By Michael J. Gelb
The director of the treasury department for a major Chicago oil company recently contacted me to request a “team building” activity for the second evening of a three-day conference. “Can we do something,” he asked, “that will promote creativity, open communication and camaraderie — something related to our theme of global awareness?”
As an organizational consultant for more than 20 years, I’ve observed many different approaches to bringing people together. Blindfolded trust-exercises got old in the 1960s, mystery-themed dinners are too hokey and ropes courses, wall climbing and hot-coal walking are too stressful. “No problem,” I responded. “We’re going to do a wine tasting.”
We approached the theme of global awareness by comparing American wines with wines from countries where this multinational company had offices. (Fortunately, these locations included France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.) Tasting a Louis Roederer Brut Champagne NV and a Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley L’Ermitage 1992, got our group of 50 accountants, analysts and portfolio managers off to a lively start. But, the body language around the room still conveyed uneasiness. One of the major obstacles to a successful wine tasting/team-building event is that many people suspect wine is too fancy; they associate it with pretension and inaccessible rituals. Underlying those concerns is the general challenge to adult learning — the fear of embarrassment or looking silly.
One analyst who had an exaggerated gruff persona expressed his discomfort by asking a question about our second comparison (a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc versus a Caymus Sauvignon Blanc). In a loud voice, he demanded, “which of these goes better with Bud Light?” Without hesitation I suggested the Cloudy Bay would complement the Bud Light and that I personally prefer Caymus with Miller Genuine Draft.
In addition to not taking things too seriously, another key to successful wine tasting/team building is to preempt anxiety about making mistakes. To accomplish this, we applied “right-brained” imaginative descriptions to the wines rather than the technical “left-brained” analysis.
Although participants were encouraged to guess the varietal, origin, vintage and price of each wine (financial analysts particularly love to guess the price), the real fun began when people started expressing their experience in creative, multisensory terms. That free expression was made easier by giving each person a pad of blank paper and colored pens and by having them “creatively doodle” the colors and shapes associated with their experience of each wine. As they drew the aromas, textures, and taste of the wines, they were encouraged to complement their drawings with poetic language. Bottles of wine were offered for the most evocative wine descriptions. A woman from the information technology group described her experience of the Guigal Hermitage 1990: “I’ve just come in from a long ride at sunset and I’m filled with the smell of the horse barn and the lather of the saddle…it’s great to be alive!”
A portfolio manager commented that the Caymus Sauvignon Blanc was like “sitting in a field of green grass and kissing a girl who just ate a honey-crusted lemon peel.” But first prize went to the accountant who described his experience of the Domain Le Verger Mersault 1996: “It’s like opening a yellow umbrella in a warm rain.” It was obvious then that our team-building was a success, as a roomful of treasury employees “oohed and ahhed” in unison.
In addition to having fun, the treasury people, like most groups, were surprised at their own creativity. They transferred Bacchus-inspired creativity, freedom and openness into the workplace. The conviviality and off-the-wall wine descriptions were unforgettable. And although the exercise didn’t lead to an immediate technical breakthrough or new strategic perspective, the vivid memory of camaraderie, coupled with the realization that one’s colleagues have poetic flair, inevitably made their work environment more susceptible to joie d’vivre and esprit d’corps.
Michael J. Gelb, author of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, has led seminars on creative thinking and leadership since 1978.
