Can line dancing on the beach make ad types more creative? How about building a lifeboat and then gleefully booting your co-workers off it? Those are just some of the more bizarre team-building exercises marketing and ad agency execs have recently put their employees through, according to a survey of 250 Canadian and U.S. companies by The Creative Group in Toronto. Asked to identify the wackiest activities they’ve ever participated in, executives mentioned these: “We created a human bridge to cross a small stream;” “We created a haunted house and invited clients to visit;” and “[We had people] fall out of a tree and hope their team would catch them.” Collin Maria Ezzell, Creative Group’s divisional director, points out that since marketing firms employ creative individuals, team- building often requires more than your typical golf getaway. Still, some things are more motivating than others. While one exec told of flying 20 employees to Chicago for dinner and a ball game, another said, “We shoveled horse manure in stables.” Says Ezzell: “I think my team would quit if I told them we were doing that.”
