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.
- 10 Engagement-Building Behaviors for the Boss – Who’s the Boss? Here’s what you and Tony Danza can do to get better results from your team.
- Accidents Will Happen – As is the case with improv, depending on how you handle accidents afterwards, they are no longer accidents.
- Are Men In HR Going the Way of the Dinosaur? – Interesting question to consider about HR. 80% women attendees? I knew I should have majored in HR instead of Computer Science.
- The Art of Saying No – Why “Just Say No” isn’t just for D.A.R.E.
- Be Bodacious: Put Life in Your Leadership book review – Thoughts on how a book that includes chicken catching and chicken eating is great for leadership.
- Become Unnoticeable to Be Noticed – Getting noticed in the corporate world means doing the “non-sexy” work exceptionally well.
- Connecting, Building Relationships and Team Success – Just like good improv, good companies and projects focus on relationships.
- Creating Online Content and #socialrecruiting – Why creating online content is good, even if it’s LOLcats.
- Don’t Pick My Pocket Just Because I’m Female – Wo(ah)man, that’s not right–even in female dominated professions men are still paid disproportionately more money.
- Everyone has their own Trevor – Why “your cat not letting you do your work” is no longer a good excuse.
- Five Ways to Disarm an Angry Mob – AKA delivering not-necessarily-happy news. Does not cover how to create the angry mob.
- Getting the Most Out of International Assignments – Improving the value of international assignments regardless of currency, except Monopoly money.
- HR Technology Conference – It’s Just Around The Corner. Are You Ready? – HR Technology Conference reminder, be there or be without awesome HR technology.
- Infinite Choice – The “Analog vs Digital” argument for decision-making.
- Leadership Development: Executive Self-Assessment – Pop quiz, hot shot! An informative assessment on leadership development.
- M&A Observations: StepStone Solutions Acquires MrTed — Who’s Next – Thoughts on happenings in the talent management software market.
- The Problem is Likely Not the Person Pointing Out The Problem – Further exploration as to why you shouldn’t shoot the messenger, even if it is ICQ.
- Seven Ways to Build Rapport Anytime – Rap-port isn’t just a dock for hip hop music. Here’s how to build the other kind of rapport.
- Teamwork or Talent? – Why Teamwork and Talent are both important and why I don’t want to hang out with Oz.
- Three Reasons Why Small Companies Do Not Use Pre Employment Hiring Assessments – The title says it all.
- Top 10 Reasons Why HR Professionals Should Use Metrics – I, too, am all for the metric system (both in terms of measuring results and the system of measurement).
- Training Series: Calling Yourself a “Trainer” doesn’t make you one – Some good thoughts on training, kind of like the corporate version or “a house is not a home.”
- Uncle Joe’s Employee Engagement Funda – Kick Once Kiss Thrice – What you can learn about leadership from a interesting, old, Indian shopkeeper.
- Understanding Employee Turnover – The costs of turnover. Apple turnover is $1.99.
- Voluntary vs Involuntary – Not about turnover this time – Avoid coworkers screaming “TMI! TMI!” after a story about your weekend by thinking about if they are a voluntary or involuntary friend.
- Well Duckie, we’re only as lucky as the next net job. – No it’s not about the rules of “Duck Duck Goose” but rather a compelling look at the job market.
- 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…
- Where I rant about Immigration Laws… – “I-9.” “Bingo!” — An HR perspective on Immigration Law.
That’s it for this week’s edition of the Carnival of HR. Round of applause for the authors, well done.
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 of you being happier three times more than if you got the $5,000 raise.
The study found that if a friend of a friend of a friend is happy, you have a six percent chance of being happier (versus two percent caused by a $5,000 pay raise). If it’s a friend of a friend who’s happy, the odds jump to 10 percent, and if it’s a direct friend, 15 percent.
They also discovered that this works for sour moods as well, though not as strongly. Each “unhappy connection” decreased the chance of a person being happy by seven percent. That means if you have 14 friends, friends of friends, or friends of friends of friends who are unhappy, you are 98% more likely to be unhappy.
How does that affect you? Well in addition to underscoring the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are generally happy, it also emphasizes the impact you have on other people. When you’re happy, you increase the liklihood of your friends being happy by 15 percent (and people you don’t even know by six percent)!
So if not for yourself, than for the good of mankind (that might be a slight exaggeration), be happy.
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 you are excited, nervous, and curious about where things might lead.
Because if not, what’s the point? If you aren’t excited about becoming healthier as you start your new exercise regimen; if you don’t feel nervous about the new promotion you just received; if you aren’t the least bit curious about how a new relationship (platonic or otherwise) might pan out–what’s the point of even doing it? Instead, find something that does make you feel that way.
Life is short, be doing something memorable.
