Humor & Fun in Team Building

By Larry Lipman

It is my belief that people learn best when having fun. Laughter opens up groups to their creative nature and keeps them involved and engaged.

I don't know about you, but most meetings I have experienced were heavy, stuffy, downright boring, and borderline depressing. I never spoke up because I cared too much about what others thought of me, kept my mouth shut, didn't rock the boat, and tolerated boredom. But I learned. I learned what not to do.

I think as Team Building Success Coaches, particularly if we're coming from outside an organization, we have the license to be oddballs and to do things that get people loosened up, lightened up, out of their routine, and into their soulful potential as infinitely creative and inspired beings. We can give our participants permission to find joy in their work. And most of you have probably discovered that it's when you're feeling light and joyful that you’re most inspired and creative ideas and solutions come forward.

We can inject an element of fun into all of the day’s activities, no matter how serious the work before us. We can use appropriate humor and can draw on those in the group that tend to be naturally good at it.

We can also use toys and props to get people doing something and keep the mood from getting too serious. Toys tend to put people at ease, increase their creative thinking abilities, increase their sense of cooperation, and their attention to tasks at hand, thus improving their productivity. Here are some fun props you might try at your next meeting to keep people in a "lighter" state of mind:

* Koosh balls--rubber-like balls about the size of a baseball that are soft and fluffy.
* Liquid-filled snow globes--you turn them over and the "snow" falls.
* "Magic wands" filled with liquid and glittery starts.
* Small wire sculptures that you change into different shapes.
* Plastic, bendable animal figures, or small statues of cartoon figures.

Having a sense of humor is the key. Untapping this wonderful potential is the challenge. Extraordinary things happen when people are smiling and laughing.