Corporate wall
- Today you will become such a team, which have never been! - solemnly said Yevgeny Viktorovich. - The game that we will lead, will change your understanding of the joint solution of complex problems!
Realizing that they could not chew sandwiches, the leaders began to slowly put them on the table. Someone quickly drank tea with something that was filled with his mouth, someone hastily wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. Everyone felt something was coming.
- Please, friends! - Olga supported. - In the next room!
And she quickly walked to the door. People reached after him.
The neighboring hall was not so nearby - I had to walk through a long narrow corridor, through the entire hotel. Periodically, the doors of the rooms opened - someone still lived in this backwoods - so people stretched out in a row, one or two people each. The spectacle was depressing - either they lead to the execution, or the younger group of the kindergarten for a walk.
Finally, we reached the Harmony hall. There was no smell of harmony there, of course - not a very large room, without tables and chairs, with a strange construction in the middle. It was a wall made up of cardboard boxes - apparently empty. It was about two meters high, a little more than five meters wide.
People, as it should be, bunched up, away from the wall. The owner and moderator stepped forward, stood against the wall, and announced the rules.
- So! - Olga began. - The rules are very simple. You have to break the wall with the whole team. That is, everyone, to a single, should be on the opposite side. In this case, you can not touch the wall at all. If you touch the wall - the whole team returns to its original position. No items can be used. All clear?
The answer was silence.
- Well, friends, more fun! - encouraged Evgeny Viktorovich. - This is a very cool exercise! We did it at the training, it captures the spirit. We managed in fifteen minutes, although, as you understand, it was more difficult for us - nobody knew anyone, there was no understanding. You, such a cohesive team, will be much faster, I'm sure!
- We will try! - Nikolay Ivanovich, the director has acted. - Well, colleagues, go!
- Wait a minute. - stopped the impulse of director Olga. - All by the rules. If ready, I note the time. Ready?
- Ready! - the director answered cheerfully.
- Well, go ahead! - looking at the smartphone, Olga answered.
All rushed to the wall. But, coming closer, they stopped at a loss, like sheep before a new gate. Some began to look at the wall, as if trying to see some clue. Someone just walked away, waiting for instructions.
- So, we need a commander! The director said cheerfully. - I offer myself to this position. Any objections?
Objections, of course, there was not. Nikolai Ivanovich began to look at the wall with his smart face, then his colleagues, then turn his eyes to the side, as if thinking of something.
- I'll give you a hint. - shouted from the side of Yevgeny Viktorovich. - Take off your shoes, jackets and ties. It will be easier.
Some confusion began in the crowd. No, of course, all people are intelligent, but still ... You’ve been sitting in your shoes for half a day, if you were clean three times, the consequences could not be avoided. But there is nothing to do - will not you step on the shoulders of colleagues in your shoes? Having stepped aside, the people began to take off their shoes. The amber strengthened, but the crowd saved - just and you will understand who it was from.
Taking off, the dream team returned to the wall. Nikolai Ivanovich has already matured a plan.
- So! - the director clapped his hands and smiled. - Who is the most tall and healthy here?
Everyone began to look around - nobody wanted to be the tallest. Seeing that no one wanted, the director was not taken aback.
- So, on growth become! He shouted.
The team was simple and quickly completed. They hesitated a bit at the end of the line, as there was no clear understanding of who was taller, but they figured out the tallest ones — they were the head of the Quality Department and the chief designer.
- So, guys! Said the director. - You two will be our atlantes! You get up near the wall, and you will carefully, one by one, lift us all and ship over the wall!
Atlanta obediently stood at the wall. The director, not wanting to build a queue again, reached first. There is a dilemma - how exactly to raise it? Not long after consulting, they decided to use methods of overcoming the wall, which they saw in the films about special forces - they linked their fingers, the director stood on them with his feet, and threw him upwards.
What looked good in the films was no good for a cool team building game. The director, having risen to a maximum of one and a half meters in a jump, collapsed right on the wall, beautifully collapsing it.
