FACE Team Work Exercises

Transcription

1 FACE Team Work Exercises FACE Coordinators: In this month s packet of teamwork exercises, you will find four short activities that you can use to either start off your Friday team planning meeting, or use within your team meeting to continue strengthening teamwork. There are four envelopes provided in this packet. Each envelope contains a team building activity, complete with instructions and any necessary material. Each activity lasts minutes. Choose a different staff member each week to lead one of the activities in the envelope. The staff member should pick an envelope at random prior to the meeting and review so they know how to facilitate the activity. Feel free to expand the activity if you would like. We d love to hear how some of these activities work for you, so feel free to share your new ideas with us when we come to visit, or drop us an . Remember, the focus is teamwork. Good luck and have fun! NCFL and PAT Technical Assistance Consultants

2 Tying the Knot To consider all staff s needs and perspectives when giving directions or providing information about work processes. To demonstrate that what you say must be consistent with the messages others are getting through their senses (e.g. sight), etc. Ask for four volunteers people who admit that they do not know how to tie a necktie into a half-windsor knot and ask them to come to the front of the room. Give each individual an untied necktie. a. Have the first volunteer face the audience while you, with your back to the person, verbally tell her how to tie the tie. b. Simply hand the visual illustration of the steps in tying a tie to the next volunteer and let him proceed on his own. c. Face the third person and have her attempt to tie her necktie while you tell and show her how to do it. d. Stand side-by-side with the fourth person (both you and the volunteer facing the same direction) and show and tell him how to tie the tie. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Which method worked best? Why? Why didn t the other methods work as well? What lessons learned from this activity can we apply to working together as a team? How can FACE staff consider these lessons learned when working with and supporting families? A necktie. If you have access to several old ties, you could have one for each of the four volunteers. The handout with directions of how to tie the half-windsor knot minutes, depending on the number of volunteers and other instructional approaches used.

3 I m Glad I m Here TIME SOURCE: Here is a way to begin a team planning meeting with humor and positive energy. Whoever is leading the meeting for the day can start off by saying that they are glad to be here today. Then, ask each of the team members, If you weren t here today, what would you be doing that you are glad you don t have to do? Keep the answers light and fast moving. 10 minutes Sue Hotchkiss, City of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ

4 What s In (On) a Penny? To highlight value of group (team) efforts; to demonstrate the importance of details. (Do not share the enclosed handouts with the group until after the brainstorming.) Be sure no pennies are visible at the beginning of this activity. Ask each person, working individually (this is not a team task), to list on a piece of paper all the distinguishable characteristics of a common penny. Divide the team into pairs. Have them share their lists, check them for accuracy and additional characteristics, and by brainstorming, develop a new master list of characteristics. Next, have the pairs compare their lists with the Features of a Penny handout or the visual sketch provided. a. How many individuals got everything correctly. b. How many pairs added more details, once they began working as a team? DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Which method worked best? Why? How can individuals see almost daily something as common a penny, yet not see its characteristics? To what degree is it true in your jobs that it s the little things (like the forgotten characteristics of a penny) that will get you? What lessons learned from this activity can we apply to working together as a team? How can FACE staff consider these lessons learned when working with and supporting families? The instructions, the visual sketch of a penny, and the features of a penny handout minutes

5 Coat of Arms To give team members the opportunity to describe qualities about themselves and to learn more about other team members. Reproduce the coat of arms as illustrated on the attachment, or ask team members to draw a similar sketch. Have each person working in isolation throughout the room so no one else can see what they are drawing. After they finish the drawings, have them turn their paper over so no one can see what they drew. In space 1, draw something that characterizes a recent Peak Performance. (something you did well!) In space 2, sketch out something about yourself that very few people know. In space 3, draw a symbol of how you like to spend your spare time. In space 4, fill in something you are very good at! In space 5, write or draw something that represents your personal motto. After each person finishes, collect all the coat of arms and put in one pile. Bring everyone back together. Hold up one coat of arms at a time and let everyone else guess what each of the five drawings represent and whose coat of arms it is. Ask each person to then clarify what their coat of arms was really representing. Blank paper to draw the coat of arms on, or handouts with the drawing. You may want to supply color pencils or crayons or just regular pencils minutes