About that Team-Building Exercise

Ahem:

It is important to note that building strong social capital does not require that all colleagues become best friends or even that everyone like one another all the time—this would be impossible. But what does matter is that there be mutual respect and authenticity. Coercing employees into awkward icebreakers or forced bonding activities, like making everyone at a meeting share something about their private lives, only breeds disconnection and mistrust.

I once worked at a state agency that had an annual "retreat." I asked an agency veteran what the retreat was for. "We're supposed to brainstorm about problems in the agency," he said, "but the biggest problem we have is retreats."