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Games can fix remote team building
11–20 of 70 posts
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#12I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. Forcing social interaction (corporate mandated fun) is just another tool to tie employees to an employer to make it more difficult/less desirable for them to leave for better opportunities.
To me the issue is blurring the lines between work and not work.
Companies are not your buddies. They are not your friends. We make a deal. You pay me. I return value. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
You’re not family. You won’t be there when things go south. You will not hesitate to fire, if it’s in your interest.
Don't sugarcoat the relationship.
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#13not surprised games bring bond happiness and laughter which can cure cancer, but the problem is a lot of games have fragile net code, you sometimes have to rely on the "big" online multiplayer games cuz a lot of indie / small games prob won't work or can be frustrating to work with. I was looking for a multiplayer game to play with my little brother who's in China, I have a 1000+ steam library and Portal 2 is the onl…
That's more China's great firewall's fault than the indie game's fault. Also try more strategy/turnbased games than fps if the lag is an issue.
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#14I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. Forcing social interaction (corporate mandated fun) is just another tool to tie employees to an employer to make it more difficult/less desirable for them to leave for better opportunities.
What if the work event allows for the first social interaction? If there’s no opportunity to get to know people from work, you may not discover common interests, etc. I’ve certainly been surprised a few times about colleagues I realized I didn’t know much about.
A more natural way would be to arrange for people to work together in smaller groups on tasks as part of the normal work. If you provide this then I agree with the parent poster if there is a social interaction to be had it will come. If not that's OK as long as we can work together in reasonable harmony. I value professionalism, if I can make a friend through work that is great but it should not be the norm that we all have to be friends to get along.
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#15I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. Forcing social interaction (corporate mandated fun) is just another tool to tie employees to an employer to make it more difficult/less desirable for them to leave for better opportunities.
> I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part.
I'd agree with you any day except the current ones. Given recent events, do you not Counter Strike Fridays might bring some much needed social interaction? Yes, making them mandatory would be stupid, but what company makes socializing events mandatory?
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#16I absolutely refuse to take part in these kind of primitive experiences. If life has gotten to this dire point, spare the team members time and do a course on management as it is likely you need it.
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#17I've built such strong relationships through games, with people I've never met, that I can't agree more with that. The limit is that games will have the same effects as other "offsite" activities. Some people will be into it and it'll work for them, but others will just not be interested (whatever their reasons). For example the first picture of the article shows basketball. That could be seen as a great team buildin…
I agree with you! I also find that team building can be stressful depending on how your work is fluctuating. If it’s under a heavy load, then it feels frustratingly like a waste of time when you could be getting things done. While I think team building is important, I think it’s so hard to get right. Frankly, the best teams I’ve worked in are ones where everyone had a similar work ethic.
> If it’s under a heavy load, then it feels frustratingly like a waste of time when you could be getting things done.
On the other hand, companies/teams shouldn’t force you into such high workloads that being human with your coworkers feels like a waste of time. You’d be surprised how many wasteful discussions, long meetings, bike shedding debates, and managerial overhead melts away when people talk the same language and understand each other’s quirks.
Was that snark or is the person just tired? Are they rude or busy? Are they slacking or dealing with a newborn? So much easier to understand nuance when you know the people you work with.
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#18Counter-point: I hear from a lot of women that I work with that too much video game talk makes them feel excluded. And many of the die hard gamers I work with don’t want to play casual games. Video games aren’t appealing to everyone, so carefully choosing the right games for your team would be very important.
I’ve been making time for more one-on-ones and mentoring, which has been going well for my team.
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#19I'm firmly of the belief that if there is genuine social interaction to be had, it will be had for the most part. Forcing social interaction (corporate mandated fun) is just another tool to tie employees to an employer to make it more difficult/less desirable for them to leave for better opportunities.
To me the issue is blurring the lines between work and not work. Companies are not your buddies. They are not your friends. We make a deal. You pay me. I return value. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. You’re not family. You won’t be there when things go south. You will not hesitate to fire, if it’s in your interest. Don't sugarcoat the relationship.
Totally agree with that. You know what I like to do with my friends? Bitch about my work. Vent about how idiotic our sales people are, mock how delusional our roadmap for the year is. That's for my friends, not my coworkers, not my manager who's trying to be my buddy.
Yes, I will occasionally have true friends at work with whom I can talk about that on a private channel, but that's the exception.
Re: Games can fix remote team building
#20We work in a small, seven person company. And with a small company, we assumed working remote would be fine for us.
We found that everyone has become quite a bit more miserable. The outgoing people are spinning their wheels furiously, and the introverted employees got in these really bad mental funks.
I think we often forget that for a LOT of people out there, work is the primary source of friendships and human relationships.
We started setting aside time specifically to do something fun once a month and even as corny as it is, it really helps.