Everything in the meeting could have been in an e-mail

[Puget]

At least your retreats don't involve hiking with a bunch of nincompoops who will not only leave you behind but also remove all signs from the trail that would have helped the last person come down.

A hiker was rescued from a mountain in the US state of Colorado after being apparently left behind the previous day by his colleagues during an office retreat.

Forgive the rant from a former Coloradan who has done quite a few peaks like this, but this was such a wildly bad idea for an office retreat from the get go. Even "easy" 14ers take training and knowledge to hike safely. Someone needs to be in charge and responsible for the group. Rule #1 is that you never leave anyone to hike alone. Ever. For any reason. He was also completely unprepared - no GPS, no signaling device, no emergency supplies for spending the night out, no knowledge of route finding, and not enough sense to stay put at the location he was able to send his colleagues when he realized he was lost. This very easily could have ended with them never finding his body (happens fairly regularly).

[Langue_doc]

At least your retreats don't involve hiking with a bunch of nincompoops who will not only leave you behind but also remove all signs from the trail that would have helped the last person come down.

A hiker was rescued from a mountain in the US state of Colorado after being apparently left behind the previous day by his colleagues during an office retreat.

Forgive the rant from a former Coloradan who has done quite a few peaks like this, but this was such a wildly bad idea for an office retreat from the get go. Even "easy" 14ers take training and knowledge to hike safely. Someone needs to be in charge and responsible for the group. Rule #1 is that you never leave anyone to hike alone. Ever. For any reason. He was also completely unprepared - no GPS, no signaling device, no emergency supplies for spending the night out, no knowledge of route finding, and not enough sense to stay put at the location he was able to send his colleagues when he realized he was lost. This very easily could have ended with them never finding his body (happens fairly regularly).

The "team building" seems to have been the height of irresponsibility. Even for much easier hikes, hike leaders make sure to let the participants know what to expect, that they are used to uphill and strenuous hikes, and, above all, have a sweep. Not making sure that everyone had descended was the first mistake, compounded by his coworkers having picked up "pieces of gear the team had left to mark their path through the boulders". There appears to have no planning whatsoever, no leader in charge to make sure that everyone had come down, and, sadly, no team-building. According to NPR, these were employees of an insurance company--one would think that insurance companies were familiar with lawsuits and would have stayed away from dangerous out-of-office adventures.

[Ruralguy]

Its really odd that people going on that level of a hike would not implement group hike basics. I smell a rat.

[Langue_doc]

No rats, other than the ones who demanded that employees participate in a so-called team building exercise on their day off. Team building was a fad a few years ago, with employees having to come in on the weekend just to prove that they could trust their colleagues. I recall reading about stunts gone wrong, with people getting injured because of the incompetence of their colleagues as well as the dangerous nature of some of the exercises aka stunts. Whoever organized the hiking event obviously didn't know the basic protocols of group hikes.

[kaysixteen]

And what happens to the prof who refuses to participate in these team-building activities, dangerous or otherwise?

[apl68]

No rats, other than the ones who demanded that employees participate in a so-called team building exercise on their day off. Team building was a fad a few years ago, with employees having to come in on the weekend just to prove that they could trust their colleagues. I recall reading about stunts gone wrong, with people getting injured because of the incompetence of their colleagues as well as the dangerous nature of some of the exercises aka stunts. Whoever organized the hiking event obviously didn't know the basic protocols of group hikes.

That happens.  People read about some activity, and think it sounds like a cool idea, and try to organize a version of it where they are without realizing what all it takes.  A little learning is a dangerous thing, and all that.

It's just a good thing the department didn't decide to do a ropes course....

[lightning]

No rats, other than the ones who demanded that employees participate in a so-called team building exercise on their day off. Team building was a fad a few years ago, with employees having to come in on the weekend just to prove that they could trust their colleagues. I recall reading about stunts gone wrong, with people getting injured because of the incompetence of their colleagues as well as the dangerous nature of some of the exercises aka stunts. Whoever organized the hiking event obviously didn't know the basic protocols of group hikes.

On their day off? that's just evil. I used to see ads for these recreational services providers who normally catered to people looking for recreational activities on weekends, and the providers would try to fill their otherwise empty daytime weekday calendars by selling team-building events to businesses. Dragging people to a team-building on a weekend or weekday evenings, off-the-clock, for recreational activities is BS to the nth degree, but also it cuts into the scheduling of the normal clientele.

K16, to answer your question about what happens to profs who don't participate, I can only tell you what happens from my own experience. Nothing. However, corporate America is a different story.

