Success Stories in the Office

7/30/2019 Success Stories in the Office

1/16

By: Darcie Davis, The Game Gal

www.GamesandTeamBuilding.com

[email protected]

Success StoriesPeople problems? Use a game!

10 Case Studies.Solving problems in the office

through fun and play.
http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/


2/16

Employees not getting along? (Never!)

Career stifled by others? (Does this really happen?)

Team performance not measuring up?(Now that is frustrating!)

All Rights Reserved - Copyright 2012

Welcome to

Success StoriesSuccess stories

about real people in real companies.(The names have been changed, of course,

in case anyone needs to be protected.)

Solve problems and tricky situations

by using games.

What if you could use aGames-Way-Of-Thinking

to diffuse the following issues?
http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/


3/16

A Games-Way-Of-Thinking is a highly

successful alternative to the traditional

ways of problem solving.

When faced with a perplexing situation,

ask yourself, Can I create a game to

eliminate my problem and get people

connected better?

Thats a start to using a Games-Way-Of-

Thinking which is a surprisingly effective

tool that every supervisor, facilitator,

executive, project leader, coach, team

leader and parent could learn to use.

The following ten success stories reflect

how a Games-Way-Of-Thinking served to

connect employees for the benefit of their

career and their company.

You may relate to some of the stories and

I hope you find inspiration from them to

make addressing your own issues more

hopeful and satisfying.


4/16

As part of a new hard-driving sales initiative, marketing

professionals were expected to gather as much information

about their existing clients as possible. The Business

Development VP expected the team to uncover data about

clients hobbies, interests, skills, experience, buying

preferences and life philosophies. The marketers were told

to collect any piece of information on a client but showed a

tendency to filter the information they collected believing thatsome data was not relevant.

In his frustration, the BD VP could have yelled and screamed

at the lack of big picture thinking his marketers showed. He

also could have taken them into the conference room and

given them a what-for on why they must collect every bit of

data even though they may feel its irrelevant. Oh yes, he

had already done that. It hadnt change behavior! The

marketers didnt understand the intended use of some of theinformation they dug up. The team and its leader were

irritated at each other. Not good.

Finally, the BD VP, thought about the predicament and

decided to apply a games-way-of thinking to his problem.

How could he build some fun into the grueling research and

re-connect his team? What would accomplish this? He

brilliantly decided to hold a contest to encourage his

researchers to collect data without screening it based on their

own prejudices.

During the next meeting, instead of a lecture, he blurted out,

Whoever can find me the most popular pizza our customers

prefer, wins a prize! The marketers, excited about the

diversion, began to put a lot of energy into discovery. Now

they had a specific goal. Phone calls were made, personal

visits took place and pizza data started to pour in.

Outcome: The visits and contacts with customers turned upmore laughter within the group, more bonding with the

customers andmore business! Customers were delighted

to share their pizza preferences with the team, which helped

to get them reconnected and talking about doing more

business with

each other.

Thats not too

cheesy.

Marketers Use a Gamefor Delicious CustomerResearchPepperoni or Veggie Pizza?


5/16

Two firms merged and lived happily ever after. Well, not in

this story. One large government contracting firm acquired a

smaller complementary firm. Turns out, they did not operate

in complementary ways. Although the two firms had both

been successful in their own right, they used two completely

different styles to conduct their sales meetings.

After the merger, all sorts of bloody turf battles

emerged. The sales teams from each of the

firms became resentful as the power struggle

grew out of control.

The acquiring firm first tried to resolve this

problem with brute force. You will do this our

way or else. The battles escalated and

employee morale was dramatically bruised.

They tried a more collaborative attempt but it was

only a poorly veiled variation on the same theme of Do things

our way or else. (No, I am not writing about the U.S.

Congress!) After an already-difficult merger, things were not

looking good. The VP of Sales and Marketing decided to

apply a games-way-of-thinking approach to the situation.

He put names of all sales people from Company A on slips of

paper placed into one box and names of all sales people from

Company B into the other box. He asked each sales person

to pick a name from a box that was not their Company. In the

sales meeting, each person was to talk and react as if he was

the person whose name is on the slip of paper. It was risky.

It was possible that tempers could flare and insults would be

hurled as peopled made unflattering attempts to act like

someone on the other team.

Quite the opposite happened. As one

person imitated a sales rep from the other

Company, every one would break out in

laughter, although uncomfortable at first.The laughter and teasing continued. After

the meeting settled down, the VP asked

everyone to expand their perspectives,

learn to understand and work with their

other personalities and get on with

business.

