Best. Teammate. Ever.
Best. Teammate. Ever. is a simple exercise and has never failed to deliver insights when I have run it. Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
Here is an activity that I run with groups, which requires no equipment and minimal facilitation skills. It’s a great way of:
Helping participants to reflect on high performing team members
Identifying behaviours and actions that the team believes an individual can take to improve team performance
Encouraging participants to consider what they can do to improve their contribution to team performance
Here’s the process - it usually takes somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes (depending on the size - and chattiness! - of the group):
Step 1
Ask participants to think of a time that they were a part of a high performing team.
Be really clear to ask participants to recall a specific team at a specific time (this works best if it is more specific).
Note: The team can come from any part of their life – work, sport, art, music or any other
example.
Step 2
Ask participants to think about a person within that team that they believe made the team significantly better - independent of their technical capability.
Step 3
Ask participants to identify some of the observable actions that person was taking that they believe made the team significantly stronger.
Note: Be sure to focus on the observable actions that team members took – encourage participants to be as specific as possible.
Step 4
Ask participants to share their stories and recollections with other participants. Typically, I do this in small groups (2-3 people). Depending on time, you can ask people to change groups as well.
Step 5
Facilitate a conversation with other team members and explore how they can be a better team member and assist each other to be better team members.
I recommend that these conversations are in groups of 2-3 as well and for larger groups or teams it is recommended to engage a skilled facilitator.
It is a pretty straightforward exercise and has never failed to deliver insights when I have run it. Some typical insights include:
We don’t spend as much time as we could paying specific attention to successful behaviours - we are great at interrogating failure
It is valuable to reflect and articulate our experiences of great team members - this awareness helps us and others be better team members
Being a great team member seems so similar to being a great friend, partner or family member. It’s basically being a good human!
It is surprising how often food and drink are mentioned!
Some questions for you to consider this week:
How well can you articulate what a great team member does?
What helps you to be a great team member?
Could paying more attention to great team members be valuable for you and your teams?