Team Building Case Studies

Effectively Integrating Disparate Government IT Teams Into One Cohesive and Cooperative Team

The following is a corporate team building case study performed by Corporate Synergy Inc.

Shortly after Corporate Synergy began operations, a municipal government entity entered into a large change process within their organization.

Not surprisingly, large, sudden changes frequently meet with considerable resistance and a multitude of unhappy, disgruntled employees. Tim*, was managing the IT division of approximately 60 people and was becoming increasingly discouraged by his new team's lack of cooperation and communication. Every day there were new needlessly kindled fires for him to put out.

Nearing wits end, Tim contacted Corporate Synergy to learn if there were any potential solutions. The significant challenges and size of this team represented an opportunity to carry out a study comparing and contrasting three different teambuilding programs recently developed by the Corporate Synergy team. The study and the plan were clearly presented to Tim. Tim liked the proposal and agreed. Uniquely, his employees were scheduled to visit the Corporate Synergy facilities in three separate waves of 20 people.

The first wave of employees arrived on a cool overcast October morning. The Corporate Synergy team watched as a line of cars drove up the laneway and entered the parking area. People emerged from their cars, but lingered smoking cigarettes, looking down and kicking at the dirt. The Corporate Synergy Team Lead, Mike Caldwell, called out to the group and with sullen looks on their faces they slowly made their way up to the conference area.

As people filed indoors, two separate individuals drew Mike aside to explain that their work day was from 8am to 4pm and it took them an hour to drive to the site. Thus, it was an absolute necessity that they were back in their cars and headed down the laneway no later than 3pm that afternoon. Others commented on how piled their desks were with work and how they really didn't have the time to be there.

Once inside, Mike began the process of collecting all the waivers that they had previously received back at the office. One gentleman though approached with a blank waiver in hand and a comment that "I don't sign waivers". In order for people to participate though, insurance mandates that every person sign and fully understand the waiver. Thus it was explained to this gentleman, and stated that he would need to remain inside but he was welcome to help himself to the coffee and snacks. With a grunt and a nod of his head, he ambled over to the rocking chair, pulled his cap over his eyes, and promptly went to sleep. This was going to be a loooong day.

Before every event, Mike gathers his team together to build their energies and remind them of their responsibilities. Typically this includes revisiting the Corporate Synergy philosophy of providing a quality product, pleasing the client, and ensuring repeat business and positive word of mouth. But on this day, Mike instructed the team to do their best to survive this day. This group of individuals was not interested in improving their team dynamic and could very well be beyond help.

However, as the morning progressed, the team could see the individual barriers begin to come down. One by one, more people began laughing and interacting and by the time lunch arrived the entire forest seemed to be filled with cheer and good spirits. This carried through lunch (which the guy with the cap slept through) and everyone was laughing, talking and sharing stories.

Following lunch, the debriefing session began and given this group's request for an early day the team did not want to disrupt the excellent progress and keep them any longer than needed. This session covered a few of the main challenges the group of individuals encountered, how they applied to a work-based scenario and the new team's suggestions for improvement. The discussion wrapped up by 2:30pm. Because there was still an abundance of snacks left, Mike and his team welcomed the team to stay and enjoy the food and atmosphere as long as they liked.

By 5pm, the Corporate Synergy team had to politely ask the team to go home. Everyone was having a great time discussing the day's challenges and adventures. As they departed they were reminded that this the days activities were part of a study and that it was important to NOT share details with the upcoming groups. Each person promised to keep the details a secret.

The following Wednesday arrived with similar weather conditions to the first event. But this time, when people exited their cars, there was a rush to the conference area with looks of excitement and anticipation. Something had happened in the office over the past week and when asked if the first group had shared any information with them, all the new participants said "no", that the previous group would not tell them a thing. All they knew was that group was mixing together all week, laughing and whispering behind their backs and they all wanted to know what they were in for!

Not only had the attitudes changed of the group that had been through the program, but they had also improved the attitudes of the people they shared an office with. Obviously, the final two groups were much easier to work with right from the beginning, but the final results were the same.

When the Corporate Synergy team read the evaluations from the participants there were the standard "great program", "great job", "excellent staff", etc, but the constructive criticism was that more of the managers should have attended and that the first group's debriefing session was too short! These people actually wanted to talk more about their experience and learn new strategies for improving communication and cooperation back at the work place.

One year later, Corporate Synergy Team Lead, Mike Caldwell, spoke to Tim as part of a regular follow-up strategy and was told that the experience definitely had a long lasting effect. In fact, many of the team members were still talking about the time they spent with Corporate Synergy. Some team members have even suggested that the corporate team building event become an annual occurrence.

The success with this IT Department illustrates the positive effects of investing in an outdoor program with challenging work-based scenarios and a facilitator that can help apply these lessons to every day work applications. If Corporate Synergy can have such a positive effect on a team that seemed so difficult, troublesome, and beyond help, then they can definitely improve the dynamics of any team.