Do you know where Stockholm Syndrome comes from? In August 1973 a bank robbery at the Sveriges Kreditbank in Stockholm didn’t go as planned. The bank robbers held four employees hostage in the bank’s vault for six days. A weird thing happened over those six days. The hostages began to form a bond with their captors, started to identify closely with them, sympathise with them and even support their demands. One of the hostages, on a phone call with the Swedish Prime Minister while she was in the vault, said that she fully trusted the robbers but was afraid that she would probably die in a police assault on the building.
Perhaps the most infamous case of the Stockholm Syndrome was the kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974. After being held hostage for 10 weeks, she actually helped the kidnappers rob a bank.
As a leader you want to try to avoid creating a Stockholm Syndrome in your team. One of the hostage situations where this can occur is the ‘annual team planning day’. This is too often a poorly planned event, held offsite and clumsily facilitated by an external consultant who has no real vested interest in the actual outcome of the day. The consultant will work through their one size fits all off-the-shelf planning day template, and there will be a series of ‘team building’ activities that will feel uncomfortable at best and insultingly condescending at their worst. You may find yourself building stuff with lego or playing games with coloured balls or dreaming up new uses for a paperclip. It’s cringeworthy isn’t it?
As the day progresses your people will either become increasingly disengaged or start acting out of character and maybe even get a little snippy. Both can be direct results of being unnaturally confined in a small airless room all day while being required by a stranger to participate in a range of activities that have no apparent value to the group. The consultant will naturally be over caffeinated and horrifyingly cheerful, in an effort to counterbalance the growing vibe in the room. They may even hand out lollies or chocolates as ‘prizes’ for participation.
By the end of the day everyone is exhausted and cannot wait to leave. The energy levels after lunch have noticeably diminished and Stockholm Syndrome starts to set in. People will start agreeing to things they would not normally agree to in an effort to fast track the process, so they can have an early mark. There is no interest, innovation or initiative on display with even the most seasoned in the team slumping in their chairs because the whole day has just sucked the life right out of them.
Here are 5 simple tips to help ensure your planning day is a success:
- Get team input into the agenda 2 weeks before the event.
- Get rid of any ‘team building’ activity that involves playing childish games.
- Late start and early finish. Take a long lunch and have decent breaks.
- Feed your people and keep them hydrated.
- Wrap the day up with a finalised and agreed plan.
Here is the biggest tip though. In the same way that the everyday success of your team relies on just one thing, the success of your planning day requires that exact same ingredient. If your people roll their eyes at the thought of another planning day, or another team meeting, then you are probably missing this essential ingredient. Your team needs to have FUN. Make the day fun, for everyone. This takes a skilled facilitator who can read the room.
If you have a planning day coming up, or any kind of team meeting where you want full participation and engagement, let us help you make the most of it. Get us at info@theworkplacecoach.com.au
The Workplace Coach
The Workplace Coach 
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