- Fail! The owner shouted loudly. - Repair the wall!
The boxes are folded quickly - with simple and clear tasks it is always like that.
- Guys! Said the director. - You do not throw me, and lift me on the shoulders! And then I myself, jump!
We tried as Nikolai Ivanovich said. He got to his shoulders half-heartedly, but realized that it was harder to hold there than it seemed. Swinging dangerously a couple of times, he collapsed, just not on the wall, but back. Fortunately, landed on his feet.
- So, we change the principle a little. - He said, rising and shaking himself off. - Two stand, I climb, two hold back. Clear?
It is clear, what is there to understand. Climbed on the shoulders, kept, helped. He jumped over the wall, landed.
- All is well! - shouted the director from behind the wall. - Let's go next!
Next chose a long time. They offered to start with the ladies, but they flatly refused, referring to the uncertainty in the chosen method of transportation.
- Well, what is it? - came the voice from behind the wall. - You can not choose? Let's go to the chief engineer!
The director’s command voice stifled confusion. The chief engineer, who was of the same build as the director, was picked up quickly, supported, helped to jump.
“Aaaaa ...” came a voice from behind the wall. - Your mother!
The rules of the game did not allow to bypass the wall and see what happened, so they started shouting - “what happened?”, “How are you there?”, “Fell on the director, or what?”.
- Leg! - shouted the chief engineer.
The owner, together with Olga, rose from the chairs and ran to the wall. Having looked at the chief engineer, and having consulted a little, they let him go home and advised him to go to the emergency room.
When the victim left, the game continued.
- May be enough? - Sergey asked the owner. - Now everything is broken legs.
- Nothing wrong! - answered Yevgeny Viktorovich. - Alexey just fell badly, everything is in order.
- What's the point? - Sergey did not let up. - What should this game teach us?
- Teamwork, solving complex problems, supporting each other, no matter what! - Olga answered for the owner.
- So we can do it. It seems to me that climbing over the wall will teach us one thing - climbing over the wall. It seems that this is not a particularly useful skill in our work.
- I would love to discuss with you. - smiled Olga. - But the technique of team building was not invented by me, and not today. Such games are great strengthen the team spirit, help to unite, and, most importantly, they learn to rally when the need arises.
- Some kind of nonsense ... - Sergey shook his head. - No, I understand, of course, that everyone does this at the trainings and so on, but do you have examples of real changes in the work of the teams after such games? Well, so that there is a company with certain results, and after the game - once! And the results are twice as good! Any such examples?
- Sergei! - strictly said the owner. - We are not gathered to discuss climbing over the wall. We gathered to climb over the wall. So go ahead, don't be distracted. It is better to use your brain to figure out how best to climb.
Sergey stopped talking and returned to the crowd. It went badly - several people transported, like no injuries, but it was the turn of the ladies. There were, so to speak, domestic issues.
First, part of the women were in skirts. Moreover, some were in narrow skirts, and they could not stand physically on their feet on the shoulders of two men.
Secondly, they did not have enough strength to rise from their hands on their shoulders — they had to help. And how to help a lady climb two meters without helping her with her hands? After all, it is necessary, so to speak, to choose the point of application of force?
You can, of course, take up a foot, but this requires remarkable strength. It is much easier, in terms of strength, to rest, as they say, into the back of the thigh, or slightly higher.
Both women and men understood the dilemma. The pause was already becoming awkward, and Marina, the director of quality, decided to break it.
- So, I climbed! - She said and resolutely stepped to the orderly tired atlanta.
Climbing up on linked hands, Marina stopped. No one dared, so to speak, to stain his hands.
- Well, why are you frozen? - She turned to the crowd. - Let's! Do not worry, I do not pryncess! Hand on the ass and go!
After several seconds of hesitation, two men emerged from the crowd - the production manager and the chief process engineer. Grabbing Marina, with one hand on the side, the second - for the place, which she herself marked, raised to the shoulders of the Atlanteans. A little heels, Marina tried to jump, but fell on the wall.
