THE ART OF TEAMBUILDING

It’s ok to have fun…

On one of my first civil projects I managed, the entire team knew we were going to hit hard rock. We had done our homework. We knew it was there, deep underground, just waiting to rear its ugly head.

Late one morning my radio beeped. “Wolfpack, this is Covey Leader…Wolfpack this is Covey Leader!” I sat in my truck in silence. Who was calling me on the radio? What the hell did this mean? 

“Wolfpack this is Covey Leader, they drew first blood!”. 

I started laughing hysterically. My Scraper Foreman, Rod Hall, was using the RAMBO – First Blood Movie characters to tell me we had hit hard rock. I quickly answered, “Covey Leader this is Wolfpack.

I got your six. Calling in reinforcements. We’ll get you out of there Johnny!” 
On came the Drill & Blast crews. Problem solved.

From that day on, my nickname, “Wolfpack” was born. By project end, every supervisor on the job had a nickname. We had a great time with this, teamwork & comradery went through the roof, the project was a winner.

Are you having fun with your Team? Have you developed methods to build comradery and generate a great team atmosphere?

Sure, there are plenty of times you have to be serious. 

Yes, by all means, keep it clean…. But – It’s ok to have a little fun!