At the risk of stating the obvious it is vital for teams to be successful that they have a strong sense, awareness and understanding of each other. In doing so they can play to their collective strengths, support each other, understand each others motivations, sweet spots, weak spots, desires, wants and needs.
So next time your team comes together - why not start with an exercise / activity that is really very simple yet powerful and that will initiate exactly the kind of conversation and 'discovery' to really bring your team together.
There are many such activities to choose from but one of our firm favourites is what we call 'Rogues Gallery' and here's how it works.
Start by giving everyone a sheet of flip chart paper or just a large-ish piece of blank paper and a set of pens.
Inviting them all to draw a picture of themselves in the middle of the page.- This, in of itself, is fascinating. Some take great care and are very artistically talented whilst others draw a cartoon or simply rush that bit because it doesn't interest them or perhaps because they perceive they have no talent in that area. Either way it already starts to help us understand a bit of that person's make-up.
Next - invite them to copy the following headlines in BOLD around the flip chart and around their picture
AT MY BEST PEOPLE SAY I AM .......
IF I WASN'T WORKING HERE I'D BE ......
MY PROUDEST PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT IS .......
BEST BOOK I EVER READ ........
NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THIS ABOUT ME ........
AT MY WORST PEOPLE SAY I AM ..........
MY FAVOURITE FILM IS ........
MY B.H.A.G. (Big Hairy Aidacious Goal) IS ........
MY ULTIMATE MEAL IS .......
MY MOTTO IN LIFE IS .....
and then of course invite them to fill in the blank spaces.
Give them at least 30 minutes to complete this so they can really think about it.
...... and finally and very importantly - make sure no one puts their names on their sheets.
Once completed ask them to hand them in and then distribute them around the meeting room - hang them on the walls with blu tac or similar.
Now invite everyone to take a stroll around the rogues gallery and really stop and take in what the are reading. See if they can work out who is who.
This activity will initiate a huge amount of interest, conversation, questions and laughter.
Leave the images on the walls for the whole day.