- Hmm. - the owner's voice rang out. - You will not be able to break our record - half an hour has passed. Repair the wall and try again.
After the boxes were folded, they made a small meeting. The problem with recovery was clear - it is too difficult to climb on the shoulders without support. We decided to build a ladder.
Sergey had the role of the first step - he stood on all fours, substituting his back under the sweaty socks of his colleagues. Not everyone was as dexterous as Sergei would have liked, and from time to time his legs slipped, falling into his face.
Sergey was especially pleased when the warehouse manager climbed onto the wall. A beautiful woman, a very responsible worker, always happy to chat, but ... She was more than a hundredweight in weight. Sergey himself weighed ninety kilograms, but there was no offense here - now she was walking on his back, and not vice versa.
When the wall collapsed again, Sergei even rejoiced. Was it possible to get up, take a break, and, perhaps, gentlemen, the designers will place it in a less loaded place of the structure?
- An hour has passed. - the owner commented a little tiredly. - Think, maybe in your concept of overcoming there are mistakes, in the very foundation?
- I understood! - suddenly cried Sergei. - I understood!
- What do you understand? - the director was delighted. - How to? Well, talk!
- Do not! - Sergey smiled happily. - No need to climb through the wall at all! This is a test! Therefore, it took them fifteen minutes! It is impossible to get over this crap in fifteen minutes!
“I don’t understand something ...” the director frowned.
- Well, how! Remember the Scarecrow!
- What scared?
“Well, from The Wizard of the Emerald City.” There the wall stood in the desert, or the gate, I do not remember exactly. In short, it was impossible to go through them, so he came up with - to get around. And we also need!
- In terms of? Side wall to get around? Well this is against the rules.
- So that's the point! That we are tested, we are idiots or not. Well, after all, only an idiot will climb through this wall, will you agree?
- Why? I do not understand.
- Well, how. We have a goal - to be on the other side of the wall. Normal such a goal. And this goal has at least two ways to achieve it - climb and get around. We were recommended to climb, and we will go round. What for us to choose a difficult, terrible, talentless way to solve this problem? We are managers, not stupid performers!
- An interesting hypothesis. - the owner's voice rang out. - But in this case you are wrong, Sergey. It is necessary to overcome the wall in exactly the way proposed.
- Yes, they prank us. - Sergey with a smile, waved his hand in the direction of the owner. - Well, you know, like in “Fight Club”, when the hero was caught, and he says - “everything, guys, the operation is canceled,” and he is answered - “you said you would say that,” and then the eggs are tightened.
- No, Sergey. - Evgeny Viktorovich again entered. - It is necessary to climb over the wall.
- Well, it is necessary - it is necessary. - Sergey said sadly and went to take his place in the ladder.
Marina, who was standing nearby, suddenly pulled a phone out of her pocket, and began poking around in it. Then she smiled sadly.
- Lesha writes. She said loudly. - I went to the hospital, took a picture, compression fracture of the heel.
- Tryndets. - shook naked Sergey. - Whether still will be ...
- Come on you. - Marina grinned. - Look, how many beautiful girls. When you still have so many asss, you change your mind.
- Well, well, that's what I dreamed about. - Sergey smiled in response.
The wall began to climb over the same pattern. This time it came out better with the ladies - they ferried everyone. When only the Atlanteans remained on this side, a new problem arose - how to transport them yourself?
One tried to climb on the other, but immediately fell on the wall, and the whole crowd, collecting boxes, again migrated to the starting point. So another hour went by.
Gradually, the scheme emerged more and more. From the crowd they chose two more men of good health, and first transported them, so that they would arrange for acceptance on that side. When the last two Atlanta were left, the receiving structure was already ready on the other side - something resembling a large crane, which, grunting from the strain, lifted up a hefty man like a port crane.
When success was close, the mood of people improved markedly. Not that everyone was cheerful - rather, angry, but not at each other, but at this damn wall, damn task and damn team building game. The whole crowd was driven only by one desire - so that all this would end as soon as possible.
