About twenty years ago I walked on fire. This was part of a weekend away with work, doing teambuilding or icebreaking or whatever. We didn’t think the fire-walking would happen, but it did. Burning coals were laid out in a shallow trench by a trained professional (I mean, I assume he was, nobody really checked), shoes came off, and across the burning coals we stumbled. And along with that came a weekend of socialising, all with the intention of making us all feel like a company.
Did it? I guess. I got a great anecdote out of it, at least. However, all teambuilding has an inbuilt bias: it’s based on the extrovert view of the world being the normal one, and that quiet people (introverts) just need a little fire-walking and a good injection of extrovert mojo to “bring them out of their shells”, the poor bastards. Allowing us all to mingle, brainstorm and smalltalk together, forever.
Being an introvert, especially in a company setting, is often viewed as a problem, as something that needs to be fixed. Which is evident in official company events, all of which are geared towards the extroverts. Music! Noise! Things happening! Partying! And talking and talking and talking…
It would be nice if, for a change, a company event was aimed at introverts. Some suggestions:
The read-in: Instead of going to a loud, alcohol fuelled location where we have to mingle all night, how about we hire a library and have a nice book-reading evening? Tea is provided.
The silent retreat: A weekend where we walk around in silence, in some nice old monastery, and nod serenely to each other in the corridors and silently examine the flowers.
The long-distance ramble: A hearty walk across some wild location, the wind in our faces, with a good podcast playing, where the chances of bumping into another workmate are small.
The individual workshop: Instead of having to work in a messy group where the loudest person gets their way, you complete a task by yourself and get an AI with a calm voice to present it for you.
Those are my suggestions. Do you think they sound terrible and basically infringe on your human rights? Then you know how introverts feel when faced with another loud mingle. You’re welcome.
/ Paddy
*Clearly, I’m mostly joking here. Mostly…
Paddy K 
An introvert-aimed retreat sounds perfect. I really despise those loud, pointless team building exercises – rarely do they work at building lasting team spirit. And I grew up surrounded by extroverts who always “othered” the introverts in the family.
There needs to be a company specialising in these … what do we call them? Introvents…?
I wish! I am so tired of dealing with the extrovert-centric work life and private life.
Man, you saw how these people responded to lockdown–and that was to prevent death. They bought chickens, learned to bake bread, made the most unhinged videos of all time. They will do anything to avoid their own thoughts. *I* love all these ideas (but lockdown didn’t look any different from my life), but you’re going to give the extroverts a breakdown.