Build office humor, have fun at work, and live happier.

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team-building

by Drew on August 13, 2010 in How-To Humor

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!

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by Drew on August 4, 2010 in What I Learned From

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.

carnival of hr

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.

That’s it for this week’s edition of the Carnival of HR.  Round of applause for the authors, well done.

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by Drew on July 16, 2010 in Learn with Humor

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 I could host at my company off-site?

A: Improv

Q: How can I build trust with my co-workers?

A: Improv

Q: Is there a team-building activity that’s actually fun?

A: Improv

Q: How do I teach someone about humor?

A: Improv

Q: What’s a fun and easy way to get started in comedy?

A: Improv

Q: What is the shorter word for improvisation?

A: Improv

To learn more about improv, check out these other great improv posts.

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by Drew on June 2, 2010 in How-To Humor

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 for spicing up your standard introductions.

A quick caveat: there are thousands of interesting questions to get to know someone, but I’ve found that the below questions (pulled from games like “Table Topics“, shows like Inside the Actor’s Studio, and from my own brain) are unique or interesting enough to force a person to think.  If they’ve been asked the same question a thousand times before, it’s not as effective in engaging the person in your conversation.  And these are just a starting point; take these team-building questions and modify them to meet your needs and situation.

Favorites Questions
Asking someone about their favorite blank is a great way to get know them better and learn about their preferences and opinions. These questions are good for when you are first meeting someone and are easy to incorporate as part of introductions in a larger group, such as asking each person to say their name, role, and favorite food as a child.

  1. What was your favorite food when you were a child?
  2. What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod?
  3. What is one of your favorite quotes?
  4. What’s your favorite indoor/outdoor activity?
  5. What chore do you absolutely hate doing?
  6. What is your favorite form of exercise?
  7. What is your favorite time of day/day of the week/month of the year?
  8. What’s your least favorite mode of transportation?
  9. What is your favorite body part?
  10. What sound do you love?

If… Questions
Hypothetical questions help you learn more about another person’s personality, as well as their ideal state of the world. Since many of these questions might evoke longer responses, they are better suited for one-on-one conversations or smaller group discussions.

  1. If you could throw any kind of party, what would it be like and what would it be for?
  2. If you could paint a picture of any scenery you’ve seen before, what would you paint?
  3. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?
  4. If you knew the world was ending in 2012, what would you do differently?
  5. If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?
  6. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
  7. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
  8. If you had to work on only one project for the next year, what would it be?
  9. If you were immortal for a day, what would you do?
  10. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?
  11. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?
  12. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?
  13. If you were reincarnated as an animal/drink/ice cream flavor, what would it be?
  14. If you could know the answer to any question, besides “What is the meaning of life?”, what would it be?
  15. If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose?

Personal Questions
Asking personal questions gets right to the purpose of getting to know someone and can be used in smaller groups with elaborate answers or larger groups with quick responses.

  1. Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?
  2. What do you want to be when you grow up?
  3. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?
  4. What would you name the autobiography of your life?
  5. What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?

Personal History Questions
Questions involving people’s past help give you insight into their character and background by revealing memorable moments from the person’s life. These are great for one-on-one interactions or for smaller, more intimate groups. These questions help build trust as they are more personal than some of the other types of questions.

  1. Have you ever had something happen to you that you thought was bad but it turned out to be for the best?
  2. What was one of the best parties you’ve ever been to?
  3. What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?
  4. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
  5. What was the last experience that made you a stronger person?
  6. What did you do growing up that got you into trouble?
  7. When was the last time you had an amazing meal?
  8. What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?
  9. What do you miss most about being a kid?
  10. What is your first memory of being really excited?
  11. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
  12. When was the last time you were nervous?
  13. What is something you learned in the last week?
  14. What story does your family always tell about you?
  15. At what age did you become an adult?

Random Questions
Random questions can be a great way to add some quirkiness to introductions or a conversation. These are best used when each person gets a different question because they intentionally break people’s expectations with an abstract question in the midst of a variety of other questions.

  1. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Elaborate.
  2. Where’s Waldo?
  3. The best part of waking up is?
  4. How now brown cow?
  5. Whasssssuuuupppppp?

What’s your favorite question to get to know someone?  Share it with the rest of us in the comments.

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101 Ways to Create Humor at Work

September 24, 2009

With all of the benefits to having humor in the workplace, every office could stand to have a little more fun.  But how do you incorporate humor into the corporate world?  It’s easier than you might think. From individual activities such as reading office jokes, to team-building games using improv, to community-wide fun at work [...]

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5 Ways to Start Building a Community

September 16, 2009

Building a community in any company can prove challenging. Few people have the personality necessary to build the strong network needed to thrive in the corporate environment. If yours is a company in need of teamwork, camaraderie, and community, it is your job as a leader to help foster those relationships. And I’m not just [...]

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Psychology, Laughter and Humor

September 2, 2009

I recently found a fascinating presentation by Alleen Nilsen and Don L.F. Nilsen that explores the psychology of humor.  The PowerPoint contains more slides for references than it does content, so you know it’s a great consolidated work of a number of studies looking at humor and psychology. Some highlights from the presentation include a [...]

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The Mind of a Funsmith, Part 2

August 26, 2009

Note: This is part 2 of an interview with Bernie DeKoven.  For the audio of the interview, check out The Mind of a Funsmith, an Interview with Bernie DeKoven.  For part 1, check out The Mind of a Funsmith, Part 1. Drew: You mentioned something interesting there about inviting them to change the rules.  One [...]

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The Mind of a Funsmith, Part 1

August 25, 2009

Note: This is part 1 of an interview with Bernie DeKoven.  For the audio of the interview, check out The Mind of a Funsmith, an Interview with Bernie DeKoven. Drew: Welcome to another interview with Humor That Works.  Today we are talking to Bernie DeKoven, the funsmith, author of a number of websites that deal [...]

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The Mind of a Funsmith, an Interview with Bernie DeKoven

August 24, 2009

Bernie DeKoven, Master Funsmith and author of DeepFun.com, JunkyardSports.com, and MajorFun.com, has over 40 years of experience with games and play for both kids and adults.  I sat down with Bernie to talk about the value of play, not only in the workplace, but in life in general. You can listen to the interview below: [...]

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