Colors

• This activity aims to promote the idea that individuals will see the same thing differently. Hand out a piece of paper to each participant. Then ask each person to shut her eyes and think about the days in a week. Without discussing, each participant notes down the color they associate with each day. Everyone then reveals their lists, and you can open a brief discussion of how perceptions differ and what this says about human viewpoints.
  
  

Best and Worst

• This exercise requires the group to sit in a circle. Beginning with you, each participant describes his best and worst job to the group. The descriptions should be brief; just a quick outline of what the job entailed and why it was good or bad. This activity doesn't have to be about jobs; it could be about best and worst vacations, for instance. The point is that everyone learns something new and, hopefully, colleagues begin to share more with one another.
  
  

Line Up

• For this activity, split the participants into at least two small groups of equal size. Declare a theme, such as birthdays in order of month, or perhaps the first letter of each person's name alphabetically; within each group, members must form a line in the correct order. So if the theme is birthdays, an individual whose birthday is January 15 would come first, followed by the colleague whose birthday is on March 12, and so on. The groups aim to form the correct line-up before their rival teams. The aim is that colleagues communicate quickly and efficiently, while learning a few facts about each other.
  
  

Dollar Auction

• This auction scenario emphasizes the power of competition and ensures friendly rivalry --- and probably laughter --- between colleagues. You play the auctioneer, and you explain that you're selling a $10 bill. Start the bidding at $5 and let it continue until it reaches a natural conclusion, with no bidders raising. You'll generally find that participants will bid higher than the bill is actually worth, because the group energy the auction creates will trigger healthy internal competition.