The MyAds team recently organized a team outing at a  bowling alley near our LA HQ. Megan Hartman, MyAds Support Specialist, shares with us the highlights.

Megan Hartman

“The transition from working for a startup under the umbrella of a major corporation to an independent startup is a journey filled with consolidation, new experiences, trials, and a test of character. And one of the greatest aspects about learning to work for a startup? The intimacy and transparency that is shared between a smaller group of cohorts. While this intimacy and changed work environment takes time to acclimate to, a couple of tools to breaking down the barrier of learned behavior and preconceived notions are group outings and team building exercises.

With this in mind, ‘Rubicon Bowl-o-Rama 2010 Team Challenge’ was manifested by Steve Wilcox and Amber McCarty, and executed by Allison King and Nicole Smith, with some assistance in facilitation from myself. This was not only an event created to boost morale and to show off bowling skills, but also one for introductions, as well to teach us the importance and benefit of working together as a team.

All teams were a combination of  legacy Rubicon members and legacy MyAds team members. Each team was allowed the creativity of coming up with kitschy team names: ‘Split Happens’, ‘Two Guys & Three Girls Walk Into a Bowling Alley’, ‘RTFB (Roll the freaking ball!), ‘The Incredi-bowls’, ‘Alley-OOPS!’, ‘Big Balls of Fury’, and ‘RTB (Real Time Bowlers)’. And creative we did get. Team ‘Alley-OOPS!’ was so enthusiastic that they wore purple sweatbands to show their competitive streak.

Awesome prizes that consisted of holiday-themed baskets filled with eats, sweets, treats, martini-mixers, and more were passed out for wins such as top scores, most strikes, most spares and most enthusiastic.

As a testimony from one of the bowlers himself, it appears that Ryan Bulaon had a bowling-good time:
“Bowling with everyone was awesome! I only really knew one person on my team, so it allowed me to get to know people from other departments in a competitive team setting. Especially enjoyable: bowling while holding a partner’s hand. Not so enjoyable: fearing for my life as I stood in line in front of the bowler as the bowler attempted to bowl between our legs. Other than that, I had a blast!”

This outing was a shining example that those on the other side of the building are just as fun as many of us know we also are! It also planted the seed and the desire for many of us to want to learn more about our colleagues, our company, our business, and our industry. As a wise woman once quoted a very wise man: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts” -Aristotle. While this is a quote that I acquired sometime during my school years, I found it to be reemphasized during my time working with Amber McCarty, MyAds Support Manager, as she is an advocate for teamwork.

Through this group activity, I learned that it’s okay to loosen up around my peers because we all like to get a little crazy sometimes, and we all need to get a little crazy sometimes. I also learned that the union of MyAds and Rubicon is more like pieces to a puzzle coming together, rather than a formal business acquisition. And that’s how we should look at it- as though we’re working together towards completing the puzzle/goal: giving power to the publisher. After all, we spend more time together than at home, right?” – Megan Hartman