Which Era is Your Corporate Culture From?

My wife and I just saw the new Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Not to spoil it for those who haven’t already seen, but basically the premise is a guy goes to Paris, and finds himself inexplicably transported at the stroke of midnight to different eras of Parisian…

Read More

5 Companies Trivia Team Building Activities Won’t Work For

Team building trivia events are my passion. I love everything about them, from customizing trivia questions for specific groups to hosting events, to seeing the enjoyment people get out of them and the smiles they beam afterwards. However, as strongly as I feel about this unique form of corporate employee entertainment, I know that live…

Read More

Bribing Employees is a Good Thing

HR managers, take note: employees are unhappy. They are unhappy with their workloads and unchallenging tasks, dissatisfied with their compensation packages, uncomfortable with co-workers and angry at The Man. In fairness, work is serious business, and isn’t supposed to be fun (although I’ve argued against this in a previous post). However, there is good news:…

Read More

The 7 Biggest Killers of Morale in the Workplace

Offices can be pretty awful environments, packed with anxiety, politics, pettiness and negative energy. If you’re like me, you’ve worked jobs which have made you want to slit your wrists. Based on my experience both working in negative office environments and creating positive team building activities in NYC and elsewhere, below are the 7 biggest…

Read More

Customizing Corporate Team Building Activities: Silly or Significant?

I was recently on the phone with a prospective client, who was interested in building a team building trivia party for her office. While explaining my company’s range of services, she asked an astute question: what is the value of customizing a team building event? I’m glad she asked that, because I feel passionate about…

Read More

Matching Company Culture with Summer Associate & Intern Entertainment

Each summer, New York City and other large metropolitan areas are flooded with summer associates & interns – undergrad & graduate students from across the country and world, who arrive for highly competitive (and often lucrative) temporary positions at leading financial, legal and other professional institutions. This summer staff typically works hard and plays hard,…

Read More

5 Features of a Perfect Corporate Team Building Activity

Whether held in Peoria, Toledo or New York City, corporate team building and employee entertainment events should have a lot in common. Sure, there is a lot of variety out there, and plenty of activities to choose from (although “trust falls” may be a bit past their prime). However, when it comes right down to…

Read More

In Defense of Fun in the Workplace

When my father-in-law met my younger brother for the first time, he asked him what he did professionally. My brother, in between jobs at the time, replied – half-jokingly – “I have fun.” If only life could be so simple, right? Imagine, going into work every day, and having that be your description of work:…

Read More

The 3 Most Important Skills to Practice at Team Building Activities

So you’ve decided to hold a “team building exercise,” and have everyone from the group, department or company participate. Do you have a goal in mind? For many HR managers and executive staff, the true goal of team building activities in New York City and elsewhere is rather nebulous. Yes, there is value in taking…

Read More

Does “Winning” Help or Hurt Team Building Activities?

The recent Charlie Sheen saga included a tweet about “Winning,” which served as fodder for late night TV show host, but got me thinking about an interesting topic. There are myriad “team building” activities out there, ostensibly designed to facilitate group interaction and bonding, foster collaboration and leave a lasting positive impact. Many of these…

Read More

Anatomy of a Trivia Team Building Event

In an earlier post, I explained general terms how trivia may be used as a corporate team building activity. Now I would like to describe the live trivia event in further detail, in order to illustrate its value for this unique purpose. The first step is customizing the trivia questions themselves, to tailor them specifically…

Read More