Long summer days can be hard to spend in an office. To combat this, I practice spontaneous workshops and monthly “team days” to get team members out of the office, into a fresh environment and encourage their creativity. Team day usually takes place at an outside venue; depending on your setting, you could take your team to the beach, a community park, the zoo, etc. If you’re looking for a more creative setting, think about museums, art galleries, historical tours, etc.
Engaging team members interactively is extremely important in maintaining their creativity inside and outside of the office. By doing exercises such as the “Four Questions” you enable them to think strategically in an innovative way. The four questions include:
- What does it mean?
- What can we learn?
- What can we integrate?
- How can we share?
These questions are essential to solving a problem in the office, as well as presenting solutions to emerging opportunities. Engaging all team members in decisions on these spontaneous workshops promotes both skills training as well as camaraderie within the group.