Shyness, disgust, cleanliness - all disappeared. Without thinking, they grabbed each other's sweaty legs and asses, stood on their heads, rested their hands on their faces. All the excitement swept, as when playing in bad weather - when I roll in the mud, there is nothing to lose, and you start playing at full strength.
By the end of the third hour the wall was overcome. Tired but contented people, congratulating each other, began to put their shoes on.
- Well, what impressions? - the owner asked cheerfully. - Do you like the game?
- Of course! - the director answered for all. - This is a terrific experience! Incredible rallying! Now we know what we can do when we want!
- Well, find me at least one who wanted, just wanted to play this game? - Sergey interjected.
- Listen, do not start, eh? - Marina Sergey pulled by the sleeve. - Made, and thank God.
- Exactly. - Sergey smiled. - And at work as well. It is necessary, not necessary, right, not right - done, and thank God! As in that proverb - make the fool pray to God, he will hurt his forehead! And then there will be more praise - Oh! What a cool method! What a cool game! How great we are having fun! What a team we are now!
- What's wrong? - Olga asked. - Or are you fundamentally against games?
- Of course against! - said Sergey. - No, if we played for the first time, I would watch with interest what will happen next. But I have been working here for a long time, and we arrange these games several times a year. And what's the use?
- Well, you look at people! - Olga did not let up. - Everyone is happy! Tired but joyful!
- Of course joyful! - Sergey smiled. - But what did this teach us? Here we play these games, but how does this affect the work? Do not bother, I know the answer - no way. Because the quality of work does not depend on whether we play games or not. It depends on the quality of processes, the quality of management, the quality of goal-setting and decomposition of tasks, and not on these surrogates.
- What kind of surrogates? - asked Evgeny Viktorovich, who watched the discussion with interest.
- Well, the type of national idea, or the Roman "bread and circuses." - answered, having thought a little, Sergey. - On the one hand, the head should restore order. It does not matter in a company or a rural settlement. On the other hand, he does not know how to do this. But it does not want to show that, in general, it is understandable. How to solve this dilemma?
- If by analogy with Rome, then arranging games? - asked the owner.
- Well yes. Any crap will do if served under the right sauce. - Sergey nodded. - Corporate, paintball, embroidery circle, climb over the wall.
- But this is a team building game! - Olga could not stand it. - Well, colleagues, support! You feel that you look at each other not like before!
- Of course! - supported Nikolai Ivanovich.
Except for the director, no one supported Olga’s reply.
- The formation of a team, like the management of its work, is simply a management. - Sergey continued. - Do you understand? Just a job like that. The one who does it is called the leader. His task is to make everything work. And people, and equipment, and processes, and motivation.
- A team spirit? - Olga sarcastically asked. “Is he a management too?”
- No, but you put the cart before the horse. - Sergey answered. “Team spirit is the power that animates the system.” Do you understand? When the system is there, and everything works, but it is necessary faster and better - then the team spirit will do. In the correct, tuned, played team. It is the energy that causes the blood of the team to flow through its veins. But we do not live, we have no processes, we have a mess. To form a team in the mess is the same as in the automation of the mess.
- Ok, Sergey. - Evgeny Viktorovich raised his hands up. - I understand your thought.
- But not me! - Olga was indignant. - A team is never formed to the end if there are dissenting elements in it! We must reach a consensus! Not a compromise, but a consensus, so that everyone agrees!
- Sergey’s consent is not necessary. - Yevgeny Viktorovich smiled sadly. - He will leave our company in a week.
- Oh, that's it. - Olga stretched. - Then I want to talk with Sergey alone. Do not you mind?
- Me not. - replied the owner. - Sergey, how are you?
- What am I ... - Sergey shrugged. - It is necessary, it is necessary.
- Okay! - Olga clapped her hands. - And now, I ask everyone to go to the restaurant, we have lunch. But unusual, and team building!
- Nooooo. - Sergey made a picture.
