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Maybe you are new on your team and job and don’t know anyone. Or perhaps you have been around for some time and still don’t hang out or really recall something about the people you see daily. Perchance, you don’t know the power of a Q&A.
Whereas you might be a pleasant person to your coworkers and say “hello” when they are passing by, that doesn’t mean you actually know something about them.
Does it matter? Definitely. Building authentic and positive relationships at work increase both happiness and productivity.
Don’t groan just yet. I’m not suggesting for you to ask those cliché questions, like what would you pack for a hypothetical desert island or if you participate in any sports.
At Angry Ventures, we have a better system.
Q&A: a bullshit-free way to understand your peers
Back in 2016, the Angry Ventures’ founder and personal Professor X (as João cleverly calls him) Fernando Moreira, proposed a challenge (a dinâmica – dynamic – like we designate them internally).
It says: “I would like to start a dynamic: internal questions between each other. Everybody answers a question and we all consider everyone’s reply.”
In a nutshell, the idea is that every member of the team answers to a weekly question sent by email from one collaborator. Anyone from the company can see the inquiries (Q&A) and the corresponding answers. And we take turns to produce and send the questions so that all of us receive an opportunity to participate.
The Q&A was an unorthodox way to attempt to facilitate the struggles of getting to know your teammates and improve the method with a fun and stirring approach.
This was the very first question made in the Q&A:
Q&A 01 – “What’s the one thing you did this month that you are proud?”
The idea stuck and we have a new Q&A posted every week. Currently, we are on the number 144th.
Q&A 78 – Favorite word?
Q&A 90 – When you are eating cereals, what do you put first in the bowl? The cereals or the milk?
Q&A 128 – As an occasional DJ, I would like you to share the artist/band you are really into these days. It’s ok to be strange. I guess I will have a request to put on some Jamiroquai….
Q&A: Not Question & Answer, but Questions & Angry
(We love wordplay as much as the next person)
As we try to make our queries funny, we also seek to deliver witty replies to them.
Q&A 129 – What is the question/answer you would like to be made on our Q&A, but it hasn’t been done yet?
Example:
Q: What is your favorite conspiration theory?
A: The Shag Harbor incident – the fall of a UFO best documented and witnessed in history. It happened in Shag Harbor, a small fishing village in Nova Scotia. The Object was observed flying over the town and falling into the sea by villagers, fishers and bailiffs. Ufology is one of the most compelling stories in the world.
Q&A 130 – Have you ever had a paranormal experience that you cannot explain?
A: Once, I woke up and saw a second Telma floating beside my bed. I saw nothing bu the body and not the face. After that, I got up and tried to touch it to see if it was real. Then, I ran to the living room. I should be half-awakened, half-asleep.
Q&a 132 – Complete the sentence:
“I have [age] and still don’t know [activity].
Which activity do you think you should know or master taking into account your age?
Example:
I have 25 years old and I thought by now I would be able to do oral presentations without being stupidly nervous?
I have 25 years old and I can’t find toilet paper because of the pandemic Covid-19 (because we all know that it is a first base need and, in case of shortage, toilet paper with cream and mushrooms is delicious).
A: I have 23 years old and still don’t know how to check if the fish is well-cooked.
A: I have 33 years old and still don’t know how to walk on water nor multiply bread.
A: I have 26 years old and still don’t know how to tell apart the left from right without a nervous tic.
A gamified and funny way to meet your team
Ultimately, we could say Angry Ventures just likes to gamify the regular activities and to try to provide its own personal touch to everything it does. Q&A is only one of the examples and a genuinely attempted to get to know our teammates in a fun and spontaneous way.
"Just a small-town girl/ Livin' in a lonely world/ She took the midnight train goin' anywhere". Also, music, books and writing lover, and healthfully obsessed with journalism and digital marketing. Ah, don't stop believing.
