The Newlywork Game

Newlywork is a simple but great game to foster relationships and facilitate the integration of the work team.

The Newlywed Game was a 1960’s game show that pitted couples against each other to determine which spouse knew the partner better. In the spirit of those lovebirds, the Newlywork Game summons employees to guess and recall traits and preferences of teammates.

Give every group member a whiteboard or notebook. Choose one teammate at a time to be the subject of your questions.

Allow the team 20 seconds to answer each question. Ask teammates to reveal responses.

Discuss the guesses as a group, and agree on a most likely answer. Then, instruct the subject to reveal the correct answer.

Award points to any coworker with the correct response.

Example questions:

• Favorite food?
• Dream vacation destination?
• Favorite work task?
• Favorite client?
• First job?
• Favorite holiday?

The game is a good litmus test for which teammates know each other well. You could even suggest that the pairs with the most incorrect answers meet for coffee.

The Newlywork Game encourages employees to get to know each other beyond job titles, which leads to more holistic workplace relationships.

The topics of this publication: integration, teamwork, foster relationships, interactions, disinhibition, distension