What Should You Do?
First: Prepare and place a large chart on the wall with a timeline and important dates for your organization. Make it long and fairly narrow. Possible dates include when your group was founded, any significant mergers and
acquisitions, when the organization went public, when new leaders came on board, or the start of growth spurts. What date did you start at ABC group?
Next: Have each person detail the following:
- Recall a significant high point from your time at ABC group?
- Recall a low point.
- Place your high and low on the group’s time line.
- Tell your stories to the group.
- What trends do you see in your group?
Give clear instructions: Make sure that you tell the group that they need to be laser focused in their delivery. Sometimes I even appoint a timekeeper so that we stay on track. Additional ground rules are that no one is allowed to critique or tease the speaker during or after their presentation. Also, encourage the speakers to be courageous about what they share, but emphasize that they are not required to share anything that makes them feel too vulnerable.
As a facilitator: Your job is to acknowledge each speaker, keep everyone within the time set for this exercise and let the group know before and after that you realize that this exercise might be challenging but that you believe it will be worth the risk. This endeavor will help open the retreat or team building with stories that keep everyone engaged and encourage a deeper and more honest level of sharing throughout the day.
I have conducted this opener with cynical attorneys, engineers who don’t like speaking in public, and chatty nurses and they have all raved about the results. Frequently, they learn things about their colleagues that they had no other way of knowing and they create more connected and collaborative relationships going forward.
To learn about one particularly interesting team building method the Harvard Business School has determined is highly effective check out my Monday Memo — Cooking and Eating: Team Building That Really Works!
What Do You Think?
Do you have an exercise that is useful in these situations? Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
April 1, 2019
