Ideas to celebrate success

Planning ongoing fun and celebrations at work, with your family, or with friends is a great way to do a group mental cleanse. These ideas are known to improve relationships, increase creativity, make people feel appreciated, and build an invisible web of goodwill.

Most of the ideas below come from a survey of the most popular ideas used in medium and large organizations in North America. All ideas have been tried and, more importantly, have been accepted with joy and appreciation and have produced positive results for the organizations that have tried them. Use or be inspired by these ideas to customize your own for your group setting. Most of them cost little or nothing and require virtually no time beyond letting people know what’s going on. You can weave them into your day or use them to plan a special event. The most important thing is not just to talk about these ideas, but to put them into practice.

A. Fun rituals:

one. champagne celebration: Maybe the office just got that big, hard-fought account, or maybe the division just had a productive week together. Why not celebrate working together, for whatever reason, with a little champagne (or sparkling grape juice, if you prefer)?

two. kazoo cheers: At Apple Computers, during a quarterly meeting, they handed out kazoos to the entire group. Instead of clapping their hands (how cool!), they hummed their acknowledgment with kazoos. How about trying slide whistles instead of mallets for formal gatherings? In fact, how about asking for a standing ovation? . . right now?!

3. nose: There are a variety of rubber animal noses and red foam or plastic clown noses — bring them and use them for staff meetings, hard times, Fridays, etc.

Four. laugh one day: The corporate office of Bank of America launched a “Laugh a Day Challenge” for all its employees in Northern California. Throughout the month of April, employees were challenged to bring in a joke or cartoon each day to share with their co-workers. Those who successfully completed the Challenge were given a Corporate Challenge t-shirt and a book, published internally, filled with the best answers. [It’s important to note the spirit of the “challenge” NOT the “competition”. They weren’t looking for the best jokes to “win”, but simply the willingness to participate. Thus everyone wins, even the employees who did not bring in jokes, but who nonetheless got to hear them.]

5. Thanks in advance: We sure enjoy and deserve to celebrate and be recognized for our contributions when we retire. But why wait? How about a party and celebration on the first day of a person joining your company/organization? What a great way to set the tone and include them as team members.

6. contests: Try these at lunchtime or social events: Balloon Shave, Lip Sync, Air Band (or Air Orchestra), Worst Hair Day, Giant Bubbles, Golf Course.

7. secret friend: Have everyone in the office/organization/division/etc. write their name, address, phone number, date of birth (actual birth date for those with nothing to hide), and a short list of things they like (such as: flowers, sports, chocolate, funny hats, exotic publications letters, music, etc.). Fold and put the strips in a hat. Then each person chooses a ballot, making sure no one has chosen their own name (if so, all ballots go back in and try again). Once all the ballots are distributed and everyone has someone else’s name, the fun begins! You are the secret friend of the person whose name you have chosen. Over the course of the Secret Pal experience (we recommend at least three months) your “mission” is to do creative, spontaneous, fun, upbeat things for your partner… all anonymously, of course. You can send flowers to your home; leave a note on his desk about how much you enjoy working together, or admire his professional competence, or appreciate his contributions to the organization; Or, maybe just send a Valentine’s card in September with a note that you couldn’t wait until February to send your love. The important thing is that it’s fun and uplifting, and that it’s impossible for your partner to guess who their Secret Friend is. And of course, the extra special fun is that while you’re a Secret Friend to your lucky partner, someone else in the group is your Secret Friend and they’re doing fun things for you! At the end of the predetermined time period, hold a public event where the secret friends are revealed.

B. Theme days:

one. Clothing: Hats; socks (just one? uneven?); tasteless tourist; tacky/ugly tie; clashing clothes; have a dress down day once a week/month. (It’s a way of acknowledging those “secret identities” we all seem to have; the sides of ourselves that our friends see, but our co-workers, who, let’s face it, we actually get to spend more time with—rarely come to see). In Hawaii, even TV news anchors sometimes wear Aloha shirts instead of “business attire” during broadcasts. It is a true nod to the playful spirit and joie de vivre that we all carry inside; certain colors (eg, one color or a single color family, ebony and ivory, etc.); Inside out; crazy t-shirts; Pijama; eccentric accessories.

two. Food: Have a meal upside down; orange peel notes; banana hotdogs; use food dyes to change the colors of foods (blue potatoes? purple pasta?); top management may cook and serve food to employees; homemade banana splits; gourmet lunch; Food Olympics…

