John DeFalco, Software Developer
June 19, 2015
An after-hours get-together with coworkers can be great way to blow off steam after a tough week, but that’s not the only reason to plan such an occasion. In this post, the author offers tips for the planning and execution of events that not only provide a chance for socializing with your immediate colleagues, but create opportunities to get to know more of the great people in your organization with whom you may not interact every day.
I have approximately twenty-five years of professional post-college work experience. For the vast majority of those years, if not all, I’ve very much enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie of my co-workers. I’m fortunate to be able to say that – but I also work at it. How? I like bringing people together to realize that there’s more to each of us than a title and job function, whether it be accountant, developer or CEO. We’re individuals and what better way to learn that than to engage in some non-work activities to break the ice, increase communication and encourage cross-team relationship building. How would you know if you and Fred from Sales have a common interest if you never meet or only see each other across the conference room table?
I’ve planned events ranging from casual after work drinks or dinner, on-site events like an after hours card game for fake money, pot luck lunches and holiday gift exchanges plus off-site events such as a picnic or bowling. Here’s what I’ve found are the best tips for planning a successful and fun company event for everyone:
#1 – Consider a wide range of backgrounds and interests
I’ll say right off the bat that you’re never going to plan an event that appeals to everyone. Well, those booths where the cash swirls around you and you see how much you can grab in 60 seconds would probably please everyone, but good luck getting your CFO to agree to THAT. So try and think about the varied backgrounds of your coworkers. Pretty much everyone likes to drink, eat and/or socialize. A simple after work gathering on a Friday at a local restaurant would get lots of interest. Plan a casino night for fake money with various games of chance like poker, roulette and craps. It has something for everyone! Events like relay races, weight-lifting competitions or ski trips are all fun and have their place but not when trying to bring a larger, varied group of people together.
#2 – Embrace change and don’t force a project plan onto people
It’s human nature to envision how your event will play out. Everyone will arrive, every detail you’ve planned goes off without missing a beat and everyone leaves happy. Enjoy your company event in Wonderland! Face facts – things will go off plan. Rush hour traffic or just plain getting lost will delay arrival to the event. The caterer may drop the cake and forget vegetarian options for the party. Or simply, it will rain. As the saying goes, it happens. But the counter to that point is that people are incredibly resilient. Did you remind people of the event? Did you properly measure their interest? Did you follow Rule #1? Then don’t worry and let things play out and enjoy the ride. As the organizer, your role was to provide the framework for fun, not to plan out how every facet of the event will go. The lost people will find the party, the vegetarians will fill up on bread and the hotel will provide umbrellas. There is always a way if you facilitate the will to want to find it.
#3 – Attention to detail
Just because you shouldn’t plan out every detail doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be detailed about your planning. The difference is, renting a hall, getting some jugglers to show up and ordering pizza is an ok event. For that same event, decorating the hall with some company colors or logos, getting catered food with some special decadent surprises and having the jugglers bring toy poodles are details that will enhance everyone’s fun and provide some laughs. The point is, pay attention to the details of your event. For that casino night, order special poker chips with your company logo or a picture of Homer Simpson on them. Hire a fortune teller or artist to draw caricatures of people. For the Friday after work get together, go to the dollar store and get some funny hats or masks that people can choose and wear. It’s these little things that make a mediocre event (where people are just happy to be out of work) into something where they will take pictures, laugh and enjoy themselves, forgetting about work for a few hours.
#4 – As the event planner, talk to everyone
You work in the Accounts Receivable group. You work closely with 7 people every day and have a casual relationship with a dozen other people at the company. Talk to those dozen or so people that you only have time to say hi to in the hallway during work hours. Your “new people sphere” should be cultivated to expand your relationships. Everyone else has their sphere of a dozen casual relationships they can cultivate as well. If they see you mingling and not just clinging to your 7 co-worker chums they will feel encouraged, and potentially compelled, to mingle as well. It’s not a good thingto bring that grudge you have with Pat from Maintenance with you to the party and avoid people. You’re the party organizer. Be social and people will follow your lead. Leave the party with a few more work friends and consider it a positive, fun event. And who knows, give Pat a chance, settle that grudge and form a bond that you can bring back to the office.
#5 – Funding the event
Just like you shouldn’t be surprised by people’s resiliency, you should never underestimate management’s desire to potentially help fund your event. Sure, it’s you and 11 of your co-workers heading across the street to have a few drinks and appetizers at lunch. Why would they pay for you to do that? Team building. It’s a buzzword that the management consulting industry has packaged up and turned into a hammer used to beat employees over the head. But at its core, everything fun that you do with your co-workers does build the team. Managers understand, even if it’s in that place in their psyche they don’t like to visit often, they’ll get more out of the team if everyone builds strong relationships inside and outside the department. Team building comes in all forms and managers in touch with their employees understand and embrace that point. So why not ask a manager to join you across the street, get to know them a little better and maybe they will repay your kindness by picking up the tab. It might not happen every week (hey, you shouldn’t be greedy either!) but give them the chance and see what happens.
Hopefully this gives you some guidance on how to bring together diverse groups of co-workers to have some fun. It’ll be our secret that after a couple of these events, after the laughter, good food and fun times, you might find a stronger team that is willing to move mountains for each other to get their jobs done and keeps the customer happy!
