I went to Cape Cod, MA this past weekend for a wedding and a short vacation from my obligations in New York. Foolishly (or so I thought), I left my phone charger in my apartment and soon realized my phone was not going to last the duration of the weekend.
As it turns out, this “mistake” was actually exactly what I needed to relax. I couldn’t constantly check my email, Twitter went a few days without an update, and anything unrelated to the wedding or my relaxation was put on hold until I returned to the city–and surprisingly the world didn’t self-destruct because I was disconnected. I was OK in an absolute emergency since I could turn my phone on to use the remaining 20% battery, but I had to be frugal with how often I really had to connect to my everyday life. I found the answer was not very often.
So if you really want to disconnect for a weekend, leave your charger at home. You won’t have the power to recharge your phone, but you will have the power to unplug.
One of my favorite team-building activities of late has been the “Line Up.” It’s an exercise that involves all of the participants lining up single-file according to a specified criteria. As an example, you might have everyone line-up alphabetically by first name. As you specify different criteria, you can add conditions like not being able to talk or having everyone close their eyes.
The normal exercise is great for large groups–you get people moving around and visually learning about their peers through where they stand in each line. However the real fun I’ve had with the exercise is with smaller teams. Having 7-10 people go through the exercise gives you time to discuss the different challenges and really get to know each other.
If you’d like to incorporate the Line Up team-building activity into your next gathering, you can follow the instructions in the following presentation, or download it and take it with you. The presentation provides instructions, an example, and a set of 8 criteria that build trust each step of the way. Some additional team-building tips are included after the presentation.
Some additional tips to make the most of this team-building activity:
There are countless other criteria you could use; if you decide to switch them up, think about what topics the participants would gain from learning about each other.
The order of the slides is important as the challenges should slowly build in amount of discussion and intimacy of questions.
The last challenge allows you to gauge the effectiveness of the exercise. Regardless of how people respond, you can share with them one of my favorite notes about team-building:
“Studies show that people become closer when they share emotion and experiences. So if you guys love this exercise, then I’ve done my job because you’ve become closer over the activity. If you guys hated this exercise, I’ve still done my job because you’ve become closer together over all hating me for making you do it.”
Done this activity before? What’s your favorite criteria to use? Share it in the comments!
If you’re correctly applying humor at work, one of the groups you’ll be talking to is HR. Not because they’ll be scolding you for taking a break at 3pm to run down a Slip N Slide in the company’s front lawn, but because they’ll be yearning to learn more about the amazing benefits of humor.
With that in mind, I have the pleasure of hosting this week’s Carnival of HR–a gathering of awesome HR-related posts from around the web. Check out the below links for topics ranging from leadership to teambuilding to chickens (sorta). And be sure to follow these folks on Twitter or RSS–they have some amazing blogs and are just the kind of people you’ll need to know when you have to explain to HR why pulling an office prank on your CEO is totally a good idea.
What’s Your IQ? – Discussion on some of the misconceptions of innovation, such as the fact that INN-ovation is not about enthusiastic responses about hotels…
The most recent Old Spice campaign has generated over 100 million views online; the Old Spice channel on Youtube has over 100,000 subscribers; there are nearly 700,000 fans on Facebook. What started out as a well-done commercial for Old Spice has turned into a hilarious internet phenom–and all of this for body wash and deodorant.
Isaiah Mustafa, aka The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, has helped launch the Old Spice brand into social media stardom with one of the most popular social media campaigns of all time. The original video (shown below) generated 15 million views on Youtube and over 20,000 comments. But the Old Spice group wasn’t done. They’ve since released another video (now with over 10 million views) and have made over 180 video responses to social media comments–generating thousands more comments and over 100 million views online.
The entire campaign has been a showcase for the power of humor. The reason the videos have exploded into popularity is, simply put, they are hilarious (although I’m sure having an attractive, athletic man with no shirt on doesn’t hurt).
What’s so Humorous
I could try to describe all of the intricate details of what makes the videos work, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so the video is probably worth a million:
Why the Humor Works
The collective humor of the entire Old Spice campaign works for a number of reasons, many of which are re-applicable to a variety of work contexts (not just marketing):
They know their audience. The commercials speak directly to women (“Hello Ladies”) but are targeted to both men (the amount of humor and assumptions about what women want) and women (making a man smell better and a man with no shirt on). What’s more, when the original commercial went viral, the agency realized the most receptive audience wasn’t people sitting on a couch watching TV but people at their computers, so they went to the interwebs with direct video responses to comments made by influential social media moguls.
They are confident. Part of the reason the commercials are so successful (and why Mustafa now has a development deal) is because Mustafa plays the role perfectly and is confident with everything he is saying. If he meekly tried to deliver these lines, it would never have worked–it’s his swagger that defines the humor.
They have the element of surprise. Laughter is caused by a break in expectation, and the videos are one surprise after another. The flowing changes in scenery and objects constantly surprises us with delight as we see The Man Your Man Could Smell Like go from a shower to a boat to riding a horse in one seamless take.
Of course there’s more than just those 3 elements to consider–such as the hard work by the agency to do clever writing, proper promotion, and the shear work required to create over 150 videos responses, but those basics are something we can all learn from the videos. And if you’re wondering how they could create so many videos (shooting as many as 40 in one day) in such a short time, the answer is improv. In a talk with GameChangers, Dean McBeth, Digital Strategist on the Old Spice brand said “Improvisation is the single most important factor in the success of the Old Spice Guy campaign.”
Q: What can I study to become a better presenter? A: Improv Q: Is there a way to learn how to think on my feet? A: Improv Q: What can I do to improve my creativity? A: Improv Q: How can I demonstrate the keys to successful communication? A: Improv Q: What’s a fun event [...]
Which do you think would make you happier, receiving a $5,000 pay raise or having a friend of a friend of a friend who is generally happy? According to a recent survey conducted at Harvard Medical School, the friend of a friend of a friend (aka someone you’ve never met) being happy increases the chance [...]
Do you remember your first kiss? The excitement. The nervousness. The curiosity. All of it leading up to a pivotal moment in your life. Those types of moments are hard to forget. That’s how you should feel whenever you start something new, whether it’s a project, job or relationship. Those “firsts” should be memorable because [...]
What would you do if you suddenly became paralyzed from the waist down? Well, if you’re Sally Franz, you write a book about the experience. I sat down with the Scrambled Leggs author to talk to her about her book and how she uses humor as means to an end. What end? Listen and find [...]
Humor has many benefits–it can bring you closer to another person, ease the tension in a room and help you deal with difficult circumstances, like becoming paralyzed. Such is the tale in Sally Franz’s Scrambled Leggs: A Snarky Tale of Hospital Hooey, a book about laughter, pain, and everything in between. In the eBook, Sally tells [...]
Want to get to know me better (or anyone really)? Just ask one of the below “get to know you” questions… they’re meant to be fun, interesting questions that can help you learn more about the person you are talking to. These questions can be great for team-building, learning more about your fellow co-workers, and [...]
The most recent Old Spice campaign has generated over 100 million views online; the Old Spice channel on Youtube has over 100,000 subscribers; there are nearly 700,000 fans on Facebook. What started out as a well-done commercial for Old Spice has turned into a hilarious internet phenom–and all of this for body wash and deodorant.