Outcome: Barriers broke down between the two groups of

sales people who started to behave more respectfully toward

each other. The healing began. They learned to look down

the road toward a successful future together that would be

achieved in new ways.

Merged Sales TeamsBond With a GameOur Way or The Highway


6/16

Should they fib and cover for him by saying, Hes a very

busy man and has a lot on his plate. Either response

caused my staff to seethe in resentment. I had a few

options and one included a lecture but I knew that

wouldnt stop the resentment. So I did what I usually do:

think of a way to deal with this problem head on with an

alternative solution. This is a games-way-of-thinking. I

told the staff this:

From now on, whenever anyone approaches

you and asks the question, What does Frank

do, anyway? (WDFDA) you are to come into

my office and place one tick mark on my white

board. When we have accumulated 10 tick

marks, we will all go to lunch together. Ill turnin my expense report to my boss, Frank, and

he will approve it.

Outcome: The problem diffused completely. The staff

welcomed people who asked: What does

Frank do, anyway? Now it was fun! All

resentment dissipated. Everyone got back to

work and took a few chuckles with them.

P.S. Turn in an expense report under these

circumstances? As it turned out, we did make 10 tick

marks on my white board (easily) but we did not go to

lunch together until we needed to have an offsite retreat

with lots of business to address.

As a supervisor to a department of sharp people, I wanted to

make sure my department members were as productive as

possible. Just like all supervisors. When I noticed the staff

was distracted too often about the same issue, I became

concerned. It seems several times each week, the staff

members were approached by partners of the firm asking

staff what MY boss did every day. My boss had a reputation

of being very elusive. No one seemed to know what he dideach day, including me. He had not endeared himself to any

of us. But that shouldnt matter; we all had our work to do.

The line of questioning put my staff between that rock and a

hard place, which caused dents in their

productivity and morale. Do they rat on their

supervisor-once-removed by responding, We

have no idea what he is doing each day. That

kind of hang-him-out-to-dry subversion wasnt

mature or healthy. It wasnt a response any of

my staff wanted to provide.

Clever Solution to EndDistractions in theDepartment

WDFDA ?

LUNCH!

Hang Him Out to Dry or Cover His Rear


7/16

Outcome. Only two dollars made it into the jar. Geraldine

thought the approach was hysterically funny and a big help

toward helping her eliminate a personality trait that had not

served her in advancing her career. Her mother wrote me a

letter thanking me and letting me know she had tried for some

time to correct her daughters abundance of apologies but had

only made things worse.

One of my staff members was a thoughtful, smart and hard

working young woman. What made it frustrating to work with

her was her attitude of humility. Humility about nearly

everything. Within each conversation she managed to slip in

an Im sorry somewhere. I think its nice to say I am sorry

when its appropriate but this was simply too much.

I knew I could give her a lecture or punish her in some simple

way, however, thats not how I operate.

Using a games-way-of-thinking, I waited until she uttered her

next Im so sorry and I pounced. I said, Geraldine, you can

say Im sorry if you physically hurt me or say something

mean to me but, from now on, I only want to hear those words

spoken under those two conditions and no other time. This

applies to your conversations with everyone.

To help you get used to not being inappropriately humble, I

want you to put one dollar into this glass jar (labeled I Am

Not Sorry) that is sitting on my desk every time you say Im

sorry inappropriately to anyone. If the dollars accumulate, we

will discuss together what kind of training you could take to

improve your confidence and self esteem.

Use a Game to ChangeSelf-Defeating Behavior

I AM

NOT

SORRY

Im So Sorry!


8/16

A Senior Manager at a professional services firm was venting

about how no one would advise her what she must do to

advance to Partner status. She had already asked her

supervisor, an executive in HR and one other manager and

no one was helpful. She was angry and started looking for

jobs at other companies.

On paper, you would have thought those were the right

people to ask, however, they did not help this woman! Shewas very frustrated. And ambitious. When she asked for my

advice, I suggested she should behave like a mole to get

what she wanted. She started laughing and thought I had

asked her to be a spy. No. Moles relentlessly dig tunnels

and mazes to get the prize they want: food and shelter. I

told her to build a maze of all the people she talked to and

keep a record of the direction they told her to turn, knowing

that some people would be a dead end. Did their advice help

her to go forward or turn left or right or to hit a brick wall?

She thought the games-way-of-thinking idea was fun and

helped to divorce her from the personalities that had

previously held her back.

