When team members are relaxed and having fun, the chances of creating a motivated environment are much better. Managers can bring fun to the workplace in several ways:
Set aside a fun room or cubicle. Many companies have a room where staff can go when they are feeling stressed out or need to get a few laughs. Outfit these rooms with games, comedy videos, joke books, etc.
Do the unexpected. Walk into your next staff meeting backward, or when a team member asks where the luncheon is say, "I don’t know, I have eaten already." Do it in the spirit of levity.
Have a fun squad. Their mission is to find ways that the team can have fun together at work. Managers need to give everyone a chance to be on the fun squad.
Don’t postpone fun. Managers may plan ways for their teams to have fun, whether it’s at the office party or the offsite next month. Also, try to allow your team members some fun on the job each day.
Meet informally. Once in a while have a meeting outdoors or at a local coffee shop. Team members will be more relaxed and more communicative in the informal setting. Personal barriers between team members will also break down. Have some treats at the meeting as well.
Schedule a 2:00 joke. Gather your team together at 2:00 P.M. each day for one or two minutes. Have a different team member tell a joke each day. This little tactic will reenergize your team, especially at a time in the afternoon when people’s productivity may be in a lull.
Have a Friday party. Ask your team members to work fifteen minutes longer each day and then on Friday at 4:00 P.M. have a party—or let the staff leave early.
Hold competitive games. Bring your group together and ask them to develop an original competitive game that two or more people can plan. They can use any materials or resources from their desks or from the office. They will have fun developing these games and a blast playing them. Give out some token prizes.
Hold a laugh contest. Have your team members keep a log of how many good laughs they have each week. They have to record what made them laugh. The laughs have to be belly laughs. The team takes the winner out to dinner at the end of the month.
Create a grab bag. Each team member has to bring in a prize for under $2. The prizes have to be silly and get laughs. They have to be wrapped. Put all the prizes in a big box. Team members pick someone else’s prize.
Hold brainstorming sessions for fun. Ask your team to brainstorm a new service or product that currently does not exist but will make millions of dollars. Or let them dream up new uses for an old toothbrush. Or have them "problem solve" a unique situation: What would happen if tomorrow morning everyone in the world woke up two feet shorter? What problems would the world have? Or what are the advantages and disadvantages of a five-year renewable marriage contract?
Have a spelling bee. Make a list of all the technical words that the company uses and then have a spelling bee. The winner gets a prize.
Practice creativity exercises. To stimulate thinking before an actual problem-solving meeting, engage the team in a couple of creativity-building exercises. Ask them to take thirty seconds to list everything in the room that is less than one pound. Or ask them to make a list of everything that is round.
Have a fun networking bulletin board. Encourage your team members to let others know if they are planning a fun activity and want others to join in. A team member posts her idea, the time, place, cost, etc. on the bulletin board and those who are interested respond to her directly.
Establish a money jar. Collect enough money to have a dinner or go to a sporting event. Every time someone is being negative about work—vocally or in a more subtle way—they have to put a dollar in the money jar.