[Myword]

Firstly, the purpose of such meetings is to get the information directly. Emails are often unread, ignored, forgotten. You are likely to remember what was said. However, most meetings I attended were not worth my time, even when I was free. It amounted to--be conscientious and work hard!
Secondly another purpose is social. Meet your colleagues and maybe make friends?

[kaysixteen]

Meeting colleagues and making friends is fine as far as it goes, but many people, introverts and otherwise, are deeply uncomfortable participating in such 'team-building' activities, esp when there is an overtly physical component to them.  No adult should be forced to do so.

[Puget]

No rats, other than the ones who demanded that employees participate in a so-called team building exercise on their day off. Team building was a fad a few years ago, with employees having to come in on the weekend just to prove that they could trust their colleagues. I recall reading about stunts gone wrong, with people getting injured because of the incompetence of their colleagues as well as the dangerous nature of some of the exercises aka stunts. Whoever organized the hiking event obviously didn't know the basic protocols of group hikes.

That happens.  People read about some activity, and think it sounds like a cool idea, and try to organize a version of it where they are without realizing what all it takes.  A little learning is a dangerous thing, and all that.

It's just a good thing the department didn't decide to do a ropes course....

A ropes course actually would have been a MUCH better choice! Professionally run ropes courses are quite safe, because have to adhere to strict safety protocols. Everyone is wearing climbing harnesses that are clipped into safety lines at all times, with staff checking to make sure. They would have been fine at ropes course and maybe even experienced team building.

A mountain on the other hand has no safety protocols except the ones you implement yourself, and no staff  (outside of national parks, SAR teams are generally all volunteer and response times when they are called may be long). Extreme weather and variable conditions mean that even very experienced folks can get into trouble, and need to have back up plans and emergency supplies. It's a risk worth taking if you love the wilderness and high country. It isn't a risk worth taking for a work retreat.

[apl68]

Meeting colleagues and making friends is fine as far as it goes, but many people, introverts and otherwise, are deeply uncomfortable participating in such 'team-building' activities, esp when there is an overtly physical component to them.  No adult should be forced to do so.

That's true.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that it should never be done.  We all have to participate in things we'd otherwise rather not.  However, meeting facilitators should be aware that these sorts of activities are more problematic for some than for others, and take that into account.  Activities like this should only be used when there's really a good reason to have them, and a good plan to make them work.  Like meetings in general.

[kaysixteen]

Ok, but there is no good reason to make, or even to have, any sort of let's all hold hands in a circle and emote, etc., crapola, in any professional meeting.   I was a pub hs teacher once in a large urban school system, and on one of our periodic teacher training days, a clown from HQ showed up with his guitar to lead us in 'wellness' songs he had written, after which we had to stand up in a circle and reveal certain personal details about ourselves to our colleagues.  I was 24 and obeyed.  I am not proud of it.

[Ruralguy]

Team building is nearly 100% trash and usually does the opposite.
A time waster invented by people who can't invent real content.

[the_geneticist]

Ok, but there is no good reason to make, or even to have, any sort of let's all hold hands in a circle and emote, etc., crapola, in any professional meeting.   I was a pub hs teacher once in a large urban school system, and on one of our periodic teacher training days, a clown from HQ showed up with his guitar to lead us in 'wellness' songs he had written, after which we had to stand up in a circle and reveal certain personal details about ourselves to our colleagues.  I was 24 and obeyed.  I am not proud of it.

GAHH!  That sounds horrible beyond belief.

The last conference I attended encouraged us to have students share "personal details" so they would feel connected.  Nope.  Nope, nope, NOPE!
You have to establish some sort of trust before you can ask folks to share anything personal.  I prefer questions like "What's your intended major?" or "What's another class you are taking?".
I'm still shocked what students will share when you give them too much leeway.  I don't need to know that you have 3 kidneys (I wish I was making it up and no I wasn't teaching anatomy).

[AmLitHist]

Team building is nearly 100% trash and usually does the opposite.
A time waster invented by people who can't invent real content.

Sometimes it builds teams: at my place, Admin used to require participation in team building/"happy horseshit" days. Of course, the team being built was a more solid faculty unity opposed to Admin.

ETA:  I became the outlier about 15 years ago and refused to ever attend another Professional Development Day, taking a personal day instead. My colleagues gasped, predicted my firing, etc.  By 5 years later, there was a solid 10% group who'd joined me.  In 2019, pre-Covid, that had grown to 20%; by last year, just under 50% of faculty refused to attend and used a sick/personal day instead. (Percentages come from the union's audit of attendance records each year.)