A new spin on the old practice of team building

In the eyes down, headphones on world of control system programming it’s often difficult to crack the shell of new employees. Combine the tech heavy (read distraction heavy) nature of this industry with the never ending pressure of supervisors, employers and customers to meet deadlines while being billable as much of the time as possible and you’ve got the perfect storm for low employee engagement.

One way that we counteract this natural phenomenon is to host events like Valentine’s Day break, where employees bring in treats, and tailgating lunches to kick off the football season or March Madness. However, the favorite event of most of the team in our Sioux Falls office is Craft Beer Friday. Once a quarter in our Sioux Falls Regional Office we host a Craft Beer Friday (CBF) event and invite the entire office. CBF is a BYFB (Bring Your Friends Beer) event wherein we invite staff to bring in their favorite type of beer, or something they’ve never tried, and share with their peers. From 4-5 PM on these days, team members from all over the organization are interacting and engaging with folks on different teams or in different departments. Some of these employees may never even work on the same project team as one-another. The amount of team building and cross-functional, cross department interaction that can happen over a rich West O Brewing CocO Chocolate Stout or a New Belgium Brewing Rampant IPA is quite astounding.

When it comes to your daily workload, don’t forget that you will spend as much, if not more of your time as an adult with those you work with. Don’t forget to cultivate great relationships at work and enjoy the company of your peers at the office. And if you happen to hold a position of influence in your organization, maybe consider experimenting with a few unique events to break up the monotony from time to time.