted me (he was a Major).  I was surprised, but returned his salute.  He said "Thank you for being an excellent officer and a good friend over the past year (he had lost both his parents in the previous calendar year)."

That is something you cannot quantify with rank or ribbons.

[rmutchler]

After serving my first year as a Squadron CC, I will admit, it has been a challenge.  Would I have decided to not take command knowing the year I have had? No.  It has a great challenge between a squadron merge and getting my footing as a commander.  At the end of the day, seeing the cadets succeed and the missions being accomplished makes the work worth it.

I haven't used any team building material, just hard work and trying to lead by example - if I expect the cadets to wear blues, I set the example myself.  I don't ask anything of the members that I am not willing to do myself or have not done myself.  Having excellent staff helps.

[Brit_in_CAP]

First off, I hate slogans and motivational posters.

Second off, I hate so-called "team building" exercises.

To me it's quite simple.

If you mistreat and/or let your people wither on the vine, you will not retain them.

If you work with them and not lord it over them, your chances of retaining them and them becoming productive are much better.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Absolutely spot on !

[Private Investigator]

Nothing like a large scale natural or technological disaster to bring a team together. Blizzards, hurricanes and terrorists have done more to build team work that all of the "what kind of animal are you?" exercises and corporate mission statements ever devised.

Well it should be if we "assume" everyone is on the high road. I have seen the "epic fail" in the military, law enforcement, every place you get humans together. When the 'smores hits the fan, you have heroes and then you have zeroes. Recognize your true heroes and a reality check for disasters are 20% is doing 80% of the work. So you have people there because either they want it on their resume or they were ordered to be there. Now that is another spin, YMMV but JMHO