For the last month, we have had a fantastic contest. We had our own Olympic Games right here, with the entire company split into 8 country teams. We set up two WII games and played Mario Olympic games.

Here’s how it worked:

We assigned teams, made up country flags and gave each member a headband in that country’s color. At 8 am each day the teams competed according to a seeding system established the day before by the “Commissioner” and “Rules Committee.” Every metric important to our business was always part of the system…points were awarded for sales, new customers, number of ads created, whatever. Brackets were prepared based on individual performance of the team members. Daily winners got JobDig medals, some cash and continued to advance. Mostly, they got bragging rights which they used extensively. Everyone played, not just sales.

Yelling, cheering, national music, rules violations, speech-making, team building, high five-ing, intense facial expressions and noontime practice was encouraged. Some trash talking was allowed; injuries were kept to a minimum.

Today was the final Relay event, and the winning team was competing for the top prize, $100 for each team member. It was serendipity that today’s winner could have been any one of three teams, out of 8. For a month long contest, how odd was that? (Wink, wink…those manipulative commissioners, what can I say?)

This may have been the best contest ever. Every goal we set was surpassed for team building, activities and results. But overall, I gotta be honest: I love these kids.

(hat tip: Molly, Eric, Brad, Toby, Steve, Adam, Paul,Brenda)