Games to Play at Staff Meetings

Numbers

• Have everyone sit in a circle and assign each person a number. Start with yourself, so that the person to your right is number two and the person to that person's right is number three, and so on. Call a random number. The person whose number is called gets to call another number. When someone makes a mistake, that person moves to the end of the circle, which is your left, and takes the last number. Others with numbers lower move up by one. This increases the likelihood of people making more mistakes. The object is to become No. 1. This game gets everyone to have fun and react quickly, so that when it's time for business, they're in a good mood.

Thumpers

• This game is a lot like the previous one, but instead of using numbers, each employee creates a unique physical gesture, such as winking or sticking out his tongues. Have everyone repeat each player's gesture; the goal is to memorize all the gestures and who they belong to. From there, the game proceeds just like Numbers does. The first player will start by imitating someone else's gesture. That player in turn must quickly imitate another's gesture. Like Numbers, this game will break the ice, paving the way for a more productive meeting.

Fun Quiz

• This game requires some up-front preparation. Before staff meetings, come up with a general company related topic, such as company events. Then, create a short list of questions. For instance, for the company events topic, a question might be, "Who won 'Best Costume' at last year's Halloween party?" At the start of the meeting, break employees off into small groups, which will compete against each other by guessing questions correctly. Each team should appoint one representative to raise his hand (or, if a buzzer is available, to man the buzzer) when the team comes up with an answer. This game gets employees working together to answer questions.