- Yeah-hh. - smiled Olga. - And after lunch, Sergei, do not run away, I want to talk to you.
Realizing that they could not chew sandwiches, the leaders began to slowly put them on the table. Someone quickly drank tea with something that was filled with his mouth, someone hastily wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. Everyone felt something was coming.
- Please, friends! - Olga supported. - In the next room!
And she quickly walked to the door. People reached after him.
The neighboring hall was not so nearby - I had to walk through a long narrow corridor, through the entire hotel. Periodically, the doors of the rooms opened - someone still lived in this backwoods - so people stretched out in a row, one or two people each. The spectacle was depressing - either they lead to the execution, or the younger group of the kindergarten for a walk.
Finally, we reached the Harmony hall. There was no smell of harmony there, of course - not a very large room, without tables and chairs, with a strange construction in the middle. It was a wall made up of cardboard boxes - apparently empty. It was about two meters high, a little more than five meters wide.
People, as it should be, bunched up, away from the wall. The owner and moderator stepped forward, stood against the wall, and announced the rules.
- So! - Olga began. - The rules are very simple. You have to break the wall with the whole team. That is, everyone, to a single, should be on the opposite side. In this case, you can not touch the wall at all. If you touch the wall - the whole team returns to its original position. No items can be used. All clear?
The answer was silence.
- Well, friends, more fun! - encouraged Evgeny Viktorovich. - This is a very cool exercise! We did it at the training, it captures the spirit. We managed in fifteen minutes, although, as you understand, it was more difficult for us - nobody knew anyone, there was no understanding. You, such a cohesive team, will be much faster, I'm sure!
- We will try! - Nikolay Ivanovich, the director has acted. - Well, colleagues, go!
- Wait a minute. - stopped the impulse of director Olga. - All by the rules. If ready, I note the time. Ready?
- Ready! - the director answered cheerfully.
- Well, go ahead! - looking at the smartphone, Olga answered.
All rushed to the wall. But, coming closer, they stopped at a loss, like sheep before a new gate. Some began to look at the wall, as if trying to see some clue. Someone just walked away, waiting for instructions.
- So, we need a commander! The director said cheerfully. - I offer myself to this position. Any objections?
Objections, of course, there was not. Nikolai Ivanovich began to look at the wall with his smart face, then his colleagues, then turn his eyes to the side, as if thinking of something.
- I'll give you a hint. - shouted from the side of Yevgeny Viktorovich. - Take off your shoes, jackets and ties. It will be easier.
Some confusion began in the crowd. No, of course, all people are intelligent, but still ... You’ve been sitting in your shoes for half a day, if you were clean three times, the consequences could not be avoided. But there is nothing to do - will not you step on the shoulders of colleagues in your shoes? Having stepped aside, the people began to take off their shoes. The amber strengthened, but the crowd saved - just and you will understand who it was from.
Taking off, the dream team returned to the wall. Nikolai Ivanovich has already matured a plan.
- So! - the director clapped his hands and smiled. - Who is the most tall and healthy here?
Everyone began to look around - nobody wanted to be the tallest. Seeing that no one wanted, the director was not taken aback.
- So, on growth become! He shouted.
The team was simple and quickly completed. They hesitated a bit at the end of the line, as there was no clear understanding of who was taller, but they figured out the tallest ones — they were the head of the Quality Department and the chief designer.
- So, guys! Said the director. - You two will be our atlantes! You get up near the wall, and you will carefully, one by one, lift us all and ship over the wall!
Atlanta obediently stood at the wall. The director, not wanting to build a queue again, reached first. There is a dilemma - how exactly to raise it? Not long after consulting, they decided to use methods of overcoming the wall, which they saw in the films about special forces - they linked their fingers, the director stood on them with his feet, and threw him upwards.
What looked good in the films was no good for a cool team building game. The director, having risen to a maximum of one and a half meters in a jump, collapsed right on the wall, beautifully collapsing it.
- Fail! The owner shouted loudly. - Repair the wall!
