Good morning everyone and welcome back to the breakroom! If you are like me, this time of year tends to become quite hectic so you look for any sort of break in the day you can to keep on top of all your tasks, or perhaps to take a breather. Thankfully, there is no fresher air than to be out on Lake Wallenpaupack in the middle of winter. Even better, it is all funded by work because it is a training event. With your interest officially piqued, let us jump into today’s breakdown!
Breakrooms come in all shapes and sizes, with various amenities. Some might have fridges where employees can store their lunch, there might be microwaves and toasters, and some might even have Keurig coffee makers where you can bring in your own pods. But for those truly lucky, you might have the beloved vending machine. While the concept can be traced back to the first century AD in Roman Egypt, the modern coin-operated vending machine can be traced to the 1880s and has been a staple of society ever since. While I was in college, I was so excited to discover a vending machine which served ice cream treats on our campus. Years later, I discover that some large cities like New York will have building specifically set up with a series of vending machines which can serve fresh pizza, sushi, and even burgers. But it might be Japan which perfected the vending machine as their machines for nearly any possible need throughout the country (primarily in larger cities). Some examples can include cakes, shoes, umbrellas, and jewelry. To sum all this up, if you are looking to truly step up the game in your place of business than nothing says luxury like a good vending machine.
Besides getting rave about how amazing vending machines are, why did I start talking about them in the first place? Well, Dwight had gone into the breakroom and while perusing the vending machines he discovered that things from his desk had found their way in there. Turns out, Jim is friends with the guy who restocks the machine and used this connection to load several rows up with his things like his pencil cup and wallet. I suppose Jim was generous for having a bag of nickels that Dwight could use to buy his things back, still not fun for Dwight having to take time out of his day to deal with this. That being said, a vending machine of etcetera non-food items at the office is not a terrible idea. Office supplies wouldn’t really fall in this but I’m thinking phone chargers, umbrellas, or maybe inexpensive gloves/hats for winter. Just a fun idea of anyone out there trying to come up with vending machine ideas which will be set apart from the rest.
Now that Dwight is back at his office, everyone is trying to decipher an odd memo that Michael had sent out. Basically, it is officially time for our quarterly “comradery event” and to prepare for what Michael has planned we will need to bring a toothbrush, a ski mask, and a swimsuit. What makes this so odd, besides the fact that those items do not line up together, is that these are for our “comradery event.” That is just another term used for one of our team building or leadership training events. Michael is a big fan of designing his own plans, and he loves to have a theme involved. Last year there was an event called “Bowl over the Competition” so naturally it was centered around going out bowling together. While most of were okay waiting around for the surprise, Stanley went right to ask him about it because he wanted to know if his wife needed to take tomorrow off because there was worry it was an overnight event. Well, this finally prompted Michael to reveal to everyone that the big event is going to be a booze cruise! You heard that right; our company-sponsored event would be a booze cruise. For anyone who does not know, a booze cruise is traditionally a boat ride which is designed to be very much a party atmosphere. Most importantly, there is bar with plenty of alcohol being served which is where we the “booze” in the name comes from. These can certainly be fun events, but I feel that doing this with office coworkers in the middle of winter is where the fun level begins to drop and is most likely not the best idea. Besides us in the office, Michael is also telling Jan all about the idea because she showed up to the office before we left. She also brought Brenda from the corporate office to join us at the event because if she feels the training is credible enough, it could be used at the other branches.
Shortly after the prep, we all drive and meet down at the docks so we can begin boarding and start the cruise. Unfortunately, the booze cruise starts to fall apart in Michael’s eyes. It is obvious that he was expecting to be running the show but he was not anticipating to go up against Captain Jack. Jack is the captain of the ship which means that besides being in charge of running the ship, he also gets to run the entertainment of the booze cruise events. Although he paid for us all to come on the ship, he did not reserve the entire boat so there were more groups aboard so Jack was quick to keep him upstaging the show. Although, not so quick to keep him from exposing us to his motivational dance moves; while they inspired some sort of emotion, I’m not sure it’s what he was going for. And from there, the training aspect to the event really seems to have been forgotten. The band has limbo and dancing going on, and the snorkel shots really took the spotlight. I noticed that that Roy certainly had a few of these shots and I feel like they were the major fuel behind him calling attention and declaring to Pam that they should finally set a date on getting married on June 10th. Of course, he gave credit for this decision to Captain Jack and that seemed to just egg Michael on a bit. And I think this is what prompted Michael to take over the microphone as soon as Jack had stepped away. Michael started talking about how the “ship is sinking” and this quickly unraveled as other passengers began to jump overboard. We all knew he was talking about his business analogy but obviously the passengers not part of the office would have no way of knowing. After that, Michael was tied up in the brig, looks like Jim and Katie broke up, and most everyone else was sitting around ready to call it a night. While not our worst night out as a group, I wouldn’t say it was our best.
