Fun

Make Time for Fun Daily

Assign huddles to each PMT member and have them do something engaging each day to keep huddles fresh.
Create fun and engaging contests/games within each department.
– Honors/Bonvoy enrollments
– Most work orders submitted in a day/week

Unexpected Delights/Catching Team Members in the Act of Doing Something Right

Walk a little red wagon of treats through hotel as the Team Members are doing their jobs to reward them for their hard work.
Write COD cards and read them during huddles to celebrate that Team Member’s individual efforts.

Reintroduce the COD Program and Utilize It

Talk about the program and its origins at huddles so the team understands WHY we do this, share the Seattle Fish Market video.
PMT supports the initiative by recognizing Team Members at every huddle.
Explain when the person is getting one and the impact they made.
Set a goal that everyone gets recognized at least once a week and recognizes someone else. It must be genuine, not just routine or the “give one to get one idea.”
Give COD cards at huddle to show examples of recognizing people for good things and sharing that with others.
Especially in summer, have flavored water/Gatorade/ popsicles that a COD card can be immediately redeemed for.

Daily Recognition – Reminders/Huddle/Birthday/Anniversary

Have a Birthday and Anniversary list at the front desk to write on huddle sheets daily.
Send Birthday cards signed by the team to their homes.
Anniversary cards given out at huddle to contain NCG Free Night Stay coupon.
Create a questionnaire for Team Member’s Anniversary or use Getting to Know You form. Favorite color, movie, restaurant, superhero etc. Create a personal flyer (with pictures of items on your list, etc.) to hang in breakroom on Anniversary board for the month of anniversaries that are being celebrated. This is a good way to get to know Team Members better.

Housekeeping Olympics/Housekeeping Week

Housekeeping Olympics. Detailed competitive replay stations consisting of daily routine tasks. GMs must be present. Have shirts, prizes and a traveling trophy. RVP to judge event.
Take an assessment to see what your specific team wants and how they want to be appreciated.
Do two or three small things a day throughout the week: ice cream, individualized thank you cards, massages, food, take everyone to Starbucks for afternoon break, PMT to cook them breakfast, brand swag.

Make Holidays Special, Halloween Dress-up/Pumpkin Carving/Cultural Holidays

Research current teams’ holiday traditions, understanding you’ll have multiple differences throughout the year. Even if you have one Team Member who recognizes a certain holiday, celebrate it.
Establish a Party Planning Committee.
Have a Halloween costume and pumpkin carving contest. Have guests vote.
Fill a jar with candy corn and have the Team Members try to guess “How many candy corns are in the jar.” Cupid Candygrams for Valentine’s day.
April, have Team Members plant their own flowers for the beginning of spring.
Have Team Members decorate their own Christmas stockings.

Give Team Members an Opportunity to Brag About Family/ Kids/Pets/Hero’s

Index card exercise. Each Team Member has a card with their name at the top. The stack of index cards stays in one person’s possession, then that person is responsible for passing the cards to each dept Team Member, but they don’t pass that Team Member their own card. Then each Team Member writes down one good quality they think that person has on their card anonymously. At the end everyone gets their own card with positive qualities about them.
During daily huddles, have an all about you section. This will be the time to have rotating topics that inspire conversation about Team Members. While it is important to discuss guest scores, revenue, 100%s, this would be in addition. If a Team Member does not want to talk about themselves, the department head could take the time to brag about them/recognize them in front of their peers.
Create a private group Facebook page at your hotel where Team Members can post pictures of family/friends/pets/ activities. There would be an admin to monitor and delete Team Members when terminated.

Take Our Work Serious, But Don’t Take Ourselves Too Seriously

Add a joke (appropriate and clean) to the end of your email or share it at huddle. Find a good online source that fits your humor and add it to your favorites, so you have easy accessibility to
it.
Place a mirror in your workspace or desk area to remind yourself to smile more. It will brighten your day as well as others.
Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself if you make a mistake. Own it. Don’t worry about your image. Show your vulnerability, that you too are still willing to learn. Be truthful about the “who, what and why” it happened, then talk about how you are going to correct it. Relating to your team on this level will earn their respect.

Identify What Each Individual Defines as Fun & Find a Way to Adapt & Incorporate

Send Survey Monkey your hotel’s Team Members prior to holiday party/summer picnic on what types of events/ activities they would like to see. Also provide survey in paper for those who do not have access to computer.
Survey Team Members again after the event to find out likes/dislikes, what worked out well,etc.
Hold a hotel’s town hall meeting during an all-Team- Member luncheon or health and safety meeting and brainstorm ideas on what types of activities your Team Members would like to see.

Develop a Hotel Fun Committee/Fun Champions

Find out who on your team likes to have fun at work and who would like to be the Fun Champion.
Give your Fun Champion a budget to work with on the activities. Whether it is a big activity (holiday party/summer picnic) or if it is at a huddle or department meeting.
Give your Team Member scheduled time to plan for fun. Even if it is just an hour a week, make this a priority. Don’t change the scheduled time.
Make it fun, get this Team Member a special T-shirt or hat or something to wear for when he/she is planning or leading activities.

REMINDER: Take photos of your Team having FUN or celebrating! Upload them to Team Photos folder on Sharepoint or email to kmarron@ncghotels.com.