Planning ongoing fun and celebrations at work, with your family or friends, is a great way to do a group mind-cleansing. These ideas are known to improve relationships, increase creativity, make people feel appreciated, and build an invisible network of goodwill.
Most of the ideas below come from a survey of the most popular ideas used in medium to large organizations in North America. All the ideas have been tested and, more importantly, have been accepted with joy and appreciation and have produced positive results for the organizations that tested them. Use or be inspired by these ideas to customize your own for your group setting. Most of them cost little or nothing and require virtually no time beyond informing people about what’s going on. You can weave them into your day or use them to plan a special event. The most important thing is not just to talk about these ideas, but to put them into practice.
A. Fun rituals:
1. champagne celebration: Maybe the office just landed that big, hard-fought account, or maybe the division just had a productive week together. Why not celebrate working together, for whatever reason, with some champagne (or sparkling grape juice, if you prefer)?
2. kazoo claps: At Apple Computers, during a quarterly meeting, they handed out kazoos to the entire group. Instead of clapping hands (wow!), they hummed their acknowledgment on kazoos. How about trying slider whistles instead of mallets for formal gatherings? In fact, how about asking for a standing ovation? . . now?!
3. nose: There are a variety of rubber animal noses and red foam or plastic clown noses — bring them and use them for staff meetings, tough times, Fridays, etc.
Four. laugh one day: Bank of America corporate office launched a “Laugh a Day Challenge” for all of its Northern California employees. Throughout the month of April, employees were challenged to bring in a joke or cartoon every day to share with their coworkers. Those who successfully completed the Challenge were awarded a Corporate Challenge t-shirt and an internally published book filled with the best responses. [It’s important to note the spirit of the “challenge” NOT the “competition”. They weren’t looking for the best jokes to “win”, but simply the willingness to participate. Thus everyone wins, even the employees who did not bring in jokes, but who nonetheless got to hear them.]
5. Thanks in advance: We sure do enjoy ourselves and deserve to celebrate and be recognized for our contributions when we retire. But why wait? How about a party and celebration on the first day someone joins your business/organization? What a great way to set the tone and include them as team members.
6. contests: Try these at lunchtime or at social events: Balloon Shave, Lip Sync, Air Band (or Air Orchestra), Worst Hair Day, Giant Bubbles, Golf Course.
7. secret friend: Have everyone in the office/organization/division/etc. write their name, address, phone number, date of birth (actual date of birth for those who have nothing to hide), and a short list of things they like (such as: flowers, sports, chocolate, funny hats, exotic publications letters, music, etc.). Fold and put the strips in a hat. Then each person chooses a ballot, making sure no one has chosen their own name (if so, all the ballots go back in and try again). Once all the ballots are distributed and everyone has someone else’s name, the fun begins! You are the secret friend of the person whose name you have chosen. Over the course of the Secret Pal experience (we recommend at least three months) your “mission” is to do creative, spontaneous, fun and uplifting things for your partner… all anonymously of course. You can send flowers to your house; leave a note on their desk about how much you enjoy working together, or admiring their professional competence, or appreciating their contributions to the organization; Or, maybe just send a Valentine’s card in September with a note that you couldn’t wait until February to send your love. The important thing is that it’s fun and uplifting, and that it’s impossible for your partner to guess who your Secret Pal is. And of course, the extra special fun is that while you’re a Secret Friend to your lucky partner, someone else in the group is your Secret Friend and they’re doing fun stuff for you! At the end of the predetermined time period, hold a public event where secret friends are revealed.
B. Theme Days:
1. Clothes: Hats; socks (only one? uneven?); tacky tourist; tacky/ugly tie; clashing clothing; have a dress down day once a week/month. (It’s a way of acknowledging those “secret identities” we all seem to have; the sides of ourselves our friends see, but our coworkers, with whom, let’s face it, we actually get to spend more time— rarely get to see). In Hawaii, even TV news anchors sometimes wear Aloha shirts instead of “business clothes” during broadcasts. It’s a true nod to the playful spirit and joie de vivre in all of us; certain colors (eg, one color or a single family of colors, ebony and ivory, etc.); Inside out; crazy t-shirts; Pijama; eccentric accessories.
