Team Building Exercise

Here is a small exercise that can be done during a team building, with the following purpose:

• Increase team cohesion and trust
• Identify a set of common strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats to us, as a team
• Get the pulse of how happy people are with what we do everyday: job and personal fulfillment
• Identify a set of blocking beliefs and find ways to look at things from a different perspective
• Identify an area to improve until the end of the project
• Setup a SMART objective and make a plan to achieve it, that we can intertwine with the project schedule

Team buildings are great opportunities to discuss other topics beside the day to day activities because they provide the location, time and relaxation needed to touch deeper subjects like "happiness", "growth", "connection". I think that only by bringing these subjects to the table people can identify common concerns and glue together as a team to plan and overcome difficulties. Only by talking openly there is a chance that work, life quality in the office and meaning will improve. Of course, actions must be taken but, initiating the talk is the first step.