When it comes to team building or leadership training events, there are a variety of different avenues a company can take: you can either create and plan your own event, or you can use a third party to provide and run one of their own. Michael prefers to use his own plans, and this is most likely because he sees himself as very creative and brilliant. But most of all, he is a showman, and he enjoys any opportunity to show off for people. He started his “training” at the office by talking about how the focus is on leader “ship” and how we can view the sales department in the office as the furnace of a ship (like on Titanic). If you want to design your own plan, this is certainly an option but you might want to put more effort into it rather than simply a gimmicky analogy like Michael always does. According to LinkedIn, the best recommendation is to first evaluate what your goals are and then design a program around it to ensure the event is a success. Besides an overall goal, it is also important to evaluate what does your team actually need, that a team building exercise is actually needed. That is the big thing to consider; these events should not be done just for the sake of them, but if you are trying to get a use from them, they should have a purpose to addressing a legitimate need your team needs1. Now for anyone who chooses to simply Google “team building” you should be prepared for a great deal of options because every single company is out there trying to find answers to the same questions you are. So rather than just trying to find a stock answer to an event, perhaps you should look for some of the overarching aspects associated with successful team building tools. According to Forbes there are a series of elements that you should be looking to include to ensure you get the most benefit. These include the inclusion of those employees who are often less vocal than others, have an accurate representation of the team’s primary issues, develop a level of trust, and active participation from leadership2.
So let us say that you do not want to take the time to design your own training material, or perhaps acknowledge that this should be created by a professional. If you are part of a large organization, you should start with your own leader or check for your Organizational Development department. If your company has one, these departments are specifically designed to support the development of employees and would absolutely be the ones to speak to about designing something. But if you are part of a small company and the responsibility falls on you to track down someone, then there are certainly options. You should start looking for organizational learning, leadership training, etc sort of terminology for your local businesses to see if there is an organization in your area. This can be a very broad industry, and this means there are a variety of terms they use for their industry. For instance, one company I am familiar with is Perception Coaching (https://perceptioncoaching.org/) and they use the term “coaching” to describe their work. They use a strengths-based focus to help businesses, leaders, and individuals reach their goals (both personal and professional) by developing tools based on your own strengths, primarily centered around CliftonStrengths. This is to show that there are a near infinite number of options you can find in training options, so it will require you to focus on finding one that meets the needs your team needs most. At the end of the day, I truly do recommend first being able to answer the question of “why does my team need this training?” From there, you know the problem you are trying to answer and can find the right sort of training that meets your needs.
With that, this week is officially done! I suppose you thought I was going to offer a brilliant team building training event for you. While I certainly could develop something, as I have gone through my fair share of events in the past, the truth is it really is not best to use a generic, cookie-cutter plan. Now, if you are looking for something generic which is meant to focus on fun but also with a bit of team building thrown in I can recommend an escape room. The focus is on the fun, but the nature of the game truly requires the group to be able to communicate and work as a team. Another fun option, that I picked up at a recent Christmas party, could be a rousing game of charades. Also fun, this game really impresses upon you the need to be able to communicate to your team to convey a message. Now these are simply meant to be for fun, but for formal teaching events you absolutely would want to either bring in a third party or spend a great deal of time dedicated to shaping out a curriculum for your group. I do hope this is able to help point some of you in the right direction, if nothing else perhaps my mention of the CliftonStrengths above might encourage you to look into developing your personal strengths, those as a leader, or those as an entire group for which I would certainly recommend Perception Coaching. This blog happens to be an example of my own coaching as I have been developing my own strengths with my husband who is training as a coach so by all means feel free to look up Alex with Perception Coaching, one of the supporters of Breakroom Breakdown.
With the holidays right around the corner, I’m going to ask you what your favorite holiday food, beverage, or treat is! Feel free to let us know in your comments what you look forward to every year! For me, I love the turkey dinner, with a Tom and Jerry beverage, and a nice helping of spritz cookies.
I hope you all have a great weekend, a Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas everyone, and until next time I will see you around the breakroom!
- (n.d.). How do you design a team building activity that aligns with your team goals? LinkedIn. Retrieved December 21, 2023, from https://www.linkedin.com/advice/1/how-do-you-design-team-building-activity-aligns-1f ↩︎
- E. P. (2021, March 9). 14 Key Elements Of Successful Team-Building Exercises. Forbes. Retrieved December 21, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/03/09/14-key-elements-of-successful-team-building-exercises/?sh=c5f6ff61554c ↩︎
