January 6, 2009
When Guru was a jobbing HR director he was always looking for different ways to motivate the workforce.
Duvet Days, free sweets, boozy Fridays, quiz nights, naked Wednesdays were all trialed - with varying degrees of success. One piece of advice Guru can offer disciples is don't try and combine boozy Fridays with naked Wednesdays; the results are not at all pleasant.
So Guru's interested was piqued when he received an email from an organisation called Culinary Teambuilding, claiming it was introducing the UK's first 'Teppanyaki' teambuilding event.
When Yours Truly first saw the word Teppanyaki he thought Manchester City had splashed the cash and signed a new striker, but further investigation (ie. a Wikipedia search) found that it is, in fact, Japanese cuisine cooked over an iron griddle of blazing flames and tossed in the air.
Culinary Teambuilding owner Gerry Wilton professes to be "extremely excited" about the new event. Guru admits to not sharing in Gerry's enthusiasm for the cooking style - he is much more of a meat and two veg type of guy. Anyway, Mrs Guru does all the cooking.
Guru was also slightly despairing at the names for some of the other cooking events the firm offered, such as: 'Bake a Difference' and 'Wok u Waiting For' - hang on a minute, bad puns are Guru's territory.
Guru wonders whether this type of teambuilding will really be in demand with employers looking to cut costs and reduce headcount. But perhaps the winners of such staff 'cook-offs' could get to keep their jobs, or even better, be rehired to work in the staff canteen?
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