Planning on-going fun and celebration at work, with your family or friends is an exquisite way to do group thinking flossing. These ideas have been known to heighten relationships, heighten creativity, make citizen feel appreciated, and build an invisible web of goodwill.
Most of the ideas below come from a observe of the most beloved ideas used at medium to large organizations in North America. All the ideas have really been tried, and more importantly, they have been thorough with joy and appreciation and have produced distinct results for the organizations that tried them. Use these ideas or let them inspire you to customize your own for your group environment. Most of them cost miniature or nothing and need virtually no time beyond informing citizen about what's happening. You can weave them into your day or use them to plan a extra event. The most foremost thing is to not just talk about these ideas, but really do them.
Valentine Gifts For Baby
A. Fun Rituals:
1. Champagne Celebration: Maybe the office has just landed that big, long-fought-for account, or, maybe the department has just had a productive week together. Why not celebrate working together---for any reason---with some champagne (or sparkling grape juice if you prefer)?
2. Kazoo Applause: At Apple Computers, during a quarterly meeting, they gave out kazoos to the whole group. Rather than applauding by clapping hands (how passé!), they hummed their acknowledgment with kazoos. How about trying slide whistles instead of gavels for formal meetings? In fact, how about asking for a standing ovation . . . Right now?!
3. Noses: There are a range of rubber animal noses and red foam or plastic clown noses---bring 'em in and wear for staff meetings, tough times, on Fridays, etc.
4. Laugh a Day: The corporate office of Bank of America issued a "Laugh a Day Challenge" to all its Northern California employees. For the entire month of April, employees were challenged to bring in a joke or cartoon every day to share with their co-workers. Those citizen successfully completing the Challenge were given a Corporate Challenge T-Shirt, and a book, internally published, filled with the best responses. [It's foremost to note the spirit of the "challenge" Not the "competition". They weren't seeing for the best jokes to "win", but simply the willingness to participate. Thus everybody wins, even the employees who did not bring in jokes, but who nonetheless got to hear them.]
5. Thanks in Advance: Sure we enjoy and deserve to celebrate and be acknowledged for our contributions when we retire. But, why wait?! How about a party and a celebration on the first day of a person's joining your company/organization? What a great way to set the tone and consist of them as a member of the team.
6. Contests: Try these at lunchtime or at social events: Balloon shaving, Lip synch, Air band (or air orchestra), Worst Hair Day, Giant bubbles, Golf course.
7. Secret Pal: Have everybody in the office/organization/division/etc. Write his/her name, address, phone number, birth date (actual date of birth for those with nothing to hide!), and a short list of things they like (such as: flowers, sports, chocolate, funny hats, exotic post cards, music, etc.). Fold and put slips in a hat. Then each someone picks a slip --- making sure that no one has picked their own name (if so, all slips go back in and try again). Once all slips are distributed and everybody has someone else's name, the fun begins! You are the inexpressive Pal to the someone whose name you've picked. Over the course of the inexpressive Pal contact (we suggest at least three months) your "mission" is to do creative, spontaneous, fun, and enlivening things for your partner...all anonymously of course. You might send flowers to his/her home; leave a note on her desk about how much you enjoy working together, or admire her pro competence, or appreciate his contributions to the organization; or, perhaps, simply send a Valentine's card in September with a note that you just couldn't wait until February to send your love. The foremost thing is to make it fun and uplifting--and impossible for your partner to guess who their inexpressive Pal is. And, of course, the extra extra fun is that while you are being a inexpressive Pal to your lucky partner, someone else in the group is your inexpressive Pal, and is doing fun things for you! At the end of the predetermined time span, have a social event where inexpressive Pals are revealed.
B. Theme Days:
1. Clothes: Hats; socks (one only? mismatched?); tacky tourist; tacky/ugly tie; clashing clothes; have Casual Dress Day once a week/month. (it's a way to talk those "secret identities" we all seem to have; the sides of ourselves that our friends see, but that our co-workers--who, let's face it, we may really spend more time with---rarely get to see). In Hawaii, on chance even the television newscasters wear Aloha shirts rather than "business clothing" during broadcasts. It's a real nod to the playful, joie de vivre spirit in all of us; distinct colors (eg. One color, or color family only, ebony & ivory, etc.); inside-out; crazy T-shirts; pajamas; eccentric accessories.
2. Food: Have a backward meal; notes on orange rind; hot dog bananas; use food colors to convert colors of food (blue potatoes? purple pasta?); senior supervision can cook and serve food to employees; do-it-yourself banana splits; epicurean lunch; food Olympics...
