An article in Business 2.0 this month reminded me how much I hated off company meetings where the purpose was team building. I always thought these environments at their best were artificial and it was difficult to translate what was learned there and go back to work. In the article they cite one such experience:

"Sticks and cornerstones won’t break their bones, but they just might break their spirit. A dozen workers at a small international marketing company recently found themselves at a retreat run by experts from an "experiential learning" firm. "They came in talking about the seven cornerstones of teamwork," says one attendee, so each employee was given a pouch filled with seven colored stones that stood for concepts like sharing resources, defining roles, and communicating frequently. Whenever a participant violated a cornerstone during the exercise, others had to roll a stone at him across the table. "Not communicating? Here’s a purple stone," says the attendee mockingly. "It was ridiculous. We’ve worked together better since that silly offsite, but it’s probably because we sat around the bar afterward laughing."