5 Tips for Entertaining Hard-to-Please Staff

Here’s a hypothetical situation: you are an HR director, office manager or business owner looking to entertain and motivate your staff with a corporate team building activity in NYC or elsewhere. The only problem? Your people are difficult – as in, impossible to please. In fact, it seems that the only time this group of grouches is happy is when they’re completely miserable.

Does this sound familiar?

Based on the number of calls I get every day with some variations of the above theme – not to mention my own experience in the workforce – I am assuming that the answer for at least some of you is yes! Even the most experienced, well-intentioned managers can find it infuriatingly frustrating to try and reward staff with a fun corporate entertainment activity, only to find their efforts fall flat due to a team stacked with perpetually unhappy campers.

However, before you toss your hands up and concede defeat to the negativos, here are some tips to help you deal with an inherently difficult situation – and break thought to an habitually hard-to-please group:

1.         Ask them what they want – Very often, the most unhappy people in the workplace are those who feel that they have little to no say over their situation – and for a variety of reasons, this may in fact be the case (I can guarantee you that every single one of your staff believes they are entitled to more of something, be it compensation package, vacation days, workspace or even face time with you). Before you announce the type of activity you are planning, take an informal poll, and let them decide – an easy way to gain buy-in from the start.

2.         Use history as a guide – What has this group responded to well in the past? What has tanked? Don’t plan your staff entertainment event in a vacuum – even if you are new in your role or have never tried something like this before, tap into the institutional memory by asking people who have been around a while to provide some direction, based on what’s been done in the past.

3.         Everyone loves food – No matter what you’re planning, make sure you feed these people. Everybody loves to eat, especially when it’s free – use calories to your advantage when planning entertainment events for difficult staff members, and you’ll be starting out on the right foot.

4.         Plan your activity during the workday – Even more so than free food, this group will respond extremely well if they fell they are “getting out of work” during the workday; the opposite, planning the event after work (aka: on “their” time), may only serve to fuel their resentment (a note of caution, however: keep a very close eye on the calendar if you choose to hold the event in the middle of the workday. If you plan an event during office hours right during crunch time, the entire event will be counter-productive as they seethe their way through what should be a good time, all the while fuming about how the activity is taking away from time needed to work).

5.         Recognize that you can’t please everyone – As mentioned, some people are only happy when they are unhappy, and there is nothing which you or anyone else can do to change that. Even within a group of unhappy people, there are a few core individuals who are the worst of the lot – don’t let their toxicity ruin everything for the others who may actually benefit from your activity, let alone for you and your efforts.

I am of the firm belief that even the most challenging group of whining, angry, bitter staff will respond well to a well-planned, well-intentioned entertainment event, designed solely for their benefit.

Do you agree/disagree? Please share your opinions below!