Office routines can be just that…routine. It’s important to add fun and random activities every once in a while to invigorate the personnel and get people talking about other things besides work. Most offices do this in some form from annual Holiday parties to summer company picnics, but simple changes can add a lot of creativity and networking possibilities. 
One of the activities we tried recently was a Zucchini Bread Bake-off. One of our clients had a bumper crop of zucchini and brought it into the office to share. This led to the idea of a bake-off! It was completely voluntary, so no one had to bake anything and the ones that didn’t bake got to taste and vote for their favorite. It was a huge success and in more ways than we had intended.
Our office is comprised of 43 executive suites, so all the clients have separate businesses. Not only did everyone come into the kitchen to sample, but they were having such a great time they didn’t even realize that they were networking with each other. Many had never met. The breads themselves were completely different, which was unexpected. After the winner was chosen, the recipes were sent out to all the clients. Many other recipes started to show up in the kitchen after the contest and food never goes to waste in our kitchen! It also provides the clients with a reason to leave their offices and talk to each other. I’m sure this happens in corporate offices as well.
Any activity that involves food is always a great way to get everyone on board. The beauty of this gathering was that it took very little time to organize, all the produce was donated, and the only cost was a gift card for the winner! The conversation about it lasted for days and everyone was asking to make it an annual event or even change it to other seasons i.e. soups for Fall, Christmas cookie exchanges, you get the idea. With this much laughter, I’m sure we’ll find other ways to switch it up!
Keeping clients and employees happy is a great way to increase office productivity. We like to keep our clients engaged and happy in the Suites as well, and this is a simple way to do it. Come in for a tour to the Summit Executive Suites. You’ll be impressed with the comfortable setting and environment that keeps our clients here for a very long time.