Grappling with the Gray #108: All together now?

It seemed like a good idea at the time. But why?

That's the question that drives the conversation when Catherine Fitzgerald, Steven Smith, and K Kimi Hirotsu Ziemski join the ethics panel to Grapple with the Gray.

Here is our topic:

One of the underlying principles of ethics is that trust forms the foundation of successful relationships and healthy communities. This simple idea explains why team building exercises have become so popular among HR departments. What it doesn’t explain is why these exercises are so hated among employees.

Unfortunately, some of these activities seem designed to sow discord rather than unity. One reported exercise instructed each member to take a swig of soda then spit it into another member’s mouth. Strangely enough, some employees refused to participate.

Another activity required each person to go around the room and tell everyone else what they didn’t like about them. One participant described the result as cascades of tears and mutual loathing.

And just this past August, an employee was left behind by coworkers hiking in the Colorado mountains and spent the night exposed to high winds and freezing rain before rescue teams found him the next morning.

We all get wacky ideas from time to time, but how do we explain the lack of a vetting process, competent decision-making, and executive accountability that all have to coalesce to produce these kinds of horror stories? And how do we go about fixing a problem that’s so obvious that it shouldn’t be a problem in the first place?

Meet this week’s panel:

Catherine Fitzgerald is a speaker, writer, certified coach, and founder of BrassTacksWithHeart - Executive Coaching. She works with founders and their leaders as they navigate the choppy waters of aligning people, performance, and profits.

Steve Smith is president of Great Castle Partners, Inc, group chair for Vistage Worldwide Inc, and business builder of cloud based, supply chain solutions for distribution and specialty retail industries

Kimi Hirotsu Ziemski is Founder of KSP Partnership, providing project management and project leadership courses and workshops to improve team dynamics and communications.

#ethics #culture #accountability #leadership #grappling