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Games can fix remote team building

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Re: Games can fix remote team building

#21

Post by herodoturtle »

mc32 wrote: post #12
dboshardy wrote: post #4

I'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.

I think the exception to this rule is Partnerships and even LLPs. But otherwise I generally agree with this sentiment. Let's not sugarcoat the exchange of monetary remuneration for value added.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#22

Post by rsweeney21 »

We've made a bunch of new hires since transitioning to remote. We tried many things to help new employees feel a part of the team.

A few months ago we started playing Among Us twice a week for 30 minutes in an optional happy hour. It has been a ton of fun, and has made a huge difference. You can't force people to socialize, but if you give them something fun to do, it happens organically.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#24

Post by baud147258 »

dudul wrote: post #19
mc32 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Vent about how idiotic our sales people are, mock how delusional our roadmap for the year is

that's like half of my conversations with colleagues. Personally I don't see that many downsides with getting along with my colleagues, though it doesn't usually happen via mandated team building

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#26

Post by mbg721 »

dboshardy wrote: post #4

I'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.

There's something to be said for a little social lubrication humanizing the people you work with and making actual work interactions better.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#27

Post by senko »

mc32 wrote: post #12
dboshardy wrote: post #4

I'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.

Family is a straw man, nobody's saying you have to marry the company.

However, note that you're spending 8 hours most of your days with these people. It is undoubtedly easier if the relationship is cordial, friendly, and if you can banter with them during the off moments.

There is a human element to every interaction and people are not robots.

"You pay me, I return value, that's it" reduces you to a nameless, faceless, replacable, fungible resource.

I would not like to work in a place where that's it.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#28

Post by dairylee »

fassssst wrote: post #18

Counter-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.

It doesn't have to be something complex like playing a game of League of Legends. Just playing something more accessible and simple like Codenames or the Jackbox games works too.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#29

Post by goldcd »

I always felt that most "enforced-fun-games" were excellent at team building. Being "asked to cross an imaginary river" etc is a great way to unite the humble employees in their universal loathing of their woefully mis-guided management. Always had a niggling feeling that the 'bad games' couldn't be that bad by accident. ("Look, everybody hates everybody - could we push some more hate towards us, so they at least talk to each other?")

Or there are the "split into small groups to do a task" tasks, which are usually won by teams where one person 'just does it', whilst the rest are bickering around how to break down the task and assign r&r. Again, not sure if this is the point, but you very rapidly notice which of your colleagues are both loud and useless.

Oh and final whine, 'the prizes' There doesn't need to be one - but if there is, could it please be something that's actually wanted? Branded merch, $100 Apple voucher, ask the CEO a question etc...

..actually, I wouldn't mind asking if his bonus is an f'in polo shirt.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#30

Post by crazygringo »

There's a subset of employees who really like games. Many places I've worked, those employees stay long after hours pulling out board games, video games, etc.

But there's another (probably larger?) subset of employees who like casual conversation, coffee, drinking, little 5 minute chats in the kitchen, and who have little to no interest in games. I don't think the proposal is going to do much for this subset.

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