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Games can fix remote team building

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Re: Games can fix remote team building

#31

Post by legitster »

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.

Hard disagree.

Leaving people to their own devices, you will have a couple of go-getters who hobnob with managers and everyone else cut out of the cliques.

Liking your coworkers is a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone and setting aside structured time to do it makes it more egalitarian.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#32

Post by tomaszs »

I can confirm it is true. Often when meeting new teams i get Summon The JSON decks with me. It is great to just hang out a little bit, play and talk. It takes away the steam from official team formulation.

I am strong believer that such creating human relationships between teammates solves a lot of trouble down the road.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#33

Post by mc32 »

baud147258 wrote: post #24
dudul wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The thing is you don’t want HR catching wind of things. It’s not that people rat on each other. But people are known to blurt things out when prompted (someone divulges a “secret” and often the other person divulges a “secret” in return. It’s just conversation.)

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#35

Post by throwaway894345 »

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.

At the same time, I want to do good work while I'm on the clock, and that requires collaborating with people. In my experience, that collaboration goes better when I have some "casual rapport" (not sure if there is a better term) with my colleagues--people are more willing to work with me, exchange favors, etc. In a physical environment, the requisite social interactions happen more naturally, but in my new remote role it seems like it requires a certain amount of intentionality. And provided that social time is "on the clock" or otherwise compensated, I don't see how I'm being exploited.

In other words, I agree with everything you're saying, but I don't see how it rebuts team building.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#36

Post by mc32 »

senko wrote: post #27
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.

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, faceles…

I’d restrain from banter with colleagues. You never know who’s listening or who will catch wind.

Don’t mix biz and pleasure.

All workplaces are this place; some disguise it better.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#37

Post by jefftk »

A subset of my team (~8/20) plays One Night Ultimate Werewolf (https://netgames.io/games/onu-werewolf/) each Thursday afternoon. We've found that it's a very good fit for a video call, and gives a good balance of cooperation and competition.

It's not mandatory, but it's fun for the people who attend and I think it does bring us a bit closer together.

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#38

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

Re: Games can fix remote team building

#40

Post by dfxm12 »

jypepin wrote: post #2

I'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…

Unfortunately there are no silver bullets.

Maybe this is a good use for the "shotgun approach", then. Basketball for people who want it, games for people who want it, etc. If you want people join team building events, I don't think the right approach is to mandate one thing, but to give people choices & let people own their team building experience.

I also think the flip side of this is that management also has to understand that it's fine if not every single team member contributes to every team building activity - my team had to give our manager that feedback recently.

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