DISRUPTING TEAM BUILDING: A DINOSAUR IN THE AGE OF THE SHARED EXPERIENCE

You have all (I hope) read my revolutionary stance on ROI, ROE, etc. So I now invite you to join me in throwing team building into the junk pile of antiquated events and embrace, instead, the world of "shared experiences." Why? Of course you are asking that. Isn't team building vital to the corporate culture?

In a world where virtual reality, augmented reality, devices of various kinds (toddlers learn to live in a solitary world, tablets in hand so they can play games that have no human interaction), how can we inflict a team culture on people who hardly know how to communicate without typing (or is that a word that is antiquated too)? I like virtual reality, and I've even recently experienced new augmented reality. They are fun and amazingly inventive technologies. Though you experience new worlds of imaginative possibilities, you do so alone. They are isolated and solitary. What, may I ask, is wrong with "real" reality? Where you are in the present, and even in the company of others?

I am not sure that a scavenger hunt or building a cardboard boat on a beach or even a trust fall truly creates a team concept. I do think that the sharing of your story, inviting people to get to know you, and you wanting to get to know them is a unifying force. It can be done in a group. It can be done one-on-one. It is called bonding.

Participating in a project for a greater good, being charitable, and doing it together may not create a "team"... but it will create a spirit of shared experience that will live on long after climbing a telephone pole, being cheered on by people you may or may not know or even see again.

Sharing is a potent experience. And though we can do some form of sharing on tablets, the face-to-face experience cannot be replicated on a computer screen. Virtual hugs, approving smiles, gentle handshakes or handclasps, nods of understanding... all lead to a better place. It's called friendship. It's called relationships. It's called human to human communication.

Being part of a team somehow sounds competitive to me. Sharing an experience does not. What do you think?

Andrea Michaels is the founder and president of Extraordinary Events, a Los Angeles based, international event agency, and the author of Reflections of a Successful Wallflower: Lessons in Business: Lessons in Life. Andrea may be contacted via amichaels@extraordinaryevents.com.

ROI, ROE, R U even Relevant?

Much has been made of those acronyms. Personally I'm not sure I do find them relevant. What exactly is a return on investment? And why would it matter? We are always in the position of investing, whether in ourselves, someone else, a group. Are the results truly measurable when oft times we have a long wait to find out cause and effect?

For instance, to motivate a group of salespeople you create a contest that involves a trip if that salesperson sells a lot. You invest in the development of the contest, and then the program. And what exactly do you measure? The ratio of the earnings of the salesperson to the cost of the activity? Or is it about the trip forming a community of winners who can then motivate each other and eventually others as well? And how long would that take? When do you take the measurement?

Return on Experience... Return on Education... again, what's the measure? You provide education and you can, of course, test the retention or study how it has been applied. But when? Immediately or is it possible that a person learns something that might be valuable at a far distant future and has a true effect on some outcome? When might that be and how could it be measured? What's the return on "experience," and how is it measured? By smiling faces? By positive Instagram and Twitter postings (Sorry, I'm old-fashioned and don't know what today's latest channels are).

My measures come from hearing that people feel valued, have felt that they've had a great experience, or have been educated or motivated. I get that from talking to them in the here and now and truly listening to what they have to say. Far better than surveys or extensive studies on those acronyms.

I would love to hear YOUR thoughts on these rebellious ideas.

Andrea Michaels is the founder and president of Extraordinary Events, a Los Angeles-based, international event agency, and the author of Reflections of a Successful Wallflower:Lessons in Business; Lessons in Life. Andrea may be contacted via amichaels@extraordinaryevents.com.