Today is Friday and in many companies that means: Friday afternoon drinks! New Year's Eve has just passed and many of us are still recovering from all that partying. During one of these Friday afternoon drinks, everyone should toast the new year. To be honest, you're not looking forward to this New Year's drink at all. This drink is known for its formal fuss. It's all about good intentions, best wishes and you meet colleagues that you would rather avoid. To make the New Year's drink more fun and enjoyable, we have some tips on how to ensure a successful New Year's drink.
Year and 1. Organize a quiz and year successful
Prevent everyone from staying at the same table all evening. Therefore, divide the room into different teams and organize a quiz. Hold a quiz about fun facts about the company, the various departments and your employees. You get to know the company and each other in a completely different way. Make a division of the teams in advance and ensure a good mix of different departments. This way you prevent colleagues from getting into each other's throats because they all want that one nice colleague to be on the team. And then they also get to know colleagues other than their regular clique from Department A.
2. Place a chat spot on the table
At a New Year's party, most people take the safe route and talk to people they already know. They make small talk such as their wonderful holiday, what their Christmas dinner was like and how very proud they are of their children. This information is all well and good, but you don't really get to know each other yet. Therefore, place a chat spot on each table. A chat jar is a jar containing cards with fun and inspiring questions. There are different versions of chatterboxes, you can choose which one is suitable for your company. And if you want to do it really well: make the cards for the chat spot yourself. Then you can choose what you want to know from your colleagues and you can make a nice mix of personal, business and funny questions.
3. Play for 30 seconds
30, 29, 28, 27. Those 30 seconds will pass faster than you think! During the New Year's drinks, create different teams and play for 30 seconds. With 30 seconds you have to describe as many names or words as possible in 30 seconds without using the word on the card. Each round, one person from your team must describe as many words as possible and the others must guess what they mean. By playing for 30 seconds, you get to know each other in a different way and it's fun to do. This way you discover the hidden talents of your colleagues. Who would have thought that Frans from the administration department could portray the word “suction cup” fantastically? Or that the secretary Simone describes the term “ground stairs” in one word? Do you want to make this game a complete success? Then make your own cards and make up words that relate to your industry or company.
Team development
The New Year's drinks are a perfect time to socialize with your colleagues. Organizing activities such as drinks creates a closer team. Another way to ensure a closer team is Team Development. This is a tailor-made training with the aim of creating a closer team. A close-knit team always delivers a higher return.
The importance of succession
Many sales opportunities are lost, not due to a bad conversation, but due to inadequate follow-up. After a good conversation, the customer is enthusiastic, but that enthusiasm quickly fades if there is no follow-up. Fast, personal follow-up is therefore essential. Send a summary of the conversation and the agreed next steps within 24 hours.
Make follow-up a regular part of your work routine. Schedule it in your calendar, use a CRM system to maintain an overview, and ensure you keep every appointment. Reliability in follow-up is one of the strongest signals you can send to a client. It shows that you work professionally and that the client can count on you.
At Kenneth Smit, we are happy to help you. View our Next Generation Management training for practical tools and techniques.
Read also
You can find more background information about the year of graduation at year graduate (Wikipedia).