Finally, a research-backed approach to being silly with your teammates.
Teams that have fun together work better together.
While most of us know this intuitively, researchers have been interested in learning if “fun” matters especially when studying how teams build relationships, increase employee experience, and retain talent.
Time and again, we’ve found that fun does matter. For instance, research shows that teams that make the effort to talk to each other about anything not related to work are more effective and satisfied. It’s almost like humans are wired to connect…
Whether you’re driven by the head or the heart, it’s easy to forget how useful blowing off steam with your team is during the day-to-day grind. And while pizza parties and ping pong tables are great, expensive perks and events aren’t in reach for every team. I’m also going to go out on a limb and assume we’re fully ready to leave the forced fun of a team happy hour Zoom in 2020.
So how can distributed teams take matters into their own hands?
I lead the Team Anywhere Lab at Atlassian, a group of behavioral scientists dedicated to designing and validating the best ways to work for modern teams. We designed an experiment to help teams establish a ritual for fun without needing budget or everyone to sit in the same location.
The Chief Vibes Officer experiment
Our team implemented the concept of “Chief Vibes Officer” (or “CVO” for short) to establish a team ritual centered around fun.
The CVO was asked to pick a team vibe for the week by posting a theme or question to their team Slack channel to spark non-work related conversation. The CVO was then instructed to start the thread by answering their own question and then asking the team to reply as well.
Our fun-loving group of Atlassians took to this experiment like fish to water. A few example vibe prompts included:
🌴 Vacation vibes: What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on?
⚖️ Would you rather: Every time you sneezed, you had to run your fingernails down a chalkboard, OR for the rest of your life you get your paychecks given to you in pennies?
😆 Things that make us laugh: What’s one fad/item/habit you had that you look back on and chuckle (i.e., never want to believe you did).
The CVO ritual sparked joy and facilitated team connection
The experiment was a hit with Atlassians. 77 teams signed up, and survey results showed that 97% of participants felt the CVO ritual sparkled joy, while 87% said it boosted connection with their teammates. Interestingly, 32% felt it was easier to ask for help from their teammates as a result of the ritual, suggesting that it’s easier to collaborate with someone you’ve formed a human connection with.
Encouraging everyone to participate makes the CVO ritual even better – when more than 50% of team members participated in the Slack thread, the benefits of the ritual were even stronger. For instance, 78% of participants whose teams saw over 50% team participation would recommend the CVO ritual to a newly forming team. Similarly, 94% of participants who had over 50% team participation reported learning something new about their teammates.
When asked what they enjoyed most about having a Chief Vibes Officer for the week, participant Blair Johnson, a senior support engineer, said, “This kind type of togetherness breaks down barriers that we don’t always realize are present.”
Can you vibe?
Kick this ritual off with your team by stepping up as the first-ever Chief Vibes Officer! Send a message to your team to explain the ritual and keep the magic going (you can use the example below – feel free to make it your own!). You can also opt to weave the vibe theme or question into an icebreaker at the start of your weekly team meeting.
Check out the Atlassian Team Playbook for more practices to boost team connection and culture.