Everyone loves to be recognized, so why not have your own awards presentation? If you have time, let participants vote for the winners. If your time is more limited, you can award the prizes. A few example award categories are:

• Best morale booster
• Best team player
• Best listener
• Most improved
• Best sense of humor
• Best internal customer service
• Product knowledge expert

Each award can have multiple winners. Click here to download a blank award certificate that you can print and fill in.

Before the session, cut a piece of flip-chart paper into a blank puzzle with enough pieces so that each participant gets one. Give each participant a puzzle piece & have them write their names & one thing that they can contribute to the team on it. When everyone is done, assemble the puzzle as a group. A motivational game that demonstrates that each person is an important part of the team.

Each person is given a piece of paper, which is then folded in half to form a "book." Each person is responsible for writing his/her life story according to the following directions:

• On the front, write the title of your book—the title must be the name of a popular song.


• On page 2 (the inside cover of the book), write the table of contents which should include:
  
  • the name of the place you were born
  
  
  • a description of your first job
  
  
  • the number of years you have been at your current job
  
  
• On page 3, draw a picture of your family.


• On the back cover of the book, draw a picture of what you plan to do after retirement.

After the books have been created, each participant gets to tell his or her personal story, either in front of the whole group or in smaller groups, depending on the number of participants. A great "getting-to-know-you" exercise.

Here's an ice breaker you can use in your next training session:

Before the session starts, take several comic strips & cut them up so that each frame is separate. As participants enter the room, have each one pick a frame from a hat. After everyone has arrived, participants must find other people with the same comic strip & assemble the frames in the proper order. Excellent for breaking a large group into smaller ones.

For more training ideas like this, subscribe to our quarterly e-mail newsletter.

Every trainer has a training style. As in life and in nature, no two trainers are exactly alike. Just for fun, take this 1-minute, 5-question quiz to learn about your training style. (Quiz will open in a new window.)

Here's a training game submitted by Amy Shelton, a bank trainer in North Carolina, who writes, "In our industry, using the names of our customers is essential to a solid relationship. To help with the practice of asking for the customer's name in different ways I did the following game in groups of 13 to 15 employees."

Famous Name Game

• At the beginning of the training session, ask each person to write down the name of someone famous (living or dead, politician, sports figure, movie star, Bible character, etc.).


• Later in the session, when the discussion turns to using the customer's name, have everyone stand up and mingle around the room pretending to be the famous person whose name they had written down earlier.


• Each person should interact with at least 3 or 4 other people, practicing tactful ways to ask for a customer's name if it isn't given.

Amy tells us that this turned out to be a favorite with all of her training groups. She says, "Our bank president, who is male, chose the name Janet Reno—so you can imagine the fun everyone had with him. Once it was all said and done, I had trained everyone from "underdog" to "President Bush" on how to ask for the customer's name."

Do you have a favorite training game or other helpful ideas? Click here to submit a tip.

Product knowledge is an important part of sales training. Employees must be familiar with your products before they can effectively sell. One way to test product knowledge is a game of Product Knowledge Jeopardy.

Here's a list of questions in 5 categories that you can use for your game. You can make up your own list of questions as well.

Download the questions (.pdf)

Download the questions (.doc)

This logic exercise comes from Classic Brain Teasers by Karen C. Richards, et al.

Guess the number that correctly completes each statement below:

1. There are __ ridges on a quarter.	a. 8
2. There are __ ridges on a dime.	b. 10
3. You can fold a sheet of paper in half __ times.	c. 12
4. There are __ dimples on a golf ball.	d. 20
5. There are __ letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.	e. 118
6. You have to lick __ stamps to consume 1 calorie.	f. 119
7. The average polar bear lives __ years.	g. 336

ANSWER:
1-f; 2-e; 3-a; 4-g; 5-c; 6-b; 7-d

Here are some trivia questions to get your brains warmed up on a cold training day:
(Scroll down for answers)

1.Months of the year that begin on a Sunday (other than February in non-leap-years) always have five Sundays. What other notable feature do they (including all Februarys) contain?

2. What connects these words?... Dram, Colon, Won, Dong, Kip.

3. What is the only US state which borders with just one other US state?

4. What are these cities?

• City of Magnificent Distances


• City of the Angels


• Empire City


• Monumental City/Charm City


• Mormon City


• Quaker City


• Soul City


• Windy City


• Motor City


• Music City

5. Cryptic anagram puzzles(the clues are in the questions):

• dirty room


• here come dots


• lost cash in, me


• alas, no more z's


• I'm a dot in place


• eleven plus two

ANSWERS:
1. Months of the year that begin on a Sunday (other than February in non-leap-years) always have five Sundays. What other notable feature do they (including all Februaries) contain?
Friday the 13th

2. What connects these words?... Dram, Colon, Won, Dong, Kip.
They are currencies (as at May 2005), specifically: Dram (Armenia), Colon (Costa Rica, El Salvadore), Won (North Korea, South Korea), Dong (Vietnam), Kip (Lao People's Democratic Republic, formerly Laos).

