Building Community with Colleagues
If you work in an office environment, you’ve been there. The ice breaker to open a meeting. Answering questions like “what’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” and immediately forgetting everyone else’s response because you were internally debating between cookie dough and moose tracks. And although the heart behind efforts like this is to help colleagues bring their full selves to the work space and connect with one another beyond projects and meetings, inevitably, they often miss their mark.
This past year, our office has been trying some new strategies to build community, and I have caught the bug. With a small team of 12 (half of whom are remote), it was easy to try new ideas and see which one resonated with our team. Here are a few of the best ones.
Steps Challenge
This is not a new idea, but we had to tweak the versions out there to make it work for us. Each participant set a weekly steps goal for themselves. On a shared spreadsheet, I created a tab for each participant with the weeks and days already set up. Each person inputs their daily steps onto their tab and the weekly total auto populates. For each week a participant meets their weekly goal, they earn a point. My director and I came up with a list of incentives for different point levels. At the end of each quarter, I host a virtual meeting and we redeem our points for prizes from the incentives list. Each quarter, we can adjust our steps goal as needed and we start again.
What has really helped this work for us is how it is not competitive with each other, but with ourselves. Everyone sets a goal that is realistic but still a little challenging for them. And the incentives are open for input as well. Team members have redeemed their points for incentives like tickets to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, a standing desk, and running shoes.
Walking has been a part of my daily plan for years, but this steps challenge has got me upping my game and hitting more goals than ever before. There are opportunities to celebrate all levels of walkers and get people started on their steps journey. Those of us who come into the office try to take a daily walk together. We walk to get coffee, we walk around the park, we walk when on a site visit. We also love seeing the photos from our remote colleagues’ daily walks in our Slack channel.
Scalable: Yes
Hybrid: Yes
Community Puzzle
I brought a 1,000 piece puzzle that my cats would never allow me to do to the office one day. I set it up on the file cabinets and got to work. This puzzle inspired me to take a lunch break (I have to set a timer so I don’t get sucked in.) And colleagues who may not have as much interaction on projects, found the perfect space to bond with each other. With a few minutes here and there from many of the office crew, this puzzle was completed in a matter of weeks. I also loved that some of the building staff are puzzlers and made sure to stop in and check on the progress throughout the week.
Bonding over a puzzle is unique. We each have a different approach to solving it and learn about each other’s strategies. It is peaceful, uses a different part of our brains, and requires patience. An office puzzle is now a must-have for our team.
Scalable: Yes
Hybrid: No
Monthly Bracket
This one can get bloody. Each month I select a category, choose 16 items within it, pair them up, and have our team vote each week on one item in each pair. Each week is a new round and by the end of the month, only one item is left standing.
For example, August’s bracket was Favorite Summer Activity, which included the following pairings in Round One:
Lake Day or Beach Day
Movie Night or Watching Fireworks
Grilling Out or Pool Day
Gardening or Farmer’s Markets
Reading or Hiking
Water Activities or Going to a Game
Road Trips or Camping
Live Music or Local Festival
At the end of Round One, you should have a winner for each pair. For Round Two, you pair the eight winners up, so now you have four pairs, and the voting starts again. I send out the category and pairings over email, but have a physical representation on the office bulletin board. Each month, anyone from the team can submit category suggestions or lead the bracket if they wish. This activity harnesses the energy of the ice breaker questions, but adds a competitive edge to it. And suspense. As an added layer of fun, you can take side bets on which item people think will win the category.
There is no set formula for building community and every team is different. For my current team, these activities beat out all the others I’ve come across. Give them a try and let me know in the comments how they work for you. Or if you find something else that your team loves, please share! Being a part of a team that can have fun together is so important to me. Work culture can make or break an experience. I am loving this season of leaning in and trying new ways to build community.
Related Articles
