Start a step club
Around noon each day, one of my colleagues has been joining a group of people to walk the steps in the building. Our building is pretty tall, but I suppose it doesn’t matter how tall your building is because you could walk up and down over and over in a two-storey building. I haven’t partaken in this at all yet, mostly because I’m lazy, but also because I never wear the right shoes.
I think the idea is ingenious, though. Putting aside all of the nice health benefits—which are significant, because all of the world’s longest living societies do a lot of elevated walking—it’s a smart office politics activity.
Start a step club and you suddenly have an excuse to interact with people on other teams and get to know your team better. Despite being winded, it’s a chance to chat in a casual way with people you want to connect to. It’s also a harmless thing to invite anyone to, including seniors. How often do people, including management, casually bring up exercise or their health? This is a harmless way to invite them to spend time with you when they do.
Now if I could just remember to bring the right shoes to work.