CEO for the day

Want to play a game?

What would you do if you were CEO of your company for the day? Here are some questions to get you started.

If you were CEO for the day ...

• What's the first thing you'd do when you walk into your office?

• Who is someone from outside your team that you would promote and why?

• What outrageous office perk would you introduce to boost morale?

• How long would office nap time be, and what would the nap zones look like?

• Which celebrity would you invite to give a motivational speech to the team, and what would the topic be?

• What would your mandatory dress code theme be for the day, and why? What beverage would the water dispenser contain?

• What beverage would the water dispenser contain?

• Which emoji would you make mandatory in all company emails for the day?

• What would you call it if you could rename the company for 24 hours?

• What office rule would you abolish for the day?

• What would it celebrate if you could institute one new holiday for the company?

Now, this is all lovely, ponderable stuff, but what's your point?

Well, asking a strange question first thing in your team meetings or strategy day can set the expectation for people to contribute, think, play lightly, and be compassionate and creative.

Rather than just a hello and walk through the agenda while people settle in, get everyone involved in something a bit novel straight away. It's so much more engaging than "How was your weekend?" You get some remarkable conversations happening around work issues, and it connects people more deeply.

I have a few topics that I use, but CEO for the day is always a good one. But if you do it for a little while, people start coming up with their own questions.

Give it a try and see what happens.