This Is Me Template
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Let’s dive into a topic that many of our listeners have been asking about—team building. Over time, we've received numerous emails asking for tips and advice on building high-performing teams. So, we thought, why not dedicate a podcast episode and a blog post to this important subject?
In this post, we're sharing some practical team-building activities that you can apply to your own teams. These are activities that we've learned along the way through our experiences and research. We've categorised them based on different components essential for team development, such as learning, fun, connection, trust, collaboration, problem solving, conflict resolution, and goal setting.
You can watch or listen to the episode here or read the summary below.
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Learning Component: The TED Talk Learning Session
One incredibly effective team-building activity is the TED Talk learning session. Here’s how it works:
Every fortnight, you can watch a 10-minute TED Talk with your team, followed by a discussion of the key takeaways. One of our favourite TED Talks is "The Happiness Factor" by Shawn Achor, which highlights the importance of happiness as a precursor to success. This activity creates an easy learning environment and fosters meaningful discussions.
Collaboration: The Spaghetti Challenge
For a fun and engaging collaboration exercise, try the Spaghetti Challenge. Divide your team into groups of seven and provide them with dry spaghetti and marshmallows. The goal is to build the tallest tower with a marshmallow on top. This activity not only encourages teamwork but also allows you to reflect on individual contributions and habitual behaviours.
Fun Activity: Cooking Together
Cooking is an excellent way to bond and have fun as a team. Whether virtual or face-to-face, this activity brings everyone together. If virtual, create an ingredient list and recipe, and cook simultaneously via a video call. If in person, you can cook a meal together and then sit down and enjoy it. Cooking fosters connections and allows team members to see each other in a new light.
This Is Me: Relationship Building
The "This Is Me" template helps teams get to know each other beyond their professional roles. It contains questions like, "Where do you get your energy from?" or "What's your favourite dessert?" Team members fill out the template and share their answers. Posting these in common areas, like the tea room, can further enhance bonding and provide conversation starters. You can access our “This is Me” template below.
Developing Trust: The Significant Item
Building trust is crucial for any team. In this activity, each team member brings a physical object that holds personal significance. They share the story behind it, allowing others to gain deeper insights into their lives. For virtual teams, participants can still share their items and stories via video calls. This activity fosters openness and vulnerability, key elements in building trust.
Problem Solving: Simulation Exercises
Problem-solving simulations are excellent for exploring team dynamics. For instance, you could simulate being stranded on a desert island and prioritising survival items. The debriefing session allows you to evaluate collaboration, idea sharing, and individual contributions. We’ve found simulations to be effective in uncovering communication patterns and improving problem-solving skills.
Conflict Resolution: Difficult Conversations
We suggest two main activities for resolving conflict: "How to Do Difficult with Me" and "The Difficult Conversations Template."
In "How to Do Difficult with Me," each team member shares how they prefer to receive feedback or have difficult conversations. This personalised approach fosters understanding and reduces anxiety around difficult topics.
"The Difficult Conversations Template" involves creating scenarios and stepping through how to manage them effectively. This collaborative exercise helps teams prepare for real-life situations, improving confidence and communication skills.
Goal Setting: SMART Goals
Setting team goals is crucial for achieving success. Start by discussing individual goals and then transition to setting team goals using the SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). This collaborative approach ensures everyone is emotionally invested in achieving the goals. We’ve found that teams with shared goals are more likely to succeed and develop stronger bonds.
Conclusion
There’s something uniquely powerful about achieving goals together and celebrating those successes as a team. So, we invite you to reflect on which of these activities piqued your interest. Have a conversation with your team about which one you’d like to try, or put this podcast on as part of a team activity and ask your team to vote.
If you have any questions or topics you'd like us to cover, or if there's a particular speaker you’d like us to feature, please let us know. We're here to ensure our content is relevant and helpful to you.
Until next time!
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