The Wheel We Spun at the Company Event

It was one of those long afternoons where you could feel the room getting a little too quiet, a little too focused on the clock. Someone had the idea to pull up this random challenge wheel on the big screen. Honestly, I just wanted to help everyone loosen up a bit.

The First Spin Broke the Ice

We all gathered around, a little unsure of what we were getting into. The first person spun, and the wheel landed on something silly about doing their best impression of the CEO. The room went from quiet to a wave of laughter almost instantly.It wasn't about the impression being good. It was just that someone was willing to be a little goofy. You could feel the energy shift, like a knot coming undone.

Watching People Step Out of Their Roles

That's what the wheel was really for, I think. It gave everyone permission. The quiet analyst from accounting ended up doing a dramatic monologue from a movie they loved. The project manager who's always so serious tried to draw a portrait of the person next to them with their non-dominant hand.Nobody was being judged. We were just watching our colleagues be people for a few minutes. It was a nice reminder that we're all more than our job titles.

A Moment of Shared Forgetfulness

For a little while, nobody was thinking about deadlines or emails.

The Feeling That Lingered

By the end, the wheel was just a background prop. The real event was the conversations that started up, the jokes that kept getting referenced. People were talking to folks from other departments they'd only ever emailed before.It didn't solve any work problems. But it did something better. It reminded us that we're a group of people, not just a group of employees. And sometimes, that's the most important thing you can do.