Prompts for effectively forming a new team
“What information do you need to successfully join this team?”
We found that no matter how much preparation we put into workshops, we can’t anticipate everyone’s needs. Similarly no matter how thorough our introductions, we’ve overlooked a detail that is essential to a person’s enthusiastic participation. We experimented with reversing the usual process of the meeting leader taking up most of the beginning of the meeting, and asked the participants to begin the meeting by stating their needs.
The meeting facilitator collects responses to the prompt from each meeting participant and documents them where all attendees can view the responses. Only then does the facilitator take the lead and provides the participants with the information they were looking for.
We conclude this beat by reflecting on the difference between starting a meeting this way and the more traditional kickoff where the leader loads the participants up with information before activating participation. If everything is designed, everything can be redesigned, even this exercise.
Emergent benefits included:
Quickly developed rapport between individuals with similar approaches to work or professional needs.
Forming the habit of taking the initiative rather than following direction.
Forming the habit of documentation during the meeting rather than after.
Modeling active listening and following up until the intent of the need is thoroughly understood.
“What do you want to know about the people in the room?”
To further develop the emergent pattern of team rapport, next we facilitate some active decision making by the team, where the facilitator acts only as a coordinator, but the decisions are made by the meeting participants.
Participants are asked to write down what information they’d like to know about everyone in the room. This list accumulates in public view, and the facilitator prompts the group to appreciate it as a design artifact.
The group is then prompted to consider all the interesting possibilities, but the facilitator reminds them of the reality of limited time and only some of the options can be put into practice. They’re then asked to rank choice vote which questions to answer. Once the team is in agreement each takes a turn at answering questions. Some deviate from the plan and add other information from other questions, which keeps the attachment to rules at a lower priority to pursuing inspiration when it strikes.
Emergent benefits included:
Confidence that skills of the team are already strong
Noticing the difference between quiet and vocal participants
Acknowledging the humanness of the people in the room and that people are more than their resumes