John DeFalco, Software Developer
June 19, 2015
An after-hours get-together with coworkers can be great way to blow off steam after a tough week, but that’s not the only reason to plan such an occasion. In this post, the author offers tips for the planning and execution of events that not only provide a chance for socializing with your immediate colleagues, but create opportunities to get to know more of the great people in your organization with whom you may not interact every day.
I have approximately twenty-five years of professional post-college work experience. For the vast majority of those years, if not all, I’ve very much enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie of my co-workers. I’m fortunate to be able to say that – but I also work at it. How? I like bringing people together to realize that there’s more to each of us than a title and job function, whether it be accountant, developer or CEO. We’re individuals and what better way to learn that than to engage in some non-work activities to break the ice, increase communication and encourage cross-team relationship building. How would you know if you and Fred from Sales have a common interest if you never meet or only see each other across the conference room table?
I’ve planned events ranging from casual after work drinks or dinner, on-site events like an after hours card game for fake money, pot luck lunches and holiday gift exchanges plus off-site events such as a picnic or bowling. Here’s what I’ve found are the best tips for planning a successful and fun company event for everyone:
#1 – Consider a wide range of backgrounds and interests
I’ll say right off the bat that you’re never going to plan an event that appeals to everyone. Well, those booths where the cash swirls around you and you see how much you can grab in 60 seconds would probably please everyone, but good luck getting your CFO to agree to THAT. So try and think about the varied backgrounds of your coworkers. Pretty much everyone likes to drink, eat and/or socialize. A simple after work gathering on a Friday at a local restaurant would get lots of interest. Plan a casino night for fake money with various games of chance like poker, roulette and craps. It has something for everyone! Events like relay races, weight-lifting competitions or ski trips are all fun and have their place but not when trying to bring a larger, varied group of people together.
#2 – Embrace change and don’t force a project plan onto people
It’s human nature to envision how your event will play out. Everyone will arrive, every detail you’ve planned goes off without missing a beat and everyone leaves happy. Enjoy your company event in Wonderland! Face facts – things will go off plan. Rush hour traffic or just plain getting lost will delay arrival to the event. The caterer may drop the cake and forget vegetarian options for the party. Or simply, it will rain. As the saying goes, it happens. But the counter to that point is that people are incredibly resilient. Did you remind people of the event? Did you properly measure their interest? Did you follow Rule #1? Then don’t worry and let things play out and enjoy the ride. As the organizer, your role was to provide the framework for fun, not to plan out how every facet of the event will go. The lost people will find the party, the vegetarians will fill up on bread and the hotel will provide umbrellas. There is always a way if you facilitate the will to want to find it.
#3 – Attention to detail
Just because you shouldn’t plan out every detail doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be detailed about your planning. The difference is, renting a hall, getting some jugglers to show up and ordering pizza is an ok event. For that same event, decorating the hall with some company colors or logos, getting catered food with some special decadent surprises and having the jugglers bring toy poodles are details that will enhance everyone’s fun and provide some laughs. The point is, pay attention to the details of your event. For that casino night, order special poker chips with your company logo or a picture of Homer Simpson on them. Hire a fortune teller or artist to draw caricatures of people. For the Friday after work get together, go to the dollar store and get some funny hats or masks that people can choose and wear. It’s these little things that make a mediocre event (where people are just happy to be out of work) into something where they will take pictures, laugh and enjoy themselves, forgetting about work for a few hours.
#4 – As the event planner, talk to everyone
You work in the Accounts Receivable group. You work closely with 7 people every day and have a casual relationship with a dozen other people at the company. Talk to those dozen or so people that you only have time to say hi to in the hallway during work hours. Your “new people sphere” should be cultivated to expand your relationships. Everyone else has their sphere of a dozen casual relationships they can cultivate as well. If they see you mingling and not just clinging to your 7 co-worker chums they will feel encouraged, and potentially compelled, to mingle as well. It’s not a good thingto bring that grudge you have with Pat from Maintenance with you to the party and avoid people. You’re the party organizer. Be social and people will follow your lead. Leave the party with a few more work friends and consider it a positive, fun event. And who knows, give Pat a chance, settle that grudge and form a bond that you can bring back to the office.
#5 – Funding the event
Just like you shouldn’t be surprised by people’s resiliency, you should never underestimate management’s desire to potentially help fund your event. Sure, it’s you and 11 of your co-workers heading across the street to have a few drinks and appetizers at lunch. Why would they pay for you to do that? Team building. It’s a buzzword that the management consulting industry has packaged up and turned into a hammer used to beat employees over the head. But at its core, everything fun that you do with your co-workers does build the team. Managers understand, even if it’s in that place in their psyche they don’t like to visit often, they’ll get more out of the team if everyone builds strong relationships inside and outside the department. Team building comes in all forms and managers in touch with their employees understand and embrace that point. So why not ask a manager to join you across the street, get to know them a little better and maybe they will repay your kindness by picking up the tab. It might not happen every week (hey, you shouldn’t be greedy either!) but give them the chance and see what happens.
Hopefully this gives you some guidance on how to bring together diverse groups of co-workers to have some fun. It’ll be our secret that after a couple of these events, after the laughter, good food and fun times, you might find a stronger team that is willing to move mountains for each other to get their jobs done and keeps the customer happy!