The boxes are folded quickly - with simple and clear tasks it is always like that.
- Guys! Said the director. - You do not throw me, and lift me on the shoulders! And then I myself, jump!
We tried as Nikolai Ivanovich said. He got to his shoulders half-heartedly, but realized that it was harder to hold there than it seemed. Swinging dangerously a couple of times, he collapsed, just not on the wall, but back. Fortunately, landed on his feet.
- So, we change the principle a little. - He said, rising and shaking himself off. - Two stand, I climb, two hold back. Clear?
It is clear, what is there to understand. Climbed on the shoulders, kept, helped. He jumped over the wall, landed.
- All is well! - shouted the director from behind the wall. - Let's go next!
Next chose a long time. They offered to start with the ladies, but they flatly refused, referring to the uncertainty in the chosen method of transportation.
- Well, what is it? - came the voice from behind the wall. - You can not choose? Let's go to the chief engineer!
The director’s command voice stifled confusion. The chief engineer, who was of the same build as the director, was picked up quickly, supported, helped to jump.
“Aaaaa ...” came a voice from behind the wall. - Your mother!
The rules of the game did not allow to bypass the wall and see what happened, so they started shouting - “what happened?”, “How are you there?”, “Fell on the director, or what?”.
- Leg! - shouted the chief engineer.
The owner, together with Olga, rose from the chairs and ran to the wall. Having looked at the chief engineer, and having consulted a little, they let him go home and advised him to go to the emergency room.
When the victim left, the game continued.
- May be enough? - Sergey asked the owner. - Now everything is broken legs.
- Nothing wrong! - answered Yevgeny Viktorovich. - Alexey just fell badly, everything is in order.
- What's the point? - Sergey did not let up. - What should this game teach us?
- Teamwork, solving complex problems, supporting each other, no matter what! - Olga answered for the owner.
- So we can do it. It seems to me that climbing over the wall will teach us one thing - climbing over the wall. It seems that this is not a particularly useful skill in our work.
- I would love to discuss with you. - smiled Olga. - But the technique of team building was not invented by me, and not today. Such games are great strengthen the team spirit, help to unite, and, most importantly, they learn to rally when the need arises.
- Some kind of nonsense ... - Sergey shook his head. - No, I understand, of course, that everyone does this at the trainings and so on, but do you have examples of real changes in the work of the teams after such games? Well, so that there is a company with certain results, and after the game - once! And the results are twice as good! Any such examples?
- Sergei! - strictly said the owner. - We are not gathered to discuss climbing over the wall. We gathered to climb over the wall. So go ahead, don't be distracted. It is better to use your brain to figure out how best to climb.
Sergey stopped talking and returned to the crowd. It went badly - several people transported, like no injuries, but it was the turn of the ladies. There were, so to speak, domestic issues.
First, part of the women were in skirts. Moreover, some were in narrow skirts, and they could not stand physically on their feet on the shoulders of two men.
Secondly, they did not have enough strength to rise from their hands on their shoulders — they had to help. And how to help a lady climb two meters without helping her with her hands? After all, it is necessary, so to speak, to choose the point of application of force?
You can, of course, take up a foot, but this requires remarkable strength. It is much easier, in terms of strength, to rest, as they say, into the back of the thigh, or slightly higher.
Both women and men understood the dilemma. The pause was already becoming awkward, and Marina, the director of quality, decided to break it.
- So, I climbed! - She said and resolutely stepped to the orderly tired atlanta.
Climbing up on linked hands, Marina stopped. No one dared, so to speak, to stain his hands.
- Well, why are you frozen? - She turned to the crowd. - Let's! Do not worry, I do not pryncess! Hand on the ass and go!
After several seconds of hesitation, two men emerged from the crowd - the production manager and the chief process engineer. Grabbing Marina, with one hand on the side, the second - for the place, which she herself marked, raised to the shoulders of the Atlanteans. A little heels, Marina tried to jump, but fell on the wall.
- Hmm. - the owner's voice rang out. - You will not be able to break our record - half an hour has passed. Repair the wall and try again.
