A recent client wanted me to begin their requested teambuilding program (for six people) with a trust activity. The client was concerned about the trust level in this particular management team. Instead of explaining my belief that every experiential group activity has the potential to focus on the concept of trust I simply agreed to include one.
Serendipitously, I ran across an activity called 'Trust' while searching SessionLab for reflection activities. [The link goes to a post called, '53 team building activities for work (and to have fun!)' – mentioned in the last FUNdoing post. Scroll down to the 'Team Bonding' section in the post to find the details for the Trust activity from the Thiagi Group.] I decided to use this one for a 'Consider & Tag' experience as a way to find out some of the top concepts and behaviors the team of six had about trust in the moment.
Building Relationships & Trust Cards – Consider & Tag (my name for the experience)
Needs & Numbers: One set of 30 R&T Cards (and some blank cards - included in the PDF) for a group of 6 to 24. You'll also need some markers (I like providing Sharpies), some masking or painters tape (easier to remove from the walls and the cards), and some small pads of PostIt notes).
Set Up: My favorite way to set up the cards is to tape them on an open wall (safe to tape things onto – some places do not like things taped to their walls). I tape the cards with some good distance away from each other (if I have it), so when participants are doing a little 'Gallery Walk' to 'Consider' the information on each card, there is room to move around each other.
In the case of my group of six, I placed the cards around the the edges of the large conference room table in the room (another way to display the cards). I had enough room around the (gigantic) table to spread the cards out enough to make room for viewing.
There have been Consider & Tag experiences where I scattered the cards around on the floor as well. Be creative with the space you have. Just be sure there's lots of room to move around the cards.
Process: The basic frontloading I use for any Consider & Tag experience is to present the related concept the cards support and then provide some time for the participants to consider which cards are most important to them. This consideration period can be anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes (or more) depending on the groups objectives and the time you have.
Then, there will be a time for everyone to 'Tag' their top choices. The number of tags everyone gets varies based on the amount of time you have for the experience. For example, I tend to give groups larger that 12 three tags (each person's top three choices), and groups of 12 or less I ask everyone to tag their top five choices.
Tagging shouldn't take too long, participants will have a pretty good idea (after considering) of their top choices once they begin tagging. Before tagging, everyone will need a little pack of PostIts. (I take the standard pack of PostIts and break them up into 4 or 5 little packs and put all these little packs in a convenient place to pick up.)
Then, decide, based on the group, if you would like each person to write their first name on their PostIts or leave them blank. Is the group ready to let everyone know their choices, or will it be better to be (somewhat) anonymous? Once the tagging process is understood by the group, let them tag away.
When someone is done with their tagging, they can return to their seat (if you are set up for sitting), or they can spend more time 'considering' – walking through the cards some more to see if they want to change their mind, or take a little break until everyone is done.
When the tagging is complete, it's time to look at the data. Let participants quietly return to some gallery walking to see what was tagged. I like to remind my groups that the data represents what their group members find most important to them in that moment – it doesn't mean cards without tags are not important. There have been a few times, based on a group's objectives, when we also spent a little time talking about diverse perspectives.
Serendipitously, I ran across an activity called 'Trust' while searching SessionLab for reflection activities. [The link goes to a post called, '53 team building activities for work (and to have fun!)' – mentioned in the last FUNdoing post. Scroll down to the 'Team Bonding' section in the post to find the details for the Trust activity from the Thiagi Group.] I decided to use this one for a 'Consider & Tag' experience as a way to find out some of the top concepts and behaviors the team of six had about trust in the moment.
Building Relationships & Trust Cards – Consider & Tag (my name for the experience)
Needs & Numbers: One set of 30 R&T Cards (and some blank cards - included in the PDF) for a group of 6 to 24. You'll also need some markers (I like providing Sharpies), some masking or painters tape (easier to remove from the walls and the cards), and some small pads of PostIt notes).
Set Up: My favorite way to set up the cards is to tape them on an open wall (safe to tape things onto – some places do not like things taped to their walls). I tape the cards with some good distance away from each other (if I have it), so when participants are doing a little 'Gallery Walk' to 'Consider' the information on each card, there is room to move around each other.
