I’m not a good team builder

This is my fourth year as a team leader. I understand the important dynamics of a team, of respecting one another, of trusting one another.  Rules and expectations need to be set. I get that.

I (what’s the opposite of looked forward??) ________ed today’s “Team Building Activities [that] required appropriate dress and tennis shoes.” (Really? I mean, really?)

I’ve done a million of those things. (Watch out, Negative Nelly has taken over). The Human Knot? I’ve participated in and led that a bajillion times.  One person blind-folded, everyone mute, and various other handicaps.

Put a name on your back–shhh, it’s a secret!–let’s play who am I? Wooo…it’ll be fun.

The Hula-Hoop pass? Yup. Done that. That one where you hold hands and have to pass the hula hoop from one end of the line to the other? Yeah, that one. Sometimes, if you’re really good, your group gets 2 (!!) Hula Hoops to deal with.

Talking, not talking, blind-folded, the outgoing can’t talk, the introverts have to lead. What did we see? What happened? Why did we do this? Why did you say that?  How does this relate to _________? (our relationship with each other, with The Church, with our students–you fill in the blank).  I guess my former jobs have all led to these activities–youth director, camp counselor, day camp director, teacher, grocery bagger… (Heh–just seeing if you were paying attention!).  I think I forget that other people haven’t been privy to such things.

Maybe because I’ve had to do them.  Maybe it’s because I’ve led them. Maybe because I know the point of them. Maybe because I know what the outcome will be. Maybe because the introvert in me comes out when all the strong personalities freak out about not being able to get the marble across the gym without touching it. (BTW, people, it’s just a game!) But maybe that’s the non-competitive person in me. It’s okay if our team doesn’t get unwrapped first.  I don’t have a loud enough voice (seriously, it registers on a different level for some people). And some are coaches. And some are just loud. I get lost. I get tired of fighting for the stage.

So I guess the good news was that we only had to do one of these today. I was going into it with a bad attitude. Turns out I didn’t need to. But those days we do have those team-building things, you better believe the “introverted I’ve done these all before” in me will come out.  I’ll let you play, I’ll let you figure it out. But I already get it.

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Side bar: Now, I don’t want to give off the impression that I know it all. Surely I don’t. I think it’s just the competitiveness gets on my nerves. The freaking out of not winning. The inability to see things how they’re supposed to be seen. The doing the same things I’ve done before. They can be good. They can be beneficial (you see me back-peddling?!). I think part of me is just not ready to be around people constantly again.

Maybe I just need a writing intervention or something.

ETA: These activities can be really aweseome. They work really well. For people who haven’t seen them before.

Tags: Negative Nelly, vent