Ease of use:

Easy and Fun

Preparation:

5 minutes

Duration:

15-20 minutes

Prize:

Not essential but makes it more fun

Game:

Haiku

When to Use:

Haiku is a fun activity that can be used to allow your staff to express themselves in a safe and fun way. You can use it during any stage of team formation; however is most fun when the team have been together for a while.

The Team Building Activity:

During your team meeting at the appropriate time the team leader passes out the “What is Haiku?” handout and allows a few minutes for their team to read the handout.

Haiku overview: Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that contains only three lines, the first line has words with a combined total of 5 syllables, the second line has a total of 7 syllables and the last line has 5 syllables. There really are no other rules or any need for the poem to rhyme. Here are a few “what makes a good leader” site examples: (please note I am really bad at this but it is fun all the same!)

Haiku Example 1
Developing leaders
Increasing team performance
Helping you to grow

De/vel/op Lead/ers (5 syllables)
In/creas/ing team per/for/mance (7 Syllables)
Help/ing you to grow (5 Syllables)

Haiku Example 2
Having fun at work
Exceeding expectations
Living without stress

Hav/ing fun at work (5 syllables)
Ex/cee/ding ex/pec/ta/tions (7 Syllables)
Liv/ing with/out stress (5 syllables)

Naturally your teams will come up with a number of Haiku poems that are funny or that represent the culture of the organisation.

Each team member is then given 10 minutes to write their own Haiku poem or two ..... the more people write the more fun you will have.

Then,
When everyone has competed at least one Haiku poem each person, in turn can read out their poem to the rest of the group. It really is a lot of fun.

If there are prises it is good to let the team pick the winners, the leader only gets involved if there is a split vote.

Tips

• The structural correctness of the poem is not important, if someone has the wrong number of syllables on a line thank them and move on
• Loosely mention that everyone should adhere to your organisations policy on bullying and harassment
• Thank everyone for their poem after they have read it out

Recognition Opportunities

Small prizes can be considered for

• Most positive poem
• Positive about a person in your team
• Best link to strategy
• Positive portrayal of a change