Office Team Building

 

I've directed a health and wellness center since 2009, and in December of 2020, was asked to direct a job training program as well. I am known in the industry for having really high employee retention for an industry where employee burnout and turnover are extremely high. The saying goes, "the average life span of a case manager is one year." My secrets are: 1) create a job where employees can see that the work they do is life changing for the people we serve, 2) showing employees that I actually care about them as people - I care about their families, their pets, their hobbies, their retirement planning, and 3) making work a fun place to be. This year I fully supported the idea of having a team building activity at the Breaking Point. 

We had a blast!

Some employees suited up for the "rage room", where they bashed a windshield with bats, threw glass bottles, and broke goodness knows what else:

Others enjoyed a lively game of foosball:

Some employees went into the paint room to throw paint on the walls and ceilings and then create masterpieces on canvas.

I preferred to spend my time in this room:

I loved seeing which weapons were best for which employees - Victoria swore by the red "Batman", I preferred that large black hatchet, while Dave and Beth were masters of the throwing stars. Victoria was amazing with the knives, too. 

After we maxed out our time, we enjoyed a fabulous catered meal from a local Greek restaurant. Then I asked employees to role model health and wellness by doing whatever was best for their health and wellness for the rest of the afternoon. In my case, it was picking Tyrien up from school, as he had early release, and heading home to build marshmallow blasters! What an awesome day!

First Birthday Party Since 2019!

 We finally threw a birthday party! First time since November of 2019! 

Tyrien was gracious enough to go along with a Plants vs Zombies theme, since I still had the party supplies from March of 2020. (He likes PvZ, he just didn't list it as a potential birthday theme until I asked, and showed him the supplies.) 

Of course, he had no idea that meant constructing marshmallow shooters!

I made one that morning before work, then made the rest in the evening. Eventually, the blade chipped, and as I continued, chipped worse. I fretted that I had broken one of Tyson's tools, and how expensive it might have been. Turns out he bought it at Harbor Freight. I offered to replace the blades, he recommended I just go ahead and by a new tool. It was $13. I showed the sales guy the bad blade and asked, "What did I do wrong to cause this?" He answered, "I can tell you in two words - Harbor Freight." When I returned home with the new PVC ratchet cutter, I was delighted to discover that Tyrien had opted to assemble more guns by himself, using one of the made guns as his guide. 

I made the mistake of trying to spray paint the guns green that night. The temperature rapidly fell to below 40 degrees. Tyson had tried to warn me, but I was concerned we wouldn't have sufficient time to paint them the following day. I did the best I could. 

The next day, the guns were frozen to the table. But by 12pm the air was warm enough to give them another go. I pulled a cot frame from the shed, a remnant of a former tenant, leaned it against the rusty old clothesline pole, and knocked the job out in a matter of minutes, leaving them to dry in the sun.

Having not thrown a party in 3 years, we found that while the boys are more helpful than they could be pre-pandemic, our speed and stamina have changed. I did NOT have time to vacuum and mop the house, I did NOT have time to wipe down the entire kitchen, I did NOT have time to straighten the laundry room. We focused our efforts on the back yard. As always, Grandma A was a fantastic help, from blowing up balloons to decorating to helping sweep sidewalks. 

We have never had rye grass before, and it had never been cut. Tyson was able to cut it, then had to rake the clippings and carry them to the composter. The boys helped with picking up after Kylo and with decorating using balloons, plushies and plastic figures. 

We hadn't yet removed the swing set, which has fallen apart in the Arizona sun. The  kids had a blast on it, and other parents assured me that their swing sets looked just as bad as ours, with the exception of not having had  a dog dig a burrow under the picnic table portion of it. Luckily, no one got any splinters, and the set held together for the day. The kids were satisfied with that from 2-2:45 or so, then started getting into arguments, so I retrieved the hidden marshmallow blasters. 

I was quickly swarmed with children requesting them, and as I taught them how to use them, I become acutely aware that all of their weapons were pointed at me. They work! They work very well! Absolutely worth it.

Even the older kids were into it! And the parents!  Several of the dads expressed plans to build some of their own! 

I failed to get a photo of the cake. It wasn't creative this year, just a sheet cake, green frosting, and a configuration of cardboard and plastic PvZ characters. Due to the hospitals being full and hearing that so many kids in our area are sick with COVID, RSV or flu, we opted to use a hostess cupcake for Tyrien to blow out his candles, to avoid blowing germs over the actual birthday cake. 

I had a great time meeting some of the parents and getting to know them better. After 3 years with hardly any birthday parties, and no house parties, I hadn't gotten to know any of Tyrien's friends, let alone their parents. By having the party at our house, we were able to offer parents a selection of adult beverages. Grateful to be able to get back to offering parties where the kids are fully occupied and the parents can kick back and have a beer with us! 

I was so surprised that our friend John not only remembered my birthday, but bought me flowers to celebrate!

After the party, we joined him and Valeri and kids on a trip to Winterhaven. We were exhausted but it was worth it! It wasn't as cold as the previous night, nor on our last trip to Winterhaven, there were more displays than ever, and I had hot cocoa waiting in the car for us when we were done.