Curt Fowler: Finding Exercises to Build Trust
Monday, October 19th, 2020
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan
Off-sites can be tough. There are a lot of decisions to be made and teams tend to lose their focus by the end of the day. You can fix this problem and build a more cohesive team by throwing some fun into the event. Here are a few exercises to try at your next all-day meeting.
Be-Do-Have-Help
This one requires some courage for people to open up, but if you can pull it off, it will work wonders. I recommend the senior leader lead this exercise by going first and being vulnerable.
Here is how you do it. Before the meeting ask the team to spend some time thinking about and writing down five things they want to Be, Do, Have and Help. I suggest the senior leader send out their Be-Do-Have-Help as an example when asking the team to create theirs.
There are a lot of great benefits to this exercise. What people write down gets to the core of why they exist. It is some deep stuff. You will know your team better than many people know their spouses. The team will have a list of topics to talk about anytime they get together and, best of all, everyone will have a list of items they can help each other with.
If one of your co-worker’s Do’s is to climb Kilimanjaro, you can send them books or articles on the topic or introduce them to someone you know who has done it.
At the meeting have each team member pass out written copies of their Be-Do-Have-Help and present them to the team. Here are some examples to get you going.
Be: A senior Olympian, debt-free, etc.
Do: Write books, take a four-week vacation out West, etc.
Have: Wife and kids that want to hang out with me, 3 a.m. friends, etc.
Help: My kids become who God created them to be, foster kids, etc.
Personal History Exercise
Have each team member answer five questions about their personal lives. Questions could be about your hometown, first job, worst job, greatest fear, first crush or something that nobody knows about you. Each person shares their answers.
One Thing
This one is highly effective if you follow through with helping each team member make their one thing happen. Have each team member write down the most admirable trait for each of the other people in the room.
Next, have each team member write down the one thing each person has to start or stop doing for the good of the team. Have each person take a turn at the front of the room while their traits and one things are called out.
I suggest having everyone write down on sticky notes their inputs and have one person read all of them when the person is at the front of the room. You need honesty and anonymity helps with that.
Have a facilitator write down each trait and one thing on whiteboards. Record the outcomes for later reference and have each team member make their “one thing” commitment for that year based on feedback from the team. Again, having leaders go first will encourage the team to open up and be honest.
I hope those exercises liven up your off-site and help you build a better team.
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Curt Fowler is president of Fowler & Company and director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey. He is dedicated to helping leaders build great organizations and better lives for themselves and the people they lead.
Curt is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and business advisor. He has an MBA in strategy and entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.
