Beating the heat and riding the wave

Dear Mother Nature,

You've made your point. Global Warming is a real thing, we get it. But quite literally, you need to COOL IT. From those of us who suffer from hyper-hydrosis, please ... so we can maintain some shred of dignity at work.

Love,

Kathryn "Even typing is making me sweat" Christie

Until she gets my message, I figured I would toss out a quick post with some fun ideas to beat the heat, leadership style. As I alluded to above, our province is currently the temperature of the sun and we could all use some motivation to get out of bed in the morning and put any type of clothing on our body, let alone willingly walk out the door into an oversized sauna.

1. Network: In Canada, everyone is oddly obsessed with talking about the weather... the heat wave is a perfect in to begin a conversation with someone in line at Tim Horton's or hanging out by the office fridge. "How 'bout this heat wave?" BAM, you're in.

2. Appreciate your followers: If you are in a leadership position, this is the perfect opportunity to show your staff how much you love them at a very low cost. Bring a box of popsicles (I suggest Space Pops for the best pay off) into work and walk around the office handing them out to your crew - not only will you have the opportunity to chat informally with them, but they will also love you for the rest of the day because you made their mouth feel like the Arctic Circle.

3. Make a game out of it: With your crew, start a competition to build morale and boost motivation. My favourites include:

- An email thread titled "I would rather" where people write in what they would rather be doing instead of standing outside in the heat wave. For example, I would rather eat an entire bicycle in one sitting than stand outside right now.
- A competition to see who can guess the exact temperature - bring a thermometer into work, place it outside and then elicit guesses. Whoever gets it right on the money gets, you guessed it, an extra Space Pop. JACKPOT.
- A competition to see who can create an apparatus out of office supplies that will keep an ice cube from melting outside. Pair people up and give them 15 minutes to create their masterpiece and then place them outside and see who's ice cube outlasts the others.

4. Theme it up: Hot weather is the best excuse to do ridiculous things in the office because you always have a perfect excuse that no one can dispute. Have a theme day (nudists? Just kidding ... not that there's anything wrong with it ...) where everyone can dress in something that is much more comfortable than a suit and enjoy themselves in style.

All in all, everyone hates heat waves. We are sweaty, irritable and just can't get comfortable. So put on your leadership bikini and try to ride the wave and build some office spirit... it just might make your pit stains that are flirting with your belt loops a bit more bearable.

"No one has ever drowned in sweat" - Lou Holtz

Got any fun ideas? Post them in the comments section below!