Activity for Staff-Get to Know Your Colleagues!

This activity is best used to develop community and encourage positive relationships. It has a humorous take on the getting-to-know-you process. Wouldn't it be great if learning about your co-workers was as easy as learning about your new refrigerator or iPod? All appliances come with an Owner's Manual that you can reference whenever things go wrong. Owners' Manuals help us understand how to get the best performance out our gadgets and tools. If people came with an Owner's Manual then there would be an easy way to understand them better.

This activity can be done over multiple sessions as ice-breakers before meetings. It can be done during a fully dedicated session. It could be helpful at the beginning of a school year as staff is first meeting or throughout the year to motivate and lighten moods. As each employee completes their own packet they accomplish a fair amount of self-assessment as well so this activity guides employees thru an exploration of their own working styles. The sharing process that take place after the packets have been completed can be informative and tremendously entertaining at the same time.

The ultimate goal of this activity is to provide an opportunity for staff to learn more about themselves as employees and to share their knowledge with their colleagues in a way that makes working together more positive and productive.