Appoint a "Minister of Fun" on your project with the responsibility of identifying fun things to do for and with the project team.

"Life is too short not to be having fun."

I wish that I had come up with the idea of a Minister of Fun but I didn't. The first time I heard of a Minister of Fun being established was by Mayor William Schaefer of Baltimore, Maryland in the USA. Mayor Schaefer established the role of Minister of Fun with the overall responsibility of coming up with fun things for the people of Baltimore to do - and, if possible to raise money for the City Treasury while they were doing them.

My favourite fun idea that the Minister of Fun came up with met both of the Mayor's criteria. Just before Valentine's Day, the city sold potholes as valentines. You bought a pothole for, I believe, $25 or $5 for 'old folks', the city filled in your pothole, drew a heart with cupids arrow through it with your valentines name in the heart, took a picture of it put it in a valentines card included the address of your pothole and sent it to you to give to your valentine. I think it was a great fun idea and the city fixed their streets.

There was also 'Think Pink' Day and other great ideas....but I won't go in to those now. If you are interested, search for William Schaefer on Google and check out his exploits yourself.

The idea for a Minister of Fun is a good one and one that I have implemented on a number of my projects. Try it on yours and see what happens.

Maybe the Minister of Fun should have a slot at the weekly achievement meeting. Help him or her out by brainstorming fun ideas for the project to do. Fun things will help to lighten the spirits of the project team and get more done faster.

There is a book that I suggest you get called, 301 Ways to Have Fun at Work by Dave Hemsath. There are some great ideas in the book. At any rate, why not try it. Appoint that Minister of Fun and see what happens.

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