After the boxes were folded, they made a small meeting. The problem with recovery was clear - it is too difficult to climb on the shoulders without support. We decided to build a ladder.
Sergey had the role of the first step - he stood on all fours, substituting his back under the sweaty socks of his colleagues. Not everyone was as dexterous as Sergei would have liked, and from time to time his legs slipped, falling into his face.
Sergey was especially pleased when the warehouse manager climbed onto the wall. A beautiful woman, a very responsible worker, always happy to chat, but ... She was more than a hundredweight in weight. Sergey himself weighed ninety kilograms, but there was no offense here - now she was walking on his back, and not vice versa.
When the wall collapsed again, Sergei even rejoiced. Was it possible to get up, take a break, and, perhaps, gentlemen, the designers will place it in a less loaded place of the structure?
- An hour has passed. - the owner commented a little tiredly. - Think, maybe in your concept of overcoming there are mistakes, in the very foundation?
- I understood! - suddenly cried Sergei. - I understood!
- What do you understand? - the director was delighted. - How to? Well, talk!
- Do not! - Sergey smiled happily. - No need to climb through the wall at all! This is a test! Therefore, it took them fifteen minutes! It is impossible to get over this crap in fifteen minutes!
“I don’t understand something ...” the director frowned.
- Well, how! Remember the Scarecrow!
- What scared?
“Well, from The Wizard of the Emerald City.” There the wall stood in the desert, or the gate, I do not remember exactly. In short, it was impossible to go through them, so he came up with - to get around. And we also need!
- In terms of? Side wall to get around? Well this is against the rules.
- So that's the point! That we are tested, we are idiots or not. Well, after all, only an idiot will climb through this wall, will you agree?
- Why? I do not understand.
- Well, how. We have a goal - to be on the other side of the wall. Normal such a goal. And this goal has at least two ways to achieve it - climb and get around. We were recommended to climb, and we will go round. What for us to choose a difficult, terrible, talentless way to solve this problem? We are managers, not stupid performers!
- An interesting hypothesis. - the owner's voice rang out. - But in this case you are wrong, Sergey. It is necessary to overcome the wall in exactly the way proposed.
- Yes, they prank us. - Sergey with a smile, waved his hand in the direction of the owner. - Well, you know, like in “Fight Club”, when the hero was caught, and he says - “everything, guys, the operation is canceled,” and he is answered - “you said you would say that,” and then the eggs are tightened.
- No, Sergey. - Evgeny Viktorovich again entered. - It is necessary to climb over the wall.
- Well, it is necessary - it is necessary. - Sergey said sadly and went to take his place in the ladder.
Marina, who was standing nearby, suddenly pulled a phone out of her pocket, and began poking around in it. Then she smiled sadly.
- Lesha writes. She said loudly. - I went to the hospital, took a picture, compression fracture of the heel.
- Tryndets. - shook naked Sergey. - Whether still will be ...
- Come on you. - Marina grinned. - Look, how many beautiful girls. When you still have so many asss, you change your mind.
- Well, well, that's what I dreamed about. - Sergey smiled in response.
The wall began to climb over the same pattern. This time it came out better with the ladies - they ferried everyone. When only the Atlanteans remained on this side, a new problem arose - how to transport them yourself?
One tried to climb on the other, but immediately fell on the wall, and the whole crowd, collecting boxes, again migrated to the starting point. So another hour went by.
Gradually, the scheme emerged more and more. From the crowd they chose two more men of good health, and first transported them, so that they would arrange for acceptance on that side. When the last two Atlanta were left, the receiving structure was already ready on the other side - something resembling a large crane, which, grunting from the strain, lifted up a hefty man like a port crane.
When success was close, the mood of people improved markedly. Not that everyone was cheerful - rather, angry, but not at each other, but at this damn wall, damn task and damn team building game. The whole crowd was driven only by one desire - so that all this would end as soon as possible.