3. What is the only US state which borders with just one other US state?
Maine

4. What are these cities?

• City of Magnificent Distances - Washington DC


• City of the Angels - Los Angeles, CA


• Empire City - New York, NY


• Monumental City/Charm City - Baltimore, MD


• Mormon City - Salt Lake City, UT


• Quaker City - Philadelphia, PA


• Soul City - Harlem, New York, NY


• Windy City - Chicago, IL


• Motor City - Detroit, MI


• Music City - Nashville, TN

Cryptic anagram puzzles answers (the clues are in the questions):

• dirty room = dormitory


• here come dots = the morse code


• lost cash in, me = slot machines


• alas, no more z's = snooze alarms


• I'm a dot in place = decimal point


• eleven plus two = twelve plus one

Sudoku, a Japanese number puzzle whose name rougly translates to "The number that is alone" is a type of brain teaser that has recently caught on all over the globe.

Don't be scared off by the numbers! There's no math--just use logic and reasoning to solve the puzzle. It's like a crossword puzzle without words.

Here's what you do: Using the digits 1 through 8, fill in the grid so that each number appears one time in every row, in every column and in every 3x3 box.

That's it. Think it's easy? Give it a try.



Check back here for more Sudoku puzzles, or visit WebSudoku.com.

If you're starting a training program from scratch, you may want to look at "Complete Guidelines to Design Your Training Plan" from Managementhelp.org. If you start to get overwhelmed, remember that 1st Financial's Training Support Managers are waiting to help you in the planning process too.

We’ve conducted weekly stand-up staff meetings at 1st Financial Training for nearly 20 years. The meetings serve 2 purposes:

1. To share news & views:
In a fast-paced, ever-changing world, people and activities are constantly in motion. Holding a 15-minute meeting once a week is a good way to keep everyone up to to speed on what’s new, what’s changed and what’s next.

2. To save time:
Our meeting is held in a central location where there is no conference table and very few chairs. Staffers gather in the 1st Financial Rotunda—a busy cross-walk between various departments.

The simple act of people standing—rather than sitting—adds energy and urgency to the activity. Plus the meeting ends sooner rather than later. People aren’t as inclined to drag things out.

What do you think employees want in return for their time at work?

• More money?
• More holidays?
• More help with personal problems?

In the book 301 Ways to have Fun at Work, the authors cite a study of 1000 employees and 100 supervisors. Both groups were asked to rank 10 workplace needs in order of preference.

Employees were asked to rank their own needs.
Supervisors were asked to rank what they thought employees wanted.

Here are the results: Ranking Needs in the Workplace

Need	Employees	Supervisors
Interesting work	#1	#5
Full appreciation for work done	2	8
Feeling ‘in on things’	3	10
Job security	4	2
Good wages	5	1
Promotion/Growth opportunities	6	3
Good working conditions	7	4
Personal loyalty to workers	8	6
Tactful disciplining	9	7
Sympathetic help w/personal problems	10	9

The top 3 are FREE: Interesting work, appreciation, inclusion

The top 3 needs don’t require bigger budgets—they simply require a little extra effort. Below are several easy, quick, no-cost activities you can put into action ASAP.

*Study: Dr. Kenneth Kovach, George Mason University
People Performance magazine, October, 1996

No-Cost Activities you can put in Action! Improve the environment at your bank with these easy, fun activities:

Scavenger Hunt $0
For your next meeting, new employee orientation or other training, add a Scavenger Hunt—where participants ‘hunt’ for information to share at the meeting or ‘hunt’ for answers to training questions.

Unique Hats & Costumes $0
Invite employees to decorate hats or costumes to wear to work on special days—not just on Halloween. Here are a few:

• April Fool’s Day
• Environmental Protection Day
• Cartoon Character Day
• Arbor Day
• Your own holiday
• Prom Party Day—at the same time as the local H.S. prom

Reality TV Cost: $0-$15
Incorporate reality TV into your training and meetings. Consider:

• Survivor Peoria: Outwit, Outlast, Outplay (your city)
• Joe Millionaire
• The Mole
• Star Search, American Idol

Good-Time Goodies Box Cost: $0-$15
At 1st Financial Training, in our meeting rooms and lunch rooms, we keep Good-Time Goodies Boxes filled with:

• Tinkertoys
• Nerf balls
• Squirt guns
• Slinkys
• Frisbees
• Yo Yos
• Executive desk toys

For a quick, on-the-spot reward or recognition, add small, inexpensive wrapped prizes like:

• Coupon for 2 movie tickets
• Coupon for a free car wash
• Coupon for a 2-hour lunch break
• A ‘leave early’ pass
• Coupon for a free lunch

Your options are unlimited and inexpensive.

Baby, Oh Baby Cost: $0-$15
There are tons of fun activities using baby pictures. Here’s one:
Collect baby pictures from employees and management. Give a prize for the person who correctly matches the most baby photos to their ‘owners.’

Classmates Cost: $0-$15
Along the same lines as above, use old high-school yearbook photos. Or how about old prom pictures?

Game Shows & Training Cost: $0-15
Use a game-show format for training or to start a meeting. Here are a few to get you thinking:

• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
• Jeopardy
• Wheel of Fortune
• Password
• And everybody’s favorite game: Bingo

Do employees come to your training sessions tired, overworked, complaining or just generally in a bad mood? If not, you are lucky! Either way, here are tips to get your sessions started and employees prepared to participate.

The items below can be drawn on a flip chart for use with a large group or can be copied and distributed to teams and turned into a competition. And, after the first time you use these, challenge participants to create and bring brain-teasers like these to class!

See if you can figure these out!


Click here for Answers!