Humor at Work: Assess Your Workplace Culture with Unusual Questions

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 Michael Kerr

I’m a big fan of asking unusual questions because unusual

questions spark curiosity, promote lateral thinking, generate

interesting conversations, lively debates and, most importantly,

often lead to creative ideas and perspectives.

Here are a few of my favorite questions that I think teams

should take time to discuss about their workplace:

- If your workplace was a reality TV show, what would it be

called and why?

- If you were the “Big Kahuna” for a day, what one rule or policy

would you change, add or delete?

- If your workplace culture could be summed up on a t-shirt

slogan, what would that slogan be?

- How does your workplace compare to the workplace being

described in your help wanted ads?

- What question do we need to ask everyone that we’re not asking?

- What legacy do we, as a team, want to leave behind?

- Are we having fun yet? (You knew I had to toss that one in)

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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip

Companies such as Google and 3M are famous for allocating a

certain amount of their employees’ time to allow them to

innovate, experiment or learn a new skill that they are

passionate about. In the case of Google, some employees get up

to 20% of their time to pursue a pet project of their own

choosing. If you can’t set aside that much time, try what

the Columbia Credit Union in Vancouver, Washington does, and at

least set aside one scheduled hour per week for employees to

learn a new skill of interest to them.

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Quote of the Week

“I learned early on you could influence people with a smile and enthusiasm.” Ray Croc, founder of Macdonald’s

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It’s a Wacky World

Arr mateys, next Monday, September 19th is the day I know you’ve

been waiting for all year: International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Remember: to err is human, but to arr is pirate!

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