Teamwork is overrated
Teamwork has long been a buzzword for corporations. I've done my share of teamwork training and team building exercises back in the day. Those who know me or have read my stuff know that I used to work for a nuclear plant. We were originally owned by Florida Power Corp., then we were bought by Carolina Power & Light and became Progress Energy, then we were eventually bought by Duke Energy. For those last two, our corporate overlords were in North Carolina, and corporations love the "flavor of the month", as we used to call it.
While I was on shift, I could kind of see it. We worked in crews that rotated together, so we technically worked as a team. At one point, all of our crews had to go to the Sheriff's Boys Ranch for team building exercises. One that really sticks out in my mind was one where they had our crew and some off shift personnel stand on a log. Once we were on the log, they told us to re-arrange ourselves in the order of our birthdays, from January on the left to December on the right. Fortunately, I (a November) didn't have far to move, and there were a lot of big guys on my shift. They basically picked me up and passed me from one to another until I got to the far end. I will never forget one poor guy, who happened to be wearing white shorts, climbing belly first along the log between people's feet to get from one end to the other. When we finally got sorted out, I wound up standing next to my shift manager. I was surprised. I said, "I didn't know that your birthday was in November." He grinned. "It isn't. It's in March. I lied."
We had to do the usual ones where you fall backwards and your team is supposed to catch you. Not exactly my cup of tea, but, as I said, lots of big guys. I figured that they probably wouldn't drop me. The real exciting part was when we had to climb a telephone pole, get on a tiny platform (which was the hardest part of the whole climb), then jump off, slapping a tetherball hanging from a rope as we did so. Don't worry, we were wearing climbing harnesses. And would be lowered to the ground by our teammates. This was a little more difficult. They told us that, whatever we did, we shouldn't grab onto the tetherball, as it could wrench our shoulders out of joint if the team didn't arrest our fall fast enough.
The first guy climbed all the way to the top, said "nah", then climbed down again. Our supervisor, the second in command on the shift, jumped off and grabbed the tetherball, holding on with all he had in him, for a very short time. Afterwards, we asked why he had held onto the ball after they told us not to, and he, in a shaky voice, "I held on to the ball?" I will say that it was probably the hardest thing that I had ever done up until that point. I always say that I don't mind heights, and I don't. As long as I know that I can't fall. I really, really hate falling.
Once I came off shift and went to training to become an instructor, the antics continued. Frankly, at this point, it was just silly. Instructors don't work in teams. When I'm teaching a class, there is no team. There is me, and a bunch of students doing what I tell them to do. But some people just can't let it go. One day our operations training supervisor announced that we were going to do an offsite planning session at a nearby resort and we would start out with some team building exercises. Two of our newer instructors who had never worked at the plant and hadn't been instructors long sounded kind of excited about it, so I asked just what they thought he meant by "team building exercises". They said "you know, going out on a boat, having a few beers, getting to know each other". I laughed and said, "No, we'll be building bridges over piranha infested waters, walking together on giant skis, or maybe cooking imaginary chili (all of which are actual exercises that I have participated in). They weren't so cheerful about it after that.
The day came, and our boss announced the first exercise. It was, I kid you not, speed dating. He was going to pair us up and time us with a bell. We would have a minute to tell each other something about ourselves that the other person didn't know before he rang the bell and we had to trade partners. After he explained the rules, one of the new instructors said "if you make me do this, I'm going to tell everyone that I like to mow my lawn". Our boss was stunned and asked if there was anyone else who didn't want to participate. Every hand went up. That was the end of team building for that day. Our boss was so disappointed.
Side note on the "tell them something that they don't know about you" exercise. Don't do this. Really. It likely won't turn out well. We did this one time in a class and one of the maintenance guys told everyone that he'd gone skinny dipping with Fess Parker when he was a kid. (I will leave who Fess Parker is as an exercise for the reader.) Either he was lying and trying to gross us out, and it worked, or he was telling the truth, and that was really gross. My standard answer was "you all already know everything about me that I want you to know".
Listen, I don't do "team". When I was in kindergarten, I got "doesn't work and play well with others" on my report card and nothing has changed since then. At instructor training, our poor instructional specialist had to fight me on "getting together in teams" for various exercises. I even got reprimanded for it. When I pointed out that we, as instructors, didn't work in teams, I was told that we needed to participate in the team exercise and the games so we would know how it felt for the students in our classes. Well, I can tell you that if that's what it felt like for them, I would never have them do team exercises or play games. (Also, as I've said before operators are smart, sarcastic, and competitive. Every game devolved into name calling and accusations of cheating.)
The thing is that teamwork is overrated. You know what gets things done? It isn't teams. It's every person knowing their role and performing it effectively. If you do that, you can work with anyone. At least, you can work with anyone who also knows their role and performs it effectively. You know when accidents happen? When someone new is added to a longstanding team that has their own way of doing things. That person no longer knows their role and they screw up or cause someone else to.
Even on sports teams, it's not the teamwork. It's doing your job effectively. It's the coach's (or supervisor's) job to define your role and coordinate amongst the team members. That's how some players post tremendous stats, make pro bowl teams, and go right into the hall of fame without ever being on a winning team. You can't control what everyone else does. You can only control what you do. Know your role and perform it effectively. That's all you can do.