2. Meal: Having a meal upside down; orange peel notes; banana hot dogs; use food coloring to change the colors of food (blue potatoes? purple pasta?); top management may cook and serve food to employees; homemade banana splits; gourmet lunch; Food Olympics…
3. Celebrate: Special holidays; one-birthday; Tuesday; your laughing friends; standing ovations (in meetings, in the cafeteria); crazy prizes (bosses, employees, part-time staff); a person’s first day of work; arrivals at the airport; Christmas in July; summer beach party in February; helium balloons (notes inside, give them away, decorate or write messages on the outside); $1.00 present anonymous gift exchange; celebrity for a day; decorate your boss’s office…
Four. flowers: Bring them to decorate the office; gift them with a note of appreciation; having a bouquet that someone saves for an hour and then passes on to the next person; bouquets of balloons…
5. Photos: (baby, pets, cars, children) For the bulletin board; for newsletters; award meetings; the training room.
6. days of special people: Celebration of Secretaries Day; Family day: bring photos or bring the family to lunch, have lunch outside; special picnic day at the office; Gopher Day: Delegate things to people (ie you can go do this or that) or, if you walk in and see your shadow, you leave and don’t come back to work for six weeks; we offer massages on april 30…
7. day to be kind to others: (Of course this should be every day!) Do spontaneous and anonymous kind things for each other — for example, clean all the teacups in the staff room; finish a peer report; finish your wizard file…
8. apologies: Put up a piece of paper and ask people to contribute the best excuse they have heard or given: being late, returning merchandise, not paying the bill, etc. (use a real one, or make one up)
9. Awards: Night Each person is given the name of another person at work. They choose an award title and an appropriate award to go with it. Choose upbeat rewards, not humiliating ones. Here are some examples of titles and awards:
o The best blow-dried hair… can of salon mousse.
o The liveliest phone voice… new phone headsets.
o Good-natured morning person…Gift certificate for 10 cups of chai at the local tea shop.
o More legible handwriting…pen engraved with your name and company name.
C. In progress:
1. humor area: Create laugh books (people write funny anecdotes and non-toxic jokes; tie them up and distribute them at the end of the term or year); cartoon corner; jokes/cartoons in memos and newsletters; smile more; cartoon treasures or funny magazines in waiting areas and restrooms; laughing cart; a laugh room; comedy library of books, CD’s and DVD’s…
2. Games: Non-competitive/cooperative games; charades; parodies; secret word (when hearing the word, everyone crosses their legs or looks up or changes seats, etc.); treasure hunting…
3. The great job market: Trade jobs, clothes, offices for a day. Okay, okay, at least try an hour. 10 minutes?
Four. elevators: Smile, introduce people to each other (you don’t need to know them either) face everyone else; have cartoons on the side walls call for a lofty gathering.
5. What is good?: Begin meetings by asking each person “What is going well in your department?”
6. joy break box: Instead of having coffee or tea at 3:15, take ten minutes to do, read, or play something fun (read a novel, flip through a “Far Side” cartoon, flip through the pages of a comedy movie to watch later, listen to a comedy tape on your headphones); try to have a rule: “no talk about work” at breaks; create a Joybreak Committee to plan occasional group interactions and activities at break time.
7. Ride Meetings: For gatherings of 2-3 people, go for a walk together in nature
(bring a mini recorder to capture ideas and decisions for the minutes).
8. best mistakes: Stories allots 5 minutes during meetings for people to share recent embarrassing or funny stories from their work or personal life.
9. Wall: Place a large sheet of paper in a common area. Pick a topic and ask people to contribute to it over a period of time. They can draw pictures, doodle, write words, poetry, paste magazine clippings, etc.
10 lunch time fun: Go out to lunch with coworkers, all with funny noses or hats. Tip the waiter outrageously well. Sing the waiter a song for doing such a good job.
eleven not birthday (pick anyone and give them a surprise birthday party)
12 Decorate boss’s office with streamers, flowers and balloons
13 Way Forward Notes: Have you ever wanted to tell someone what you admire, respect, or appreciate about them, but never got around to it? Create a large envelope for each person at work and place it in a common area. Each week he invites everyone to write specific recognition notes to their bosses, employees, or even service providers, where they have been caught doing something right. Put your notes in the appropriate envelope. After a month, everyone opens their envelopes.
14 title contest: Place a cartoon without the title on the bulletin board in the staff area. Invite people to come up with a new caption that fits the cartoon. As people go about their day, they can read what other people have written and add to the list.