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We hear a lot about team building these days. Team-building gurus are hired by some corporations to lecture us on how to work more effectively with each other. And they organise awaydays - a time employees spend together away from their usual workplace.
Here in the UK, employees can take part in activities such as Zombie boot camps where military instructors train you how to fight walking 'dead people'. For the brainier office workers amongst us there are crime investigations modelled on popular TV dramas like Sherlock Holmes and CSI.
Stressed-out city workers might have ukulele lessons made available to them. Why is that a good team-building exercise? Ukulele teacher Lorraine Bow says: "The fact that they can play a musical instrument within an hour is quite a fulfilling thing, really. It's not competitive – it's quite easy to do and a bit less intimidating than a guitar…"
Actually, a horse might be a bit more intimidating than an instrument. The animals are used by a company in Abu Dhabi which teaches leadership through horse training. Basically, you have to go in a yard with a horse and persuade it that you're the boss by using body language.
Kelly Eide, co-founder of True Leadership, says: "The horses don't care if your hair is purple, if you're a man or a woman, if you're old or young... It transcends all of those cultural boundaries – age, gender, religion, tradition etc. – so that's a perfect fit. And in an organization where you really need groups of people to gel, who come from backgrounds which have no common norms, you can teach that most efficiently with a horse."
And the horse feels instinctively whether or not you are a natural leader. So if after you've done a good presentation your boss offers you a carrot, you'll know where he might have learnt it from.
词汇表
team building 团队建设
guru 领袖，权威
corporation 公司，企业
effectively 有效地
awayday 息工日
workplace 工作地点，工作场所
boot camp 训练营
brainier (brainy) 更为精明的
stressed-out （因精神压力）精疲力尽的
ukulele 尤克里里琴
fulfilling 充实的，令人满意的
competitive 竞争的
leadership 领导能力
to persuade 说服
body language 肢体语言
to transcend 超越
to gel （团队成员）相互磨合