okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Friday, November 12, 2004
Team building
The CSC cycling team will head off for their annual "team building" training camp in a few weeks.
I don't know exactly what CSC will be doing at their camp, but I guess it'll be some of the sort of team building that corporate (and government) training consultants push.
B.S. Christiansen organizes the camp for CSC. He's got a military background and apparently makes a living as a consultant. Here's a bit of what he said on the CSC web page:
It's very important, that the participants are unprepared for what's in store, and also that it's an outdoor camp, where no one can escape from the various assignments. In this way people get to know each other in a completely new way, which at the end of the day will create a team spirit, as it's about sticking together, when the going gets tough. You evolve as a person when put under pressure.
...when a rider is under a lot of pressure, he reacts very selfishly, and that's where I have to work with them. Cause when you're in the middle of the Tour de France, it's very important to keep up the team spirit, even when things aren't working out, the way you thought they would.
I'm not a big fan of "team building" activities. But, I'm quite interested in how groups work. The idea of paying attention to interactions and how people think and work seems important (or maybe not important, maybe useful?).
posted by Michael |
7:55 PM
