“People with passion can change the world for the better.” – Steve Jobs

Life at mHelpDesk is extremely busy, but always exciting. “Work hard, play hard” is engrained in our DNA. One important trait that we love to nurture here at mHelpDesk is creativity; having our staff think outside the box not only boosts morale, but also helps employees to improve their creative thinking and innovative capabilities, which is useful for projects and initiatives across the company.

After seeing Mannequin Challenge videos on social media, one of our Directors pitched the idea and the rest was history. A few employees from each department, who were nominated by their Director, were selected for a brief brainstorming session. The Mannequin Challenge was to be done during our weekly company-wide team meeting the following Monday, with the objective to take just 15 minutes to do it. The goal was to keep the project under wraps, then surprise the rest of the company when it was time to shoot the video.

To have some level of organization, the selected employees decided they would each own an area of the office and lead their group. When the Mannequin Challenge was announced, employees were put into groups at random to bring collaboration across departments. Excitement and creativity filled the room as teams decided on their poses. In just 15 minutes, the filming was done and our Digital Media Strategist, Jorden Jackson, was able to edit and release the video before the end of the day. What followed was plenty of video shares on social, not just from our employees but our customers.

Watch our Mannequin Challenge below and then continuing reading for some tips on how you can encourage creativity and cultivate happy employees at your company.

The Mannequin Challenge was successful because it brought our team together and got our creative juices flowing without taking up too much time out of everyone’s day. Our approach for this fun project was similar to that of our other projects, where we recognize the value and benefits of motivating and inspiring employees. If that’s one of your goals, here are 5 things to remember:

1. Involve team members during the ideation process

When you welcome the input of your staff, they tend to engage more while also feeling a sense of ownership. It took us 15 minutes to come up with the idea and several team members from various departments contributed during the brainstorming session for the video, which encouraged camaraderie and togetherness across teams.

2. There are no stupid questions

All questions were welcomed as we planned out the Mannequin Challenge, whether it was how to shoot the video, the theme, or asking ‘What the heck is a Mannequin video?’ in order to have the best end result of the project. However, it’s important to set boundaries and stay true to a project’s original guidelines, so one of our Directors was in charge of checking the clock and allotted just a portion of time for questions, so that we would complete the video in the time we set aside.

3. Keep it simple

As a rule of thumb, it’s always best to align the creative process with a goal and not overthink the journey. The Mannequin Challenge video was a perfect outlet to get a large group of people together and execute a stellar social media post. Separating everyone (our company has over 80 employees) into small groups helped to simplify and speed up the process.

4. Don’t be afraid to pivot

Sometimes the executed plan doesn’t align with the initial concept, but that’s okay; that’s the beauty of being creative. “When we first came up with the idea of doing a Mannequin Challenge video, we thought of just taking the camera around the office to showcase a typical day,” said Rochelle Sanchirico, our VP of Product and Marketing. “However, with so many creative and high-spirited employees, we thought that it would be funnier to produce a video that revolved around our CEO walking into the office and catching the chaos that could unfold.”

5. Show employees the results

Most companies report back to customers and clients. One of the most overlooked tasks is providing reports and feedback to the individuals that have contributed to the project itself. It doesn’t matter if the feedback is positive or negative, the only way to grow and learn is to have contributors understand the impact of their work. With the Mannequin Challenge, we’ve been able to share how well the video has done to the entire company — to date the Facebook post has generated over 3,100 views!

View our Mannequin Challenge on YouTube: Best Office Mannequin Challenge Video
View our Mannequin Challenge on Facebook: Best Office Mannequin Challenge Video

What strategies do you have when it comes to boosting employee morale and creativity? Share it with us in the comments below!

Last modified: March 19, 2019