Ineffective team building

Team building activities give the opportunity to collegues to get to know one another better. In this way, cooperation becomes easier and employees feel more comfortable. The main difficulty in such activities is to persuade people to participate. For this reason, many companies choose something easy to realize such as dinner at a restaurant. It is considered that as long as they participate, the results are positive and the company is benefited. However, is this always true?

In my opinion, most of the times team building activities have something positive to offer. But there is a possibility that a deeper knowledge of a colleague's personality harms communication. Indeed, while communication in work lies within a context familiar to anyone, communication in a restaurant is almost free. As a result, some of the participants  may not be able to get along with. For example, introverts may feel outshined by extroverts who rule the discussion. Or some others may find that they just don't fit in this environment, while they don't face any problem at work.

Recently I had a discussion with a friend who found a new job and he was sharing his experience with me. He told me that he cooperates really nice at work with his colleagues, but, listening to some of them talking outside of the workplace, he felt "disgusted" (that's the word he used) by their way of thinking.

I am sure that such an experience cannot be a serious obstacle in the way they work. On the other hand, it creates a sense of distrust which can be harmful in the long run.

Since trust is essential in leadership development, team leaders should take actions in advance, and protect the framework of communication in team building activities, as long as it is possible. And it is very crucial that they don't make their colleagues feel uncomfortable with their behaviour.Even outside of the workplace, they should stick to the rules of communication. Besides, a leader communicates constantly!