In the case of my group of six, I placed the cards around the the edges of the large conference room table in the room (another way to display the cards). I had enough room around the (gigantic) table to spread the cards out enough to make room for viewing.
There have been Consider & Tag experiences where I scattered the cards around on the floor as well. Be creative with the space you have. Just be sure there's lots of room to move around the cards.
Process: The basic frontloading I use for any Consider & Tag experience is to present the related concept the cards support and then provide some time for the participants to consider which cards are most important to them. This consideration period can be anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes (or more) depending on the groups objectives and the time you have.
Then, there will be a time for everyone to 'Tag' their top choices. The number of tags everyone gets varies based on the amount of time you have for the experience. For example, I tend to give groups larger that 12 three tags (each person's top three choices), and groups of 12 or less I ask everyone to tag their top five choices.
Tagging shouldn't take too long, participants will have a pretty good idea (after considering) of their top choices once they begin tagging. Before tagging, everyone will need a little pack of PostIts. (I take the standard pack of PostIts and break them up into 4 or 5 little packs and put all these little packs in a convenient place to pick up.)
Then, decide, based on the group, if you would like each person to write their first name on their PostIts or leave them blank. Is the group ready to let everyone know their choices, or will it be better to be (somewhat) anonymous? Once the tagging process is understood by the group, let them tag away.
When someone is done with their tagging, they can return to their seat (if you are set up for sitting), or they can spend more time 'considering' – walking through the cards some more to see if they want to change their mind, or take a little break until everyone is done.
When the tagging is complete, it's time to look at the data. Let participants quietly return to some gallery walking to see what was tagged. I like to remind my groups that the data represents what their group members find most important to them in that moment – it doesn't mean cards without tags are not important. There have been a few times, based on a group's objectives, when we also spent a little time talking about diverse perspectives.
Processing: After an appropriate amount of time to review the data (gallery walk), the group can discuss the findings. Here are my two favorite questions during this part:
Of course, there are a variety of ways to discuss the group's experience based on their objectives. I like this process because it brings a BIG concept (in my latest experience with the cards, building trust) into some focus as to what is most important to the group at the time. In my example, my group of six started talking about the top tagged cards (above) and were ready to develop some future actions to put the concepts and behaviors into practice.
- What is the data telling you?
- What else is the data telling you?
Of course, there are a variety of ways to discuss the group's experience based on their objectives. I like this process because it brings a BIG concept (in my latest experience with the cards, building trust) into some focus as to what is most important to the group at the time. In my example, my group of six started talking about the top tagged cards (above) and were ready to develop some future actions to put the concepts and behaviors into practice.
Extending Idea I had a little time to try something with this management team of six to experience some consensus-building. I asked them to rank the six cards shown above in order of importance. I said, "If you were to use these concepts and behaviors as your immediate priorities and put team into action, which one would you start with, then, what would be your second, third, fourth and so on."
After about 10 minutes, I stopped the group to notice the point that 'deciding' on priorities and actions takes time and commitment, as they already knew. So, I said, "As a group, how do you want to go about allocating the time you need to tackle the goals you have for yourselves in the coming months?" (This was a task I left them to think about and address during the second day of their retreat.)
If building consensus skills was one of the group's objectives, I would have provided more time for them to work out the priority of the cards. But with the brief encounter with the exercise, the group recognized the point. (And I know I can extend this process with any Consider & Tag activity in the future.)
Here are the Relationship & Trust Building Cards. Let me know how they work for you. Leave us a Comment.
After about 10 minutes, I stopped the group to notice the point that 'deciding' on priorities and actions takes time and commitment, as they already knew. So, I said, "As a group, how do you want to go about allocating the time you need to tackle the goals you have for yourselves in the coming months?" (This was a task I left them to think about and address during the second day of their retreat.)
If building consensus skills was one of the group's objectives, I would have provided more time for them to work out the priority of the cards. But with the brief encounter with the exercise, the group recognized the point. (And I know I can extend this process with any Consider & Tag activity in the future.)
Here are the Relationship & Trust Building Cards. Let me know how they work for you. Leave us a Comment.
| relationshiptrustbuildingcards_cavert_2025.pdf |
All the best,
Chris Cavert, Ed.D.
Chris Cavert, Ed.D.
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