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Vent: Our team hike for 'bonding' just mirrored every bad meeting
My manager insisted we all do this steep canyon trail together last month. Half the group wanted to rush and the other half kept stopping for photos, TOTAL chaos. It ended with silent car rides back and the same old deadlines waiting. Can hiking with coworkers ever NOT feel like work?
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barbarac521mo ago
That "silent car rides back" part really says it all... I read a blog post once about how forced team activities just show office problems more. When bosses choose a hard hike, it's like they want to make teamwork happen but it often fails. People get worried about falling behind or mad at the slow ones, just like in bad meetings. The writer said real group bonding comes from picking things together, not from being told what to do. So if teams could choose something easy and fun, it might not feel like another task.
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alexj991mo ago
Exactly what @barbarac52 said... even the "fun" stuff feels fake when it's forced from the top down. It just becomes another chore everyone has to get through.
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leer121mo ago
Totally agree with @barbarac52 about picking things together. I read something similar about a company that switched from mandatory escape rooms to letting teams vote on a few options, like just getting pizza or playing mini golf. The writer said the forced "fun" events made people feel judged on performance, like a work project. But when they got a say, people actually talked and hung out after, instead of rushing to leave. It just shows how much choice matters.
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