3. Celebrate: Special holidays; one-birthday; Tuesday; your laughing friends; standing ovations (in meetings, in the cafeteria); crazy prizes (to bosses, to employees, part-timers); a person’s first day of work; airport arrivals; Christmas in July; summer beach party in February; helium balloons (notes inside, give them away, decorate or write messages on the outside); $1.00 present anonymous gift exchange; celebrity for a day; decorate your boss’s office…

Four. flowers: Bring them to decorate the office; give them away with a note of appreciation; having a bouquet that someone keeps for an hour and then passes on to the next person; balloon bouquets…

5. Images: (baby, pets, cars, children) For the bulletin board; for newsletters; awards meetings; the training room.

6. special people days: Secretaries’ Day Celebration; Family day: bring photos or bring the family to lunch, have lunch out; special picnic day at the office; Gopher Day: Delegate things to people (ie you can go do this or do that) or, if you walk in and see your shadow, you walk out and don’t come back to work for six weeks; we offer massages on April 30th…

7. Day of being kind to others: (Of course this should be every day!) Do spontaneous and anonymous kind things for each other — for example, clean all the teacups in the staff room; finish a peer report; finish your wizard file…

8. apologies: Put out a sheet of paper and ask people to contribute the best excuse they have heard or given: being late, returning merchandise, not paying the bill, etc. (use a real one, or make one up)

9. Awards: Night Each person is given the name of another person at work. They choose an award title and an appropriate award to go with it. Choose rewards that are upbeat, not humiliating. Here are some examples of titles and awards:

o The best blow-dried hair… can of salon mousse.

o The most cheerful telephone voice… new telephone headsets.

o The most good-natured morning person…gift certificate for 10 cups of chai at the local tea shop.

o More legible handwriting…pen engraved with your name and company name.

C. Running:

one. mood area: Create laugh books (people write funny anecdotes and non-toxic jokes; tie them up and distribute them at the end of the quarter or year); cartoon corner; jokes/cartoons in memos and newsletters; smile more; cartoon treasures or funny magazines in waiting areas and restrooms; laugh car; a laugh room; comedy library of books, CD’s and DVD’s…

two. Games: Non-competitive/cooperative games; charades; skits; secret word (upon hearing the word, everyone crosses their legs or looks up or changes seats, etc.); treasure hunting…

3. The great job bank: Trade jobs, clothes, offices for a day. Okay, okay, at least try for an hour. 10 minutes?

Four. elevators: Smile, introduce people to each other (you don’t have to meet them either) confront everyone else; have cartoons on the side walls call a meeting elevated.

5. What is good?: Begin meetings by asking each person “What’s going well in your department?”

6. joy rest box: Instead of having coffee or tea at 3:15, take ten minutes to do, read, or play something fun (read a novel, flip through a “Far Side” cartoon, flip through a comedy movie to watch later, listen to a comedy tape on your headphones); try to have a rule: “don’t talk about work” during breaks; create a Joybreak Committee to plan occasional group interactions and activities in break time.

7. ride meetings: For meetings of 2-3 people, go for a walk together in nature

(bring a mini recorder to capture ideas and decisions for the minutes).

8. best mistakes: Stories allocates 5 minutes during meetings for people to share recent embarrassing or funny stories from their work or personal life.

9. Wall: Put a large sheet of paper in a common area. Pick a topic and ask people to contribute to it over a period of time. They can draw pictures, doodle, write words, poetry, paste magazine clippings, etc.

10 lunchtime fun: Go out to lunch with co-workers, all wearing funny noses or hats. Give an outrageously large tip to the waiter. Sing a song to the waiter for doing such a good job.

eleven not birthday (choose anyone and give them a surprise birthday party)

12 Decorate the boss’s office with streamers, flowers and balloons

13 Notes on the way forward: Have you ever wanted to tell someone what you admire, respect or appreciate about them, but never got around to it? Create a large envelope for each person at work and place it in a common area. Each week, invite everyone to write specific recognition notes for their bosses, employees, or even service providers, where you’ve caught them doing something right. Put your notes in the appropriate envelope. After a month, everyone opens their envelopes.

14 title contest: Post a caricature without the title on the bulletin board in the staff area. Invite people to come up with a new caption that fits the cartoon. As people go through the day, they can read what other people wrote and add to the list.