Team Building Fails: Avoiding Paintball & Other Extreme Sports

Since it's summer, chances are your office may have a work outing to a local park, beach or even someone's home. Well, if your employer's into team building, you may have played a game or two of tug of war. And if your employer is into extreme building, well that's a whole other story. According to a piece on NPR, there are certainly a few team building fouls. One former employee of a health food store recalls a donkey piñata that may have sounded good in theory. A name tag for a rival store was pinned to its chest so the team had to work together to literally destroy their competition. The piñata was filled with dollar coins so you can imagine the mayhem that resulted when a middle manager wiped it out with a swing of the baseball bat! Dozens of coins flew everywhere, even off the walls. As for another hilarious story that didn't go over too well? Employees from a Washington, D.C. area company were bused to a suburban area for -- you guessed it -- rounds of paintball. We wonder how this turned out?Let's not overlook the fact they were issued safety goggles and paintball guns. The former employee recalls, "One of which immediately misfired. It hit a district manager in the crotch." Paintballs left large welts and the game swiftly evolved into screaming and pleading. Plus, he says people pointed their guns directly to their supervisors. "I shot mine right in the middle of the back, and then when he spun around with revenge in his eyes, I surrendered." Suffice it to say, if your CEO is an extreme warrior, you may seriously want to call out sick for the day of team building. Risky activities and ones that actually promote hostility are counterproductive to the whole concept.

Fishbowl

Team Building Fails: Avoiding Paintball & Other Extreme Sports

Vicki Salemi

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Vicki Salemi