As a kid we spent many-a-day playing games with our classmates and neighbors. Once you’ve entered the corporate world, that doesn’t change. Here are 9 kids games adapted to the Corporate World.
Leap Frog. Spend years building your skills to get promoted to your dream position. Right when you think you’re going to get that promotion, get passed over for someone new to the company or that is close friends with the boss.
Spin the Bottle. Gather for your weekly status meeting. Spin a bottle on the table. Whoever it lands on is stuck working late that night.
Kick the Plan (and Update It With a New One). Set the plan you’ve been working months on in the middle of the floor. An executive runs over and kicks it over (because of budget cuts, time constraints, or just because). Work diligently on a new plan. Repeat.
Red Rover, Red Rover, Bring the Memo Over. Email a document to a senior executive. Wait 3 days, never hearing anything. Finally print out the document and take it to his desk.
Pillow Forts and Gate Reviews. The night before a major gate review, bring in pillows for the all-nighter you’re going to pull. Build a fort at 3am when you should be working.
Hide–And–Scope–Creep. Hide out in your office before your next meeting before your project sponsor. Leave your office for just a second and get caught by your sponsor who wants to add scope without increasing the budget or moving the deadline.
Duck, Duck, Choose. Have way too many projects to work. Click on each project folder until you yell “Choose,” then run around trying frantically to complete the project before coming back and starting again.
Padding Cake. With a coworker, add in some buffer time (padding) to your project schedule to account for changes and set-backs.
Tether–Phone. Work from a remote location with your team. Have your Wifi connection drop so you have to tether your phone to access email. When you exceed your data plan, switch to a team-member’s phone.
Note: These examples are tongue-in-cheek, but studies do show that play can be great stress relief. Find out more on the value of play.
