We did an amazing race-style search around the city of Richmond. Turnout wasn't great, but got to see some historic sites around here, and the puzzles were challenging. Company that sponsored: http://www.ravenchase.com/ - Kim Mahan

a treasure hunt does sound like torture...but I'm a big fan of corporate league sports (softball, basketball, etc...) - joshuabacker

Hi Jeremiah, as 'team games' are part of my work, I can tell you that just like any other work, they can either be facilitated in a way that does bring out the worst, or that brings out the best in teams. Good facilitators know how to establish safety, trust and increased co-operation all while having fun (in a non-cheesy way...things have changed, trust me!) However, they also know how to transform/recycle 'the dark' if/when it comes up. The 'applied improv' network is a great way to find quality facilitators who understand the "yes and" principle (if you're looking) or talk to me. - Leif Hansen

Interesting Leif, glad to meet an expert on this. - Jeremiah Owyang

NP Jeremiah, let me know if you have any Qs or ever need any facilitation in the realm of teambuilding, collaborative brainstorming, etc. or are working with a company specifically looking into issues of how to prepare for and innovate in response to upcoming sustainability topics (peak oil, peak water, peak food, healthcare, etc.). My partner Jay Kimball (8020vision.com) has an amazing presentation on this, and I add the more interactive, experiential learning, fun element - http://www.sparknw.com - Leif Hansen

this was a peculiar teambuilding thingy I found: http://www.actiondays.co.uk/... - Niclas Strandh

Diane, so sad for me to hear those stories when the need to add a dimension of interactivity, fun, is so healthy and needful these days for groups. They're like other fields though: The person who "tried counseling" or had a bad spiritual mentor/leader, or hey, who "tried friendfeed" but subscribed to someone's inane comments rather than quality stuff like Jeremiah's. - Leif Hansen

I was in a work related scavenger hunt once. Our team found a bar and .. drank pints for the rest of the day. Our morale hit an all time high. No one noticed we had disappeared. - metageoff

I only participate for the free t-shirts and food ;) - Mona Nomura from fftogo

To Geoff’s point, when I asked the staff recently about ideas for our offsite, several people mentioned a scavenger hunt that the company did several years prior my coming aboard – and all were positive. Rumor has it that all the items had either something to do with beer or bars. We may have a theme here. ;-) - Bill Sanders

My department was subjected to a long weekend of "wilderness team building"... we already pretty much disliked each other; "team building" in the woods crystallized it into deep antipathy. The problem was that our department did not need to function as a team to be effective; trying to shoehorn us into a "team" was nonsense. But some bosses get off on all the touchy-feely stuff. - Allan Jenkins

Yeah, beer can be a great binder...though often its v. short term and/or superficial. Wow, any positive team experiences out there? Touchy feely is an 80s Org Dev mentality towards it all, surprised that that is still either being offered or perceived -though for tech audiences, sometimes anything besides sitting in front of a screen for 8 hours isolated is considered 'touchy feely' ;) It's really about increasing trust, communication skills, mental paradigms that are more productive, and good fun. - Leif Hansen

Team games work when there already is a positive foundation. They tear apart when there isn't. Forcing "teamwork" on people that don't like each other is a disaster waiting to happen... - George Smith

Good point George. As 'positive foundation' is fairly relative though, I might tweak it slightly and say, *some* team games can tear apart when there is a lack of a strong foundation --however, others can actually help to establish a stronger foundation (which is, at bottom, trust/respect/etc.) And yes, anything 'forced' is practically destined for disaster -that's where many leaders in an Org or inexperienced facilitators fail. - Leif Hansen