As hybrid work stands out as a standard, companies are redoubled in efforts to maintain the cohesion of their teams. Quarterly offsites, virtual aperitifs, internal Olympiads: “Team Building” initiatives are multiplying. However, many employees testify to an increasing discomfort in the face of this overbidding of activities, perceived as artificial, even oppressive. This is what the Anglo-Saxon term of Forced Funor “forced conviviality”.
The stake is clear: how to create a link without decree it? How to build collective moments that integrate the diversity of personalities without falling into social injunction?
Surface cohesion, counterproductive effects
The multiplication of fun activities in business does not guarantee commitment or the feeling of belonging. In some cases, she deteriorates it.
Employees express a growing social fatiguelinked to the implicit obligation to participate in moments that do not correspond to their needs or their pace. Introverted, neuroatypic people or collaborators exhausted by their workload are the first to drop out.
“It is not so much the activity that disturbs, it is the social obligation it implies. To refuse is to take the risk of being perceived as a negative element of the group ”
Under these conditions, collective activities become a silent exclusion factor : Absent are stigmatized, the presents play a role. The collective erodes.
Three frequent errors in the design of collective times
1. Formats standardization
Impose a unique activity – escape game, karaoke, sports competition – amounts to considering only one psychological profile: extrovert, voluntary, socially available. However, the teams are made up of individuals with various preferences.
2. The lack of clear intention
An activity without identifiable objective quickly becomes decorative. Worse, it adds an unnecessary constraint to the agenda. The lack of sense of sense in membership.
3. Confusion between social and entertainment
Creating cohesion does not imply entertainment at all costs. A demanding work, shared in good conditions, can weld much more effectively than an imposed game.
Towards a more intelligent design of collective times
Some companies are starting to structure their approach differently. Three principles emerge:
Respect individuals
Not everyone recharges their energy in contact with the group. Taking into account rhythms and preferences is essential. This goes through:
- Formats optionalnot penalizing for the absent.
- There diversification Activities (intellectuals, physical, artistic, collaborative or solitary).
- Of the withdrawal spaces During offsites, allowing everyone to blow out of the group.
Anchor the collective in real work
The most solid moments of cohesion are often those that emerge in common actionnot in artificial animation. Organize a strategic sprint, solve a complex problem, co-do a new functionality: so many opportunities to create a link through work.
“The real team dynamic is played in problem solving, not in a part of the laser game”
Building lasting rituals, based on listening
The most mature businesses were their practices from feedback:
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- Anonymous polls After each collective event.
- Internal discussion groups to design the next formats.
- Measurement of duration engagement indicators (membership, participation, perceived impact).
Case studies: formats that work
Some startups already structure their collective times according to logics of efficiency and flexibility.
- Policewoman (Canada) has set up quarterly offsites, organized by teams and with clear objectives. Once a year, a global meeting is organized around a collective assessment and strategic projection.
- Certain (Canada) organizes weeks of product acceleration, where tech, design and business decision -makers meet physically to resolve critical points together. Social moments are present, but always subordinate to work dynamics.
Conclusion: deconstructing the injunction, reconstructing the intention
Collective time in business is not a show. It is neither a moral obligation nor a compensatory distraction. It’s a strategic lever Who, well used, promotes alignment, mutual listening and confidence.
Provided you are designed for what it is: a tool at the service of common sensenot an instrument of social compliance.
