I just read another blog posting about how useless team building exercises are with regards to effective work teams. You know, the kind of article that starts out with a cliche about some ‘touchy-feely’ ice-breaker and what a waste of time it was. And have you seen the Geico commercial that shows the CEO taking a trust fall with the Gecko? Yikes! Team building really gets a bad rap!

It is unfortunate that there are so many poorly facilitated ‘team building’ programs out there. As a professional facilitator, I regularly hear from clients – and the blogosphere – about how ineffective their last company team building event was. I agree with the premise that ’silly ice breakers’ is not the way to build a high performing team, however, those ice breakers do serve an important purpose.

Ice breakers – silly or not – are designed to lower inhibitions. Inhibitions are what makes us hold back in both our introductions to one another and our daily working relationships. Lowering inhibitions creates an opportunity for a skilled facilitator to introduce techniques for building vulnerability-based trust between the members of the group. I don’t mean the ‘fall back and I’ll catch you’ cliche (although in some circumstances, that is still a powerful trust-building tool), but the kind of trust that allows individuals to step out of their comfort zone and suggest an idea that might be a flop, or might just lead to an innovation. The most effective teams have a bond that allows them to speak freely, listen actively, and remain open to new and possibly uncomfortable ideas. Professionally facilitated team building programs, as part of a broader team development effort, can create the space where innovation is commonplace – and sometimes an ice breaker is the way to get that process moving more quickly.