Interactive Exercises to Boost Team Collaboration

Ever led a meeting that felt like a freeze-dried snooze fest? ❄️💤 I used to think icebreakers were cheesy. Now I am a fan. Here's the deal: Teams that start with icebreakers see a 15-20% boost in performance. Why? They build trust faster. But we're not talking "If you were a vegetable what would you be?" here. Let's get clever. 1. Reverse Intros: Present your neighbor, not yourself. Suddenly, everyone's all ears. 2. Desert Island Tech: What 3 gadgets would you bring? Reveals priorities (and who's addicted to their smartwatch). 3. Five-Word Career Story: Sum up your journey succinctly. Mine? "Curious kid. Still asking why." 4. Skill Swap: Trade expertise with a teammate for a day. What would you learn? What would you teach? 5. Hidden Tech Heroes: Share an unsung innovator you admire. Spotlight the shadows of Silicon Valley. 6. Virtual Office Tour: Show one item that defines your workspace. That rubber duck? It's not just for bathtime. 7. 60-Second Solution Sprint: Pitch fixes for minor office annoyances. Coffee machine woes, begone! 8. Emoji Roadmap: Plot your next project using only emojis. 🔍💡🛠️🚀 (Decode that, team) 9. Tech Trend Time Machine: Predict an innovation 10 years out. Bonus points for boldness (and humor). 10. Tech Haiku Challenge: Describe your role in 5-7-5 syllables. "Bugs drive me crazy / Coffee fuels my keystrokes / Code, test, ship, repeat" These aren't just warm-ups. They're catalysts for creativity, trust-builders, and secret weapons for turning strangers into collaborators. Next meeting, ditch the small talk. Get connected. What's your go-to icebreaker for tech teams? Share below! 👇

Recently a colleague asked me, “Laura, how are you able to get a group of complete strangers to bond so quickly?” It made me pause and reflect on my approach. Creating a strong bond among individuals is rooted in fostering psychological safety, shared experiences, and vulnerability. Here are some strategies I employ: 1. Establish a Shared Purpose Early On: - Define the group's purpose clearly. - Focus on the intention behind the gathering, promoting authenticity over perfection. 2. Initiate Vulnerability-Based Icebreakers: - Dive beyond surface-level introductions by asking meaningful questions: - "What's a personal achievement you're proud of but haven't shared with the group?" - "What challenge are you currently facing, big or small?" - "What truly motivated you to join us today?" These questions encourage genuine connections by fostering openness and humanity. 3. Engage in Unconventional Activities Together: - Bond through unique experiences such as: - Light physical activities (get outside and take a walk) or team challenges. - Creative endeavors like collaborative projects or improvisation. - Reflective exercises such as guided meditations followed by group reflections. 4. Facilitate "Small Circle" Conversations: - Encourage deeper discussions in smaller groups before sharing insights with the larger group. - Smaller settings often lead to increased comfort, paving the way for more profound interactions in larger settings. 5. Normalize Authentic Communication: - Lead by example as a facilitator or leader by sharing genuine and unexpected thoughts. - Setting the tone for open dialogue encourages others to follow suit. 6. Highlight Common Ground: - Acknowledge shared themes and experiences after individual shares. - Recognize patterns like shared pressures, transitions, or identity struggles to unify the group. 7. Incorporate Group Rituals: - Commence or conclude sessions with grounding rituals like breathwork, gratitude circles, one on one share. In what ways have you been able to create cohesion quickly amongst a group of individuals in a training session? #fasttracktotrust #humanconnection #facilitatedconnection

Did you know that LEGO Serious Play (LSP) isn't just about randomly stacking bricks? There are strategically designed build types tailored to elicit deep insights, foster collaboration, and harness the power of team dynamics. Here’s a closer look: 1. The Individual Build: Perhaps the most versatile, this build encourages each participant to craft a story using LEGO bricks. This exercise not only offers introspective insights but amplifies learning as participants absorb perspectives from every shared model. Imagine the burst of enlightenment when your team gets a multi-dimensional view of a single topic! 2. The Team Build: As the name suggests, unity is its strength. Visualize your team collaboratively constructing a LEGO representation of the company culture or shared goals. This collective building fosters an unparalleled sense of ownership and alignment. It's the embodiment of the saying, "teamwork makes the dream work." 3. The Landscape: A top pick for many, including me, The Landscape Build is about mapping interrelationships. Whether it’s projects, criteria, or any other agents, understanding their interconnectedness becomes intuitive. The spatial representation of connections and relationships triggers a cascade of 'aha' moments, proving invaluable for strategic planning. 4. The System Build: Delving deep into complexity, the System Build encompasses elements of the aforementioned builds, threading them together to visualize intricate systems. Envision your organization’s entire ecosystem, complete with data flow, communication channels, and processes, laid out for holistic comprehension. Though it demands time, the clarity it offers is unmatched. While the LEGO Serious Play method brims with versatile tools and techniques, mastering their application to yield transformative results is an art. That's precisely where my expertise steps in. Ready to elevate your team dynamics and derive maximum benefit from these builds? Reach out and let's tailor the LEGO Serious Play experience to achieve your unique objectives.

One tool I love using is the Zoom puzzle. It’s made up of 31 images, and everyone gets one image. The challenge is to work together to put the images in order without ever seeing what the full picture looks like. You can describe your image, but you can’t show it to anyone. It teaches people the balance between speaking up and holding back. If you don’t share your thoughts, the team can’t move forward. But if you dominate the conversation, the group loses its way. It helps people see how the details of your piece fit into the bigger picture, and how important it is to collaborate. It also naturally brings out leadership and followership dynamics, showing who steps up and who supports from behind. This can be a great way to kick off a session and highlight areas where your team might need more work or practice- or you can use it as a capstone to pull everything together.