The Twelve Days of Christmas

By Lynnette Younggren and Debra Sikanas

From The Joy of Recognition: Designing and Implementing a Successful Recognition Program

Submitted by: Baudville Creative Staff
Season: Christmas
Purpose: To honor department managers.
Serves: 25-100 people.
Ingredients: Creativity, a fun spirit. A few props --felt Santa hats and tagboard.

Directions: Each department creates an activity or object to playfully honor their department manager. For example, during Baudville's 1998 Christmas party, each department got together to create a fun "thank you" for their manager. Working together as a team, the Customer Service Department modified the Twelve Days of Christmas song. Each verse related to their manager Karen's work style and personality. Karen is the most enthusiastic person you could ever meet. She is always smiling and laughing. To liven the delivery, each person wore a Santa hat, used props and acted out a part. One person played the role of conductor, using a candy cane as a baton and prompt cards on his chest. We don't want to keep you in suspense any longer. Here are the words:

On the First day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...a warm smile and howdy.
On the Second day of Christmas Karen gave to me...two thumbs up.
On the Third day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...three kind words.
On the Fourth day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...four questions answered.
On the Fifth day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Five golden smiles.
On the Sixth day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Six packs of post-its.
On the Seventh day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Seven 'great job' cards.
On the Eighth day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Eight calls a 'holdin.
On the Ninth day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Nine how's it going?
On the Tenth day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Ten sheets of labels.
On the Eleventh day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Eleven stacks of purchase orders.
On the Twelfth day of Christmas, Karen gave to me...Twelve pages of corrections.

Results: A manager that felt moved to tears of joy and gratitude and a team that felt the joy of working on a project together.

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Excerpted from The Joy of Recognition: Designing and Implementing a Successful Recognition Program, by Lynnette Younggren and Debra Sikanas,© 2000, Baudville.

Found in the Energize website library at: http://www.energizeinc.com/art.html