Below youll see a rough sketch of her journey.

Youll see that Jeffrey her SUPERVISOR was a dead end

for information in the maze. Other people mistakenly

assumed Jeffrey should be the best resource. There were

other dead

end contacts

who were

not helpful.

Joanne is

the one who

proved to be

her effective

championand keeper

of the right

information.

Outcome. She made Partner. Not right away, of course, but

she dug for and found the correct guidance and information

to earn the right to be a Partner in the firm. When she made

it, she had no resentments and lots of grit from a journey well

earned. She also headed up a program to provide clear andfocused training for all managers who are aspiring to join the

Partner ranks.

Psst: No employee should have to develop a maze to learn how toadvance his/her career. Sadly, this is not an unusual story.

Using a Game Advanceda CareerA-Mazing Career Path


9/16

Outcome. When the real live recruit faces walked down the

hallways, everyone in the department was prepared to

connect with them properly face to face. As a side note, Bill,

with the support of his team, was known for getting his teams

up and running faster and more efficiently than any other

divisions. He also had a reputation for having teams that got

along so well.

No surprise there.

Bill, a partner in a large accounting firm, made it a point to

get to know all the new recruits each time a bunch would

come through after a hiring round, which was often.

Typically, he asked for photos of each new recruit and would

mount them on a wall in his office to memorize their young

faces.

He decided it would be more helpful to him and the recruitsthemselves if everyone else in his department would

participate in the learning of faces. Rather than using the

traditional approach of asking or ordering everyone else to

memorize the photos, he decided to make a game out of it.

He would assemble his team in his office and give them five

minutes to memorize the faces and corresponding names of

around 15 new recruits. Then he would mix up the photos

and see who could make the most matches. The pressurewas on. It was a lot of fun.

Partner Used a Game toBond With New Recruits

Debbie Smith

Tom Williams

Valerie Jones

Richard Young

Picture Perfect Matching


10/16

There had been a lot of

complaiints. Something had

to change and it had to

change from within. The VP

of Administration set out to

vastly improve the levels of

services provided by five

departments she supervised

in this large public company.

After a day of grueling

strategic planning, everyone

in the five departments was

exhausted. It hadnt been

fun. Something was missing.

There was no inspiration, just an overwhelming sense that

more work is ahead for these hardworking employees.

It was time for a games-way-of-thinking. I asked them a

question that I use often in planning meetings, although it is

not my original idea. I said, Whats the worst and silliest idea

you have for changing your departments reputation?

Anything goes. This is just a crazy exercise and no idea is

wrong. We want the most preposterous ideas now. Get them

out of your system. People started to timidly throw out ideas.

Some were boring, silly or

pretty ordinary. I asked

them to dig deeper.

One person shouted out,

We should have a talent

show and show them how

much talent we have here.

Everyone laughed because

it was such a crazy idea.

Long story short, we took

that idea and morphed it

into a formal and fun-filled

Open House to showcase

their departments to the rest

of the company.

Outcome. The Open House

proved to be a surprising treat to the rest of the firm and a

great bonding agent within the departments. People attendedfrom all nooks and crannies to meet administrative people,

often for the first time, and to hear music, take a tour and nosh

on great food. Better communication developed after seeing

administrative people as humble human beings with the talent

to improve their reputation and service.

Departments Use Talentto Improve TheirReputations

Open House Today

Let the Show Begin!


11/16

He was a well-respected and

serious professional when in

his office but the man used his

wonderful sense of humor and

curiosity to engage with

everyone.

Outcome. It didnt take long

for everyone to be on the alert

for this partners drive-bys. In

fact, employees considered

his visits an honor.

I used to watch him wanderthrough the departments and

select the lucky person for the

day to receive his visit. By my

guess, it was always someone

who appeared to need a quick

break. It was delightful and a

positive treat for the entire

firm.

Employees took a quick

mental break with him.

Management by WalkingAround Works

Slurp and Inspire

One of the partners of this

professional services firm

would take his breaks during

the day by filling up a cup of

coffee and walking around.

Every day he would stop at

an employees desk, slurp

(loudly) on his coffee and ask

them a question or tell them

a joke. The encounter lasted

only a few minutes but

always made the recipient of

the visit smile.

One of the keys to his visits

was the caliber of his

questions. For example, he

would say, Is everything

copacetic? Or he might

ask, I want to know if you

would rather ski in Colorado

or in Canada. We would

find out later that he had

been invited to ski in Canada

and was trying to convince

the inviter to ski in Colorado.


