If you’ve had the pedal to the medal, pushing hard to make sales quotas, budget projections and production schedules, it’s time to put our Quote of the Week to work.
Just a little nonsense can do wonders for office atmosphere and productivity – thereby improving your business.
And besides, April is Stress Management Month. And doesn’t nonsense lead to laughter? And isn’t laughter like a mini-vacation?
So – here are 10 ways to put nonsense to work at work. If you have any to add, we’d love to hear from you! And we welcome photos!
Warning: If you choose to do any of these things, you may feel like a fool. Your teammates may roll their eyes. But they will laugh too. And that will lighten the load, break the tension and maybe even bring people closer together. Not just today – but down the road as they think about or talk about the day that ___________ (fill in the blank).
1. Pull an April Fools Joke.
Just be wise about it. There are some good(and bad) prank ideas for the office at: Discoverfun.com and The Fools Day.com. Repeat! Be wise about pulling pranks. Discoverfun.com says, “The important thing to remember with pranking at work is that you should always look at the worst case scenario of the prank you are attempting. If you or anybody else loses their job – it won’t be so funny.” Another wise piece of advice: “Never pull an April Fools Prank that you couldn’t handle if it was played on you.”
2. Celebrate Peanut Butter & Jelly Day on April 2
If you have a staff meeting on April 2, bring in a platter of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Cut them into quarters so they are easy to grab and pass. No staff meeting? Just bring in loaves of bread and jars of PB and J and several knives. Leave it at your office gathering spot with a big note that says “Happy Peanut Butter & Jelly Day!”
3. Have a Bunny Toss.
Several divisions of The Village Companies in Chapel Hill, NC used to have an an annual Bunny Toss around Easter time.
Everyone was invited to bring one of those hollow chocolate bunnies that come in a box. The event was held outside where bulls eye targets had been drawn on big boards. The goal was to throw your bunny and hit the bulls eye. There were prizes for coming closest to the target. And for smashing your bunny into the most pieces. Seems to me it could have been called a Bunny Bash.
No one can remember what the prizes were at this point. They just remember that they had a Bunny Blast.
4. Celebrate the Madness.
If your team is still in the race, congratulations! Enjoy every moment of magic and madness. Have a Final Four Party. Have a Final Two Party. Have a Final One Party. If your team is no longer “dancing”, have a Big Loser Party. Or a Mad Party. Or maybe you could call it a Retirement Party. Or you could call it a Sorry Charlie Party (see #5).
5. Enjoy Sorry Charlie Day on April 6.
It honors those who have been rejected and lived through it. This could be a fun and productive agenda item for a staff meeting. Use it as a way to open up a discussion of a sales/business rejection in a lighthearted way. Then learn from it and move forward. There’s that “move forward” theme again.
Hints:
- In advance, you might ask each participant to bring a story about a recent rejection or mistake.
- Remember the tip from Mick Mixon on handling rejection? It may come in handy during your discussion.
6. Put a jungle theme to work.
“It’s a Jungle Out There” or at least it can be. This is a great way to recognize a sales teams or a team under high pressure deadlines.
Before one of our staff meetings, we turned our conference room into a jungle. Four easy steps to this quick transformation:
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Cover conference table with a zebra print table cloth.
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Bring in potted plants from around the office.
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Bring lots of stuffed animals from home.
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Set the mood with jungle music. Click here for a sample.
For refreshments, we had red “jungle” punch, fruit and animal crackers.
When surprised participants arrived, we enjoyed the refreshments and music for a while, then launched discussion of agenda item #1: The challenges we had faced and how we had handled them.
For those with a little extra money, there are all sorts of fun jungle items available at places like Party City.
7. For those in the accounting business or otherwise involved with the April 15 tax deadline
turn #6 into an April 16 “It’s Been Wild!” party.
8. Play a game.
Need to teach something? Or reinforce learing? Play Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune or Trivial Pursuit. Better yet. Dress up like a game show host.
9. Get a blow up doll.
You don’t have to wait for an actual event to inject a bit of nonsense into the work day. In fact, you don’t even have to be present. Whenever Tracey Goetz, Broker-in- Charge at the Durham, NC branch of PrudentialYork Simpson Underwood, goes out of town, she leaves Dolly in charge. Dolly,a big blow up doll, actually sits at Tracey’s desk. We asked Dolly to send a photo. Should be here soon.
10. And then, you could always celebrate one or all of these occasions. April is: National Soft Pretzel Month, Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month, National Pecan Month and National Frog Month.
So you could:
- Bring a bunch of pretzels for your staff meeting. Don’t forget the mustard.
- Bring in a griddle and make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. As long as you don a festive apron and chef’s hat.
- Have your staff meeting outside under a pecan tree, pass around a basket of pecans (still in the shell) and ask everyone to try and crack the nut. No teeth allowed.
- Serve up a platter of frog legs or play leap frog.
And if none of these ideas appeal to you, you can always save all your energy for May 14, which is “National Dance Like a Chicken Day“.
Or maybe you have other ideas? We’d love to hear from you! And we welcome photos!
Note: Think all of this is foolish? It is. But…see Quote of the Week.
