Office Sports Etiquette
Participating in sports activities with your coworkers doesn’t always result in team building. In fact, sometimes it can lead to team division. So before you lace up your cleats and grab the ol’ pigskin, check out my top 3 Quick and Dirty Tips for proper office sports etiquette.
I love sports.
I love playing sports, watching sports, talking about sports, reading about sports…pretty much anything that involves the word sport, I’m all in.
Working in a large office setting, I am able to chat with like-minded coworkers about sports all the time. Even if a sports conversation gets a little heated, as I discussed in my episode Proper Office Sports Celebration, I still love the fact that sports is being discussed…I just wish people would read that article before letting their tempers flare. But I digress.
Even though I love talking about sports while at work, I realize that adding sports activities into my work can make things a bit dicey. And that’s because sometimes playing sports with your colleagues actually backfires – team building can turn into team division.
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So before you lace up your cleats and toss around the ol’ pigskin, check out my top 3 Quick and Dirty Tips for proper office sports etiquette:
Tip #1: Improper Recruitment
Office sports programs generally come in one of two distinct identities: the casual league, welcoming any and all employees, and the win-or-die leagues with stricter recruiting practices than most cutthroat professional teams. The first type is pretty easy to handle. If you want to play, great. If you don’t or can’t, it’s still nice to attend a game from time to time and support your colleagues.
My friend Jonathan works for a company of over 2,500 employees, with an office softball league of 20 teams. Each season they duke it out for the coveted trophy and, of course, bragging rights. Not only does each team’s captain – who is usually a manager – comb the office like a dog in heat looking for potential players, the hiring managers even go so far as to bring up the league in the job interview, to gauge if the candidate had an athletic background. In case you’re wondering, yes that is totally improper.
So when it surfaced that Jonathan played Division 1 baseball, he was not only approached right away, but was left with no choice but to participate. He was courted by multiple managers who made it clear that he could get ahead at his job by joining their team. He folded under the pressure, chose a team, and quickly became the star player.
However, due to the attention he was getting from managers, his coworkers became jealous. Not his fault, but the manager’s desire to win alienated Jonathan from his peers. Moreover, when he struck out for the first time at bat, all that respect and attention from his superiors came crashing down, leaving him with zilch. Here is a case of a distinguished company putting a recreational activity above the progress and professionalism of its business.
One thing that must be made clear: The only people who get paid for their athletic ability are…wait for it…wait for it…professional athletes! So unless you work for a pro team, as an athlete, you should not be too worried about how cutthroat the sports competition is in your workplace. If you can throw out a guy at home from center field, well that’s just fantastic, but what really matters is how you perform at your job.
Next Up: “If you can’t be an athlete, be an athletic supporter.”
Tip #2: You Don’t Have to Play to Be a Team Player
Office sports leagues are meant to build camaraderie and encourage employees to bond outside the job. However, many people feel that if they don’t agree to participating in the office sporting event, they will be labeled a poor sport (pun intended). This isn’t true. If you don’t want to stake your professional reputation on how far you can throw a ball, you can still be a team player without being the star of the team.
If promotions were handed out based on success on the basketball court, I’d still be an intern cleaning out coffee grounds from the kitchen sink.
Simply showing up to a game to cheer on your team is a simple and fun way to take part; so is offering to bring water or snacks for the players. As well, attend the happy hour or dinner after the game to catch up and review the game’s highlights. And if you really want to be a non-playing member of the team, take it one step further and offer to be the event organizer. This way, you can be a team player even if you think a “sacrifice fly” is when a moth accidentally nosedives into a candle.
Tip #3: There’s a Sport for Everyone
Many people don’t like to participate in workplace-sponsored sports because they feel they can’t excel as well as their colleagues in the “Big Three” office sports: softball, (flag) football, or basketball. And I totally understand. I like to think that I can hang with softball and football, but basketball is hardly my forte. In fact, if promotions were handed out based on success on the basketball court, I’d still be an intern cleaning out coffee grounds from the kitchen sink. I take that back. I would be that intern’s intern. Luckily, I’ve yet to run into this problem. But if you can’t succeed at any of the available sports at your job, there is nothing wrong with launching another suitable sport at your job.
Many companies have expanded their sports programs to activities outside the Big Three to include games like kickball, dodgeball, broom ball, bowling, golf, and tennis. This is done to make games more accessible for more employees and not just for the 6’5” accountant who can dunk over everyone. When you allow alternative office sports it makes everyone feel more involved and not just from the sidelines.
So if you find yourself not digging the current list of sporting activities in your office, bring up alternatives to management and see what they think. Chances are you are not the only one who is worried about striking out in front of the entire company, but who can roll a mean strike at the bowling alley.
I delve a lot more into the challenges and opportunities of office sports in my new book Reply All…And Other Ways to Tank Your Career. It’s available for pre-order now as a paperback, ebook, and even as an audiobook, read by me!
Do you have a great story about the office sports at your job? Post all the details in the comment section. As always, if you have another manners question, I look forward to hearing from you at manners@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email. Follow me on Twitter @MannersQDT, and of course, check back next week for more Modern Manners Guy tips for a more polite life.
Office sports image courtesy of Shutterstock.