A corporate retreat had a focus on FUN and TEAMWORK, and the facilitator used a recurring theme of bees (not sure how). Every team member was given a set of black-and-yellow striped bee antennaes that they were required to wear on their heads throughout the day. One employee wasn't too keen on the idea and left the antennae in his hotel room during one break.
On reentering the training room, a supervisor asked him "
Where are your antennae? You're a team player aren't you?" - and made him go back up to get them. Returning to his room, he could barely control his anger and indignation and crushed the stupid things into a tangled mess. Putting the crumpled antennae on his head, he returned to the training room, to be asked by his boss, "
What the #%^*$ happened to your antennae?". Not free to share the truth, he jokingly replied that he'd gotten caught in a crosswind.
This kind of shallow team-building exercises rarely have a lasting positive effect on your company. And, even worse, if you sting your employees for not participating, the pain and swelling will last for a long, long time.
Instead of dressing them up as bees, work with your people to improve their daily work processes. Then you'll get team building and fun for free, without the painful side effects.
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