Did you know National Bowling Week was last week?  Neither did I until I saw it mentioned on New York's Channel 1 website.  (Kudos to you if you did know of this lesser-known designation.)

I always think of baseball and even football as our national passtimes, but according to former pro bowler Ken Yokobosky, last year over 65 million people aged 6 and older bowled, making it the number-one participatory sport in the U.S.

With our population at just over 300 million, according to a recent estimate, that means roughly one in five people bowled last year.  (I did, but only on the Wii.  Not sure if that counts.)

Also according to Yokobosky, bowling is more popular than ever among the younger set, leading him to predict that it's one industry that will likely buck the trend of declining in this tough economy.

That should be music to your, and your HR manager's, ears.  For many years – heck, for generations for companies with that kind of longevity – bowling has proven to be a go-to employee engagement activity that fosters cross-departmental communication and team building.

The great thing about this team building activity is that there are many ways to approach it, which you can tailor to suit your company mission and values, and the pervading tastes of your workers.  For instance:

• Within a single company office/location, you can form teams randomly to get people talking with those with whom they don't normally associate.
• Also for one location, you can form teams based on job function or departments. Depending on whether your activity is a half-day or all-day, you can then set up brackets for teams to compete to win some kind of prize – or just the recognition that they're the best in the office.
• If you have multiple company locations that are close enough to allow meeting at one alley, you can bring people together from different workplaces.
• You can bring in people from firms that help you, such as partners or vendors, and really spur team building. Who knows, this type of relaxed event, where people don't feel they have to be "on" in the business sense, might actually spur some great ideas or innovations. It's happened at our 2007 Top Small Workplace Point B.
• Finally, you can use the opportunity to get together and bowl to raise money for one or more causes that your workers care deeply about, and really walk the talk when it comes to corporatespeak about giving back to your community. This might be a lot more fun that soliciting employee feedback on causes they'd like you to simply write a check to.

One of the last places I worked at did annual, half-day bowling excursions with all staff, where teams were arranged randomly to increase camaraderie.  It was great fun – how many other instances is it OK to have a beer with the CEO? – and team building was certainly enhanced.

Has your organization bowled you over?  (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Photo credit: National Realty