Youth Leadership Training
Youth Leadership Training EFFECTIVE GROUP PROCESSING AND REFLECTION Team Building Facilitation and Reflection Why do we use teambuilding?’ Team Building activities offer the opportunity for our youth and groups of any age to learn by being immersed in experiences that offer the opportunity to teach leadership, decision-making, communication and group dynamics. When facilitated successfully, an activity can have a powerful effect on its participants.
Facilitation and Group Dynamics When you are facilitating an activity, please keep in mind the following: • • • • •
How long has the group known each other? Can you read your group within the first minute? Are you giving clear instruction? Building the story. Are you making your activity too challenging or not challenging enough? Are you addressing them as a group or as individuals?
Ideas to help with facilitation: • • • • •
Establishing an agreement Documenting (writing pad) Reward and give back Let them figure it out Provide some excitement, positive attitude and encouragement
Reflection Reflection is a critical component at the end of a team building activity. Reflection is the use of creative and critical thinking skills to learn from the activity and to examine the larger picture and context in which similar challenges may arise in real life scenarios.
1
Reflection can be meaningful, harmful, or meaningless. Its impact depends on how it is presented, when it is done, and what is done with the insights and thoughts. When carefully and thoughtfully structured, reflection can be a powerful tool that turns challenging experiences into learning experiences. Reflection allows for: • • • • • • • •
on-going learning experiences discussion, exploration, and resolution of difficult or challenging circumstances understanding the larger scope of varying issues self-examination and thoughtfulness thinking about the future problem-solving with peers team and community building reality checks on inaccurate assumptions
How your group performs throughout the activity can give you a good sense of how easy or challenging it may be to get the reflection conversation started. Keep reflection fun and somewhat light, especially for those groups that may have had some tense times. Give some options to the group for those who do not like to share their thoughts orally. • • • • • • •
Post its (anonymous foreheads) Paper to draw or right on Human sculpture/ exhibit Thumb ratings Think, Pair, Share