Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheear ch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

So. Can you read it?

What’s My Point?  I’m not sure I have any brilliance today, but I can tell you that this cool paragraph would make a fun and funny meeting warm up.  Do your meetings lag?   Find you team checking their watches a bunch?  Feel like you’re not getting the most creativity out of your gang?  Then meeting warmups might work for you.

This would be a cool thing to pass out at the beginning of a business meeting. It’s fun and funny, would get people in a creative frame of mind. Have your team — as a team — write out the goals for that meeting in this style. Then go for it…. my guess is that meeting will be way better than if you just launch into it.

As a side note…this “warm up” is a great way to start if you’ve never done anything other than, “Ok, let’s start,” at the start of your session.  Don’t try some of the more “risky” games at first. Let your team get used to the concept of you starting with something fun and mind-rattling.  Then you can move on.  This wacky paragraph is a easy, safe and fun way to get them thinking, “Ok, now I’m ready to work.”

Can you read it?

Do you think this type of warm up would work for your group? Leave a comment with your best meeting warm up.  I dare ya!  Tell me what you think!

Need a funny motivational speaker who can spark creativity and fun in ANY group — with or without funny paragraphs.  How ’bout bringing me in to speak to your entire staff?   Go to the contact page. 

A while back I worked for a hardworking team at Arcadis US.

My job was to help this small team  – there were only 12 of us – find specific ideas to take themselves less seriously at work, find ways to incorporate more levity into their work relationships and basically boost up the fun quotient at work.

What I love most about these facilitated session with smaller groups like this one is that I get to do more leading and less talking.  Generally the best ideas come from them.  And this group was awesome in that they did come up with some great, specific and killer ideas about how to find and incorporate more humor in the workplace.

So what, you might ask, were their great ideas?

To name a few:

They decided to create a wandering kaleidoscope.  Because of the way kaleidoscopes help us see life with a different perspective, their plan was to pass this kaleidoscope to people who needed a gentle reminder to lighten up. (Way better than a slap in the face, eh?)

This department also had a huge white board, and based on our time together, they committed to use the white board to celebrate each other as well as to create some fun.   They adapted one of our creativity exercises into a white board project. 

As a team, they committed to “write” a story one word at a time.  One person would start it with one word, and then leave the board.  The next person to walk buy would add the second word, etc.    This team building activity seems way more cool  – and workable – then falling backwards into a team-members waiting hands.

And finally, the committed to pick a single song as their Marketing and Communications anthem.  They would use that song to “push” each other into more cooperative moods and to generally remind each other of their mutual desire to make work fun.

But I think the coolest outcome from this Aracadis team was non-specific.  Together we spent three hours brainstorming ways to be more glad at work.   Ways to make our time in the office more fun.  And when they saw how badly tghe reset of the team wanted what they wanted – to enjoy work more – they felt better about themselves and their relationships to each other and to their jobs.

As for me, don’t get me wrong, I love working with large groups.  But there is something very cool about taking a small team and moving them closer to a happy, mellow, and respectful work environment.

Thanks Aracdis!

Think your team could benefit from a very funny motivational speaker who also happens to facilitate team building events?  Hire me.  Go to the contact page. 

Brad Montgomery
Colorado Speaker, Humor in the Workplace Expert, Fan of Arcadis US