12/16

I had just joined a company. It would be helpful in my position

to know the needs of all the executives. I set out to interview

each one of them but, at the last minute, pulled a sheet of

paper off the bulletin board in my office. You see, I get

inspiration from images that are illusions. I have a whole

book of illusions and had taken a few sheets from the book

and anchored them on my office bulletin board to inspire me.

Those were the sheets I grabbed.

When I first met each executive, I began the conversation by

showing them an illusion and asking for their impression.

That early discussion helped to build relationships that were

not tied to hierarchy or job duties or other predictable fare. I

shared something meaningful about me, which helped others

in the firm get to know something unique about me. Each

executive had a different reaction to the image, which helped

me know more about how they viewed the world. It opened a

door for me that my interview questions may have missed.

Outcome. Sharing images, in this case illusions, helped to

spark conversations that were more meaningful than most

early introductions tend to provide.

Later, many of these executives asked about my latest illusion

or stopped by my office to see what was new on my bulletin

board. I loved the attention.

Examples of two optical illusions that stir up discussion:

New Employee Uses Gameto Build Connections

Permission is

granted to

copy, distribute

and/or modify

this image

under the

terms of the

GNU Free

Documentation

License.

This image is in

the public domain,

first attributed to

J. Jastrow The

minds eye. Popu-

lar Science

Monthly, 54, 299-

312.

This illusion is likewatching a pingpong tournament.My eyes go Duckto Rabbit to Duckto Rabbit to Duck

to.....Someonehelp me!

Make a Good First Illusion

The Impossible CubeIllusion


13/16

The leader would be responsible for setting the agenda,

leading the group effort and making sure we accomplish

what we needed. The buck still stopped with me but it was

time to let others get to share the love with these

unmeetings.

Outcome. Every single member of the department was

thrilled at the opportunity to run a meeting the way they

wanted. I saw different styles of agendas, different methods

of getting our group to do our business and a huge leap in

quality of presentation skills. Each unmeeting took on its

own name: Creative

Session, Group Think

Tank, UniqueContemplative Time, My

Little Workshop, etc.

Everyone stepped up to

the plate, got to name

their meeting whatever

they wanted and earned

the experience of leading

groups toward a common

goal. Every meeting was inspired, fun, productive and

great bonding time for the whole department. We were

special and we knew it. Those were such creative days.

NoMeetings

Here!

I just dont like meetings. All around the world people are

attending meetings about service, sales, problems, details,

projects, hiring, security, company picnics and everything in

between. When I am asked to attend a meeting

I get a sinking feeling, not an excited feeling. So when I

was managing a department of marketers, I told them we

would have no meetings. None whatsoever. They looked a

bit perplexed but were generally pleased. Not havingmeetings was viewed as a good thing. However, as you

may guess, we still had to meet to get things done.

I decided to use an alternative solution to my problem with

meetings by having Unmeetings when we needed to get

together for any reason. Using the word unmeetings to

get together didnt fool anyone. I wanted everyone to come

into our conference room with positive anticipation, not

dread. It was time to change things even more.

Within our group, I assigned a rotating schedule of team

leaders. The leader responsibility was to gather us

together to conduct the business at hand.

A Creative Approach toMeetings Motivates AnEntire DepartmentUndo the Meetings


14/16

Did you see yourself

or your challenges in

these stories?What problems or issues are you facing that wouldbenefit from a Games-Way-Of-Thinking approach?

Want to own your own team building activities andice breakers?

Be ready when you need easy ways to begin ameeting or get people bonded.

Visit our Games and Activities

page for easy ice breakers!

Ice breakers for business teams.

Ice breakers for family reunions.

Ice breakers for parties and

events.

Ice breakers for retreats and

meetings.

Click Here
http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/store/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/store/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/store/


15/16

Problems atwork can be

frustrating.Dont let that stop you from

creating your own bank of

success stories. Think inside

the game. (get it?)

Ice breakers often bond

people effectively.

Lectures dont.Fighting doesnt.

Staying frustrated is

UNproductive.

Dont wait!

Get your own set of ice

breakers to make sure you

are prepared to connect

your people and have fun

at the same time.

CLICK HERE

FOR THE FUN
http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/store/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/store/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/store/http://www.gamesandteambuilding.com/store/


16/16

Thankyou!

IhopeI

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company

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storyon

ourweb

site. Ju

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possibiliti

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Contactme

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finding d

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AllRights

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Success Stories in the Office