Change management | 52 Week Turnaround

Demented teammembers — Teambuilding exercises can bond people in the strangest ways!

Team Building Fail – How do we get rid of the body?

I’ve mentioned that I once endured an extra-special teambuilding exercise in the desert (thank you team members for letting me wipe my very sick nose on your sleeves after the tissues ran out, and you know who you are!).

However even the epic 8 hours in the 108 degree desert apparently didn’t beat this teambuilding exercise! It may be time to break out the contest for “Worst Teambuilding Exercise Ever” but in the meantime, have some fun with this singularly hilarious fictional exercise!

Can We Trust Each Other Enough to Cover Up This Murder at the Trust-Building Retreat? by Jon Bershad

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Know your role.

Be an aspirin or a vitamin, as Coach Jodie Charlop likes to remind me. Either your role in change is to take away pain (an aspirin) or inject new life into the group (a vitamin). In change management you have to be aware that your team (aka “the body”) may not be delighted to see you initially. In some cases the response may well be similar to that of a near-fatal allergic reaction.

If you’re an aspirin, you need to dig to the source of pain and relieve the suffering, hopefully heading off worse damage. You may affect systems beyond your initial target as you work to attack the serious underlying issues that are stressing the system.

Side Effects:

May cause dizziness if deployed rapidly.
Initial fixes may only mask deeper problems.
Excessive thinning of staff or resources may occur.

A vitamin can initially be a shock to the system, creating surges of energy in areas not previously disturbed, or highlighting areas that hadn’t performed at their peak. A vitamin may drive a new level of performance or set new revenue goals.

Side Effects:

Stomach upset may result when you rock the status quo.
May cause fatigue.
Healthy new regimens take time to become habit.

In any change management situation, you will likely have the majority of your actions fall into one camp or the other but will need to know the expected side effects of both.

What are the most common situations you’ve run into when you’ve been an aspirin or a vitamin? Share in the comments section.

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