When Teamwork Doesn’t Make the Dream Work
How’s your teamwork? Whether you’re enjoying one of our many in-person and virtual scavenger hunts as part of a team building event or with your friends, you’ll answer that question. And you’ll do so while answering questions about the amazing art or historic places we help you discover. Scavenger hunts test your ability to pull together, act as a unit, and use the talents of the entire team.
Now if you’ve ever wondered about the benefits of good teamwork, just consider the lessons in lousy teamwork provided by these five actual cases. In fact, if you want to maximize ineffective teamwork, simply do the following.
1. Don’t Worry About the Details (Including King-Size Ones)
To celebrate Martin Luther King Day in 2002, the good people of Lauderhill, Florida, invited actor James Earl Jones to address them. They ordered up a special presentation plaque for the occasion.
The job was entrusted to a Texas company that met the brief—almost. For “keeping the dream alive,” the inscription thanked James Earl Ray…the man who murdered Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. The company’s owner was baffled by the fuss!
“This has been blown out of proportion,” he said, blaming poorly educated employees conducting a rush job. Which provides a bonus lesson in lousy teamwork: When in doubt, blame your teammates.
2. Forget the Mission Statement (It’s a Zoo Out There)
When in 1999 Istvan Egyhazi took over as director of the local zoo in Pecs, Hungary, he noticed something strange. Each week, more and more cages became mysteriously untenanted. And then Egyhazi discovered the grisly secret behind the mystery.
His employees had banded together to slaughter the animals and sell their meat and fur. Big cats, zebra, antelope, deer, and birds had all been skinned. Poor Barnabas the brown bear had been shot by a hunter from neighboring Austria, who paid $550 for the privilege and was photographed proudly straddling his hapless trophy. Perhaps what the zoo needed was a sign that said “Please Don’t Feed the Animals to Other Animals.”
3. Ignore What‘s Going on Around You (Even When Launching Rockets)
Liechtenstein is a tiny tax haven sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria. Its only other industry of note is tourism; hence its swathe of protected forest, known as Bannwald. Lovely place.
A pity, then, that in 1985 a Swiss Army artillery unit on exercises near the border failed to take into account winter storm winds. Their rockets were blown off course into Liechtenstein, setting the ancient woods ablaze and leading to a long, ugly dispute that must have tempted each nation to violate the other’s neutrality. Luckily for the Swiss, Liechtenstein possesses no military. Or even pen-knives.
4. Put R&R First (Especially When Fishing for Terrorists)
The famously laid-back town of Austin, Texas, might not top a terrorist target list—unless ISIS wants to rob America of its alternative rock scene. But that didn’t stop the police department from assigning a crack team of Austin’s finest to Homeland Security detail in 2003, protecting a local power plant.
All five law enforcement professionals promptly went fishing at a nearby lake, and were spotted cleaning their catch while still in uniform. Ordered to stop, they instead told the plant’s security guards to admit other cops to join them on the water. “Quite frankly, we are very disappointed,” said the assistant police chief, who presumably hadn’t been invited to the fish fry.
5. Don’t Worry About the Other Team (Or Their Cash)
In 2003, a gang of nine Vietnamese conmen led by Huynh Van Gat disguised a two-pound lump of iron as highly prized black bronze via the skillful application of cow fat and paint. These cunning country slickers then sold the fake metal to a trio of rubes from Ho Chi Minh City for a billion dong (then around $65,000)—a tiny fraction of its market value, had it been real.
A fine result for Gat and his team! Until, of course, the police came to arrest them—not for fraud, but for passing forged banknotes. Turned out that the Chinese buyers had paid for the fake bronze with fake cash that they had printed themselves. All twelve men ended up in the same courtroom, where they must have had plenty to talk about during recess.
Credits: Adapted from an essay written by David Bennun, magazine writer and author of “Tick Bite Fever.” MLK Memorial image by Elizabeth Villalta on Unsplash; Liechtenstein image via Wikimedia Commons by A.Savin – Own work, FAL
Ready for Some Good Teamwork?
Join one of our outdoor scavenger hunts all over the country, from New York City’s Central Park to San Francisco’s Chinatown and North Beach. Or try your hand at one of our trivia games, which include the Fascinating Facts Trivia Game. Our games are available to private groups of any size at just about any time, and most of our virtual games can also be played in-person.