3. Celebrate: extra holidays; un-birthdays; Tuesdays; your giggling friends; standing ovations (at meetings, in the cafeteria); crazy awards (to bosses, to employees, part-time staff); a person's first day on the job; airport arrivals; Christmas in July; summer beach party in February; helium balloons (notes inside, give 'em away, decorate or write messages on the outside); .00 gift anonymous gift exchange; celebrity for a day; decorate your boss' office...
4. Flowers: Bring 'em in to adorn the office; give 'em away with a note of acknowledgment; have a bouquet that someone keeps for an hour and then passes on to the next person; balloon bouquets...
5. Photos: (baby, pets, cars, kids) For the bulletin board; for newsletters; awards meetings; the training room.
6. Special someone Days: Secretaries Day celebrations; family Day: bring in photos or bring in the family for lunch, have a lunch out; extra office picnic day; Gopher Day: delegate things to citizen (ie, will you please go-fer this or that) or, if you come in and see your shadow, you leave and don't return to work for six weeks; offer massages on April 30...
7. Be Kind to Others Day: (Of course this should really be every day!) Do spontaneous, anonymous kind things for each other---eg., clean all the tea cups in the staff room; conclude a colleagues report; conclude your assistant's filing...
8. Excuses: Put up a sheet of paper and ask citizen to lead the best excuse they've ever heard or given for: being late, returning merchandise, not paying their bill, etc. (use a real one, or make one up)
9. Awards: Night Each someone gets given the name of someone else at work. They select an award title and a fitting prize to go with it. select upbeat, non put-down prizes. Here are some examples of titles and awards:
o Best blow-dried hair...can of salon mousse.
o Perkiest phone voice...new phone headset.
o Most good-natured morning person...gift certificate for 10 cups of chai at local tea shop.
o Most legible handwriting... Pen embossed with their name and enterprise name.
C. On Going:
1. Humor Area: generate laugh books (people write in funny anecdotes and non-toxic jokes; bind them and distribute at the end of the quarter or year); cartoon corner; jokes/cartoons on memos and newsletters; smile more; cartoon treasuries or funny magazines in waiting areas and bathrooms; laughter cart; a laughter room; comedy library of books, Cd's and Dvd's...
2. Games: Non-competitive/cooperative games; charades; skits; inexpressive word (upon hearing the word, everybody crosses legs or looks up or changes seats, etc.); treasure hunt...
3. The Great Job Exchange: Trade jobs, clothes, offices for a day. Ok, Ok, at least try an hour. 10 minutes?
4. Elevators: Smile, introduce citizen to each other (you don't have to know them either) face everybody else; have cartoons on the side walls call an elevated meeting.
5. What's Good?: Begin meetings by asking each someone "What's going good in your dept?"
6. Joy Break Box: Instead of having coffee or tea at 3:15, take ten minutes off to do, read or play something fun (read a novel, thumb straight through a "Far Side" cartoon book, check out the movie pages for a comedy film to see later, listen to a comedy tape on your headphones); try to have a rule: "no-work-talk" on breaks; generate a Joybreak Committee to plan occasional group break-time interactions and activities.
7. Stroll Meetings: For 2-3 someone meetings, go on a walk together in nature
(bring a mini recorder to capture ideas and decisions for the minutes).
8. Best Mistakes: Stories allot 5 minutes during meetings for citizen to share any up-to-date embarrassing or funny stories from their work or personal life.
9. Mural: Put up a large piece of paper in a base area. Pick a theme and ask citizen to lead to it over a period of time. They can draw pictures, doodles, write words, poetry, paste magazine clippings, etc.
10. Lunchtime Fun: Go out to lunch with co-workers all wearing noses or fun hats. Give an outrageously good tip to the waiter. Sing the waiter a song for doing such a good job.
11. Unbirthdays (pick whatever and give them a surprise birthday party)
12. Decorate the boss's office with streamers, flowers and balloons
13. Way to Go notes: Have you ever wanted to tell someone what you admire, respect or appreciate about them, but never got around to it? generate a large envelope for each someone at work and put them in a base area. Each week invite everybody to write notes of exact acknowledgment to their bosses, employees or even assistance providers--where you have caught them doing something right. Put your notes in the thorough envelope. After one month, everybody opens their envelopes.
14. Caption Contest: Put up a cartoon without the caption on the staff area bulletin board. invite citizen to make up a new caption that fits the cartoon. As citizen go straight through their day they can read what other citizen wrote and add to the list.
Celebration For Success Ideas