The script of the movie "Freaky Friday" is a very simple one. And also profound in the way that in all our daily relations we should try to figure out who we are talking to. Put yourself in someone else's shoes. Its very difficult.

If you have not seen this movie; it is about a mother and a teenage daughter that switch bodies. That is very simple in a movie, but "more" difficult in real life. But the idea is: to imagine this for once!

The essence of Team-building is maybe also to do with stepping aside from one's own role and to focus on someone else's. Or, to focus on the group; What do "we" need and who is "we" anyhow?

That it is not always necessary to "build" a team without leaving your company is subject of another article: "Team-building by visiting the internet."

The advantage (cost saving) of doing so will compensate the disadvantage it is less appealing because you will miss an external event. To compensate this, you could have both; the internet-based Team-building accompanied by an external event later on, for the sake of having some fun.

In this context of Team-building -- with or without visiting the internet - you are to think about your organization as a parent (or child). And ask your self; How does she do that? What is her way of organizing? And at that moment you are mentioning the organization...How do we organize over here - are we efficient and do we use internet for this? If you try to make these rules explicit, you will experience some difficulties. But you are not the only one. Other managers or team members will practice this too.

In the end you will find a set of shared rules and a smaller set of differences. These differences could be logical when analyzing the responsibilities of each manager.

Team-building this way will provide you a simple (mental) excursion and a guide that you can (and should) use once the session is over.

2006 Hans Bool