Shyness, disgust, cleanliness - all disappeared. Without thinking, they grabbed each other's sweaty legs and asses, stood on their heads, rested their hands on their faces. All the excitement swept, as when playing in bad weather - when I roll in the mud, there is nothing to lose, and you start playing at full strength.
By the end of the third hour the wall was overcome. Tired but contented people, congratulating each other, began to put their shoes on.
- Well, what impressions? - the owner asked cheerfully. - Do you like the game?
- Of course! - the director answered for all. - This is a terrific experience! Incredible rallying! Now we know what we can do when we want!
- Well, find me at least one who wanted, just wanted to play this game? - Sergey interjected.
- Listen, do not start, eh? - Marina Sergey pulled by the sleeve. - Made, and thank God.
- Exactly. - Sergey smiled. - And at work as well. It is necessary, not necessary, right, not right - done, and thank God! As in that proverb - make the fool pray to God, he will hurt his forehead! And then there will be more praise - Oh! What a cool method! What a cool game! How great we are having fun! What a team we are now!
- What's wrong? - Olga asked. - Or are you fundamentally against games?
- Of course against! - said Sergey. - No, if we played for the first time, I would watch with interest what will happen next. But I have been working here for a long time, and we arrange these games several times a year. And what's the use?
- Well, you look at people! - Olga did not let up. - Everyone is happy! Tired but joyful!
- Of course joyful! - Sergey smiled. - But what did this teach us? Here we play these games, but how does this affect the work? Do not bother, I know the answer - no way. Because the quality of work does not depend on whether we play games or not. It depends on the quality of processes, the quality of management, the quality of goal-setting and decomposition of tasks, and not on these surrogates.
- What kind of surrogates? - asked Evgeny Viktorovich, who watched the discussion with interest.
- Well, the type of national idea, or the Roman "bread and circuses." - answered, having thought a little, Sergey. - On the one hand, the head should restore order. It does not matter in a company or a rural settlement. On the other hand, he does not know how to do this. But it does not want to show that, in general, it is understandable. How to solve this dilemma?
- If by analogy with Rome, then arranging games? - asked the owner.
- Well yes. Any crap will do if served under the right sauce. - Sergey nodded. - Corporate, paintball, embroidery circle, climb over the wall.
- But this is a team building game! - Olga could not stand it. - Well, colleagues, support! You feel that you look at each other not like before!
- Of course! - supported Nikolai Ivanovich.
Except for the director, no one supported Olga’s reply.
- The formation of a team, like the management of its work, is simply a management. - Sergey continued. - Do you understand? Just a job like that. The one who does it is called the leader. His task is to make everything work. And people, and equipment, and processes, and motivation.
- A team spirit? - Olga sarcastically asked. “Is he a management too?”
- No, but you put the cart before the horse. - Sergey answered. “Team spirit is the power that animates the system.” Do you understand? When the system is there, and everything works, but it is necessary faster and better - then the team spirit will do. In the correct, tuned, played team. It is the energy that causes the blood of the team to flow through its veins. But we do not live, we have no processes, we have a mess. To form a team in the mess is the same as in the automation of the mess.
- Ok, Sergey. - Evgeny Viktorovich raised his hands up. - I understand your thought.
- But not me! - Olga was indignant. - A team is never formed to the end if there are dissenting elements in it! We must reach a consensus! Not a compromise, but a consensus, so that everyone agrees!
- Sergey’s consent is not necessary. - Yevgeny Viktorovich smiled sadly. - He will leave our company in a week.
- Oh, that's it. - Olga stretched. - Then I want to talk with Sergey alone. Do not you mind?
- Me not. - replied the owner. - Sergey, how are you?
- What am I ... - Sergey shrugged. - It is necessary, it is necessary.
- Okay! - Olga clapped her hands. - And now, I ask everyone to go to the restaurant, we have lunch. But unusual, and team building!
- Nooooo. - Sergey made a picture.
- Yeah-hh. - smiled Olga. - And after lunch, Sergei, do not run away, I want to talk to you.