Firefly Team Events

We were surprised on huddle today by Uncle Slam in a nod to the 4th of July. Weirdly our logistics badass Mickey wasn't on the call. Huh. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Can you feel the hype? #teambuilding #meetingsandevents #teambonding

If you’re a leader that can’t even define what culture is, please step down. Take a sabbatical and go get a definition. And then… …once you have your definition you can come back and start the real work of leading.? Understanding culture as a leader is critical because culture starts at the top. If you don’t own it, show it, feel it, bleed it and lead by example then culture is free to form on its own in the thousands of random human interactions that happen in a workplace weekly. You don't want that. Culture can seem amorphous or some magical unicorn concept?but culture actually thrives on definition. We can all agree that ping pong tables in the break room is not culture. However, settling all internal disputes with ping pong while dressed in 80's workout gear IS culture. I’ll give you a simple culture definition ->? “this is the way we do things around here”. If you are not modeling what acceptable behaviors look like then that is your culture. By not modeling then every time someone feels unheard, dismissed, or devalued by anyone else they are going to assume “this must be the way things are done around here”. A behavior uncorrected is a behavior condoned. Either way you have a culture but is it the one you and your employees will thrive in. Don’t define your culture and watch someone do it for you. That’s not leadership. Reminder that you don’t have to be the CEO to create a culture. Culture exists at the team level. If you manage 1 or more people there is a culture. I recently uncovered a booklet from Culture Labx on culture that I’d gotten at Culture Conference put on by Jenny Sauer-Klein a few years ago. The booklet outlines what they consider to be the components of culture: Purpose, Values, Behaviors, Recognition, Rituals, and Cues. (Culture Labs X is no longer with us but their work is still relevant). If you need a place to start, rate your team or organizational culture on each of the components. ?? Does my team know our purpose & values? ?? What behaviors have we mapped? ?? How do we give recognition using the values and behaviors as a lens? ?? Do we have rituals that help contribute to belonging and familiarity? ?? What are the physical manifestations of our culture? Disagree? Agree? Do it in the contents so we all get famous. If you want to check out the Culture Code booklet I found a slideshare version of it -> https://lnkd.in/gAcj-Z9N? (credit to Josh Levine ??)

Do you know the problem with trying to have FUN at work?? It’s actually incredibly difficult to pin down a definition for “fun” because it’s subjective. Your fun is not my fun and our fun is not their fun. How do you plan for all those different ideas? I see 2 pitfalls pop up a lot when contacts reach out to us. - They are using their personal definition of fun to plan for the group.? - They have been dictated a definition of fun by a leader. Both are biased and operate with a well intentioned but misguided notion that everyone thinks XYZ is fun. Personally, I cannot successfully create a team building event that meets the definition of fun for each person individually on a team. BUT if I operate under the principle that teams as a group can have an accepted collective idea of fun, that idea becomes my design goal. Too often I see companies, facilitators, or planners that sell experiences for “team building” push a one size fits all approach. They never take the time to ask the right questions to find out how they can adjust their offered experience to the group’s idea of fun. If an emcee or facilitator steps up and says “I have a fun activity planned for you,” I know they haven’t truly considered the group. And the group knows it too. Groups love to roll eyes when the person on the mic drops that line. How does this person I don’t know have any idea of what I think is fun? To bypass the eye rolls when you are planning for “fun”: - Take time to evaluate past successes and why they resonated with the group.? - Look for the stories that get shared and remembered about past experiences - Ask your group. We all make assumptions but if we can step back and try to get perspective instead we will see great event success. ?? I would now like to apologize to HR for my infographic and state that I love you all. You more than anyone get a bad rap because often planning development events falls to you. And even though you want it to be fun, because what good human doesn’t, you are usually caught between management mandates and trying to please the group. You are valiant warriors in this cultural battle for fun and I empathize. ?? My team building industry also often bears the wounds of poorly chosen or one size fits all approaches to fun. I swear…? ONE group a long time ago sang kumbaya while trust falling with lawn darts and holding hands and I have to put that industry reputation fire out for eternity.? #culture #eventplanning #HR #teambuilding

Happy Unicorn Taco Day from Firefly Team Events! It's our internal employee created holiday where you get the day off and make time to have tacos with someone you admire, love, or are just gosh darn happy about. #culture

This is your sign to be an EPIC leader and gift your team a totally made up holiday they get to create. We did. Our team created Unicorn Taco Day last year... To Celebrate Unicorn Taco Day: 1. Don't work (I can't vouch for YOUR bosses reaction, but we're into it) 2. Think about someone in your life you admire, brings you joy, or is just fricking awesome. 3. Eat Tacos with them. You can do anything else you want with your day, but you gotta share it with tacos and good people. Them's the rules. If culture is "this is how we do things around here" then this is how Firefly Team Events does things around here... with tacos and unicorns. Glitter is encouraged but optional(confetti is an acceptable substitute). For future reference, Unicorn Taco Day always lands on the 2nd Friday in April. Arguably we missed the boat on having it be on a Tuesday.... If you have the sway to be able to gift days off, creating a holiday is great way to create a fun shared experience and recharge the team. When you all take a day off together everyone comes back excited to share. #leadership #engagement #culture

If you think your team isn't creative, you are the problem. You can be fixed. Here's a fabulous tool to help leaders turn their teams into idea badasses. #creativity #innovation #leadership

It's time to start paying attention to the end. Here's how you can increase impact for your next meeting or event. #meetings #events #facilitation

Want to know how your measure up as a manager? Check out James Bennett's take on habits of lame managers. https://lnkd.in/gkYqGncg #manager #leadership #culture