Teambuilding Activity: I Scream Day

Part of teambuilding is having fun together. From time to time I will give you a suggestion for a team building activity to do with your staff.

You'll need:

• Pre-scheduled visit from an ice cream truck
• Cards and pens
• Covered box to drop cards in

Give each team member a card and ask them to complete the sentence"I scream inside when..." on the card. Allow them to anonymously write out a pet peeve such as

"I scream when Joe listens to his voice mail messages using the speaker phone."

"I scream when the AC is set too high and I have to wear sweaters all summer."

"I scream when I have to fill out three forms just to have some staples ordered."

You get the idea.

After the employees have put their cards in the box, invite them outside to get a free treat from a visiting (pre-scheduled and kept quiet) ice cream truck. Arrange ahead of time with the truck to offer one treat per employee at no cost to them, and the company will pay for it. Allow some time for fellowship. Do not talk about the cards.

After the exercise, have appropriate leadership look at the cards and carefully consider what, if any action, needs to be taken. It is important to be discreet as some people may have actually named names in their card. If you go to an employee, do it quietly and if possible, deal with the issue in this case without having to write up something for their personnel file. Try to handle everything within a week.

About a week later, bring in the makings for a sundae bar and surprise the employees with another treat. Announce that you have read the cards, dealt with appropriate issues (be specific with "how" if it will not embarrass an individual), and if they have any other concerns, your door will be "open" (with no ramifications) the rest of the day. If your culture feels right, you might even encourage employees to speak up about any changes they've noticed within the last week and say "thank you" for them.