500 Little Ways to Encourage Employee Social Engagement, Team Building, and Focus
It’s quick, cheap and you can put it into place today
For much of 2020, I was the lone employee in the office. It’s due to the nature of my role. This includes handling physical products, receiving, and shipping. As an introvert and one of those souls who require solitude and a good measure of alone time, I was more than content with this temporary arrangement. It was a gift.
One day, in early summer, I was making my routine circle around the office space. I take my requisite and meditative pause to look out the window, 34 stories above street level, surveying a deserted downtown Chicago. I then begin my ritual. Watering plants, gathering incoming deliveries and investigating strange noises.
While collecting the envelopes and parcels scattered across our reception area floor, I find half a dozen boxes. They are all the same dimensions and from the same sender. They are light and smallish, where I could haul them in a neat stack like a set of books.
The label indicates they are from Arctic Wolf, a cybersecurity company. They are not a client, and the packages are addressed to random recipients in our organization in various departments.
The list is haphazard and illogical to me. I quickly assessed these as some promotional tchotchkes designed to market and solicit awareness of this company’s brand and services.
This was enough information to determine it’s safe for me to open one of the boxes without feeling like I’m invading anyone’s privacy. The recipient’s package I choose to open works remote, and I know she won’t mind.
After slicing open the package, I discover it’s a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle — it’s the image of a grey wolf with hauntingly surreal blue eyes. It took me a minute… Sure — Arctic Wolf! Yeah, that’s appropriate.
I haven’t worked on a jigsaw puzzle in many years. What better time to revisit this challenge than during a pandemic where any mindless pastime is acceptable these days. It’s better than jumping on the sourdough starter bandwagon or making a Tik Tok video.
