Author: Chris

Years ago, my employer held a 3-night team building event for all the employees at a nice hotel downtown. They had a large ballroom where we were going to hold workshops and seminars during the daytime hours, but for the evenings it was set up for dinner and had a small stage where our CEO addressed everyone. The first night they had a cocktail hour/welcome before dinner and announced a major rule: since was a team-building event, we were not allowed to socialize with any coworkers that we typically spend time with or talk to at work. The idea was to get to know other people from other departments and develop new work relationships instead of the same old clicks. So after the welcome address, they suggested mingling and getting to know others before dinner.

I walked around shaking hands and introduced myself to different people for a while, and then I spotted her. We knew of each other and had met at work but we had never really talked before – so I went up to her and we started talking. Most of it was small chit-chat about work or the party or the awkward rule we had to follow. She told me she was married with a small child at home and was happy to have a few days to get a break… we hit it off pretty well and when I told her I was going to the bar to get a refill, she asked if she could follow me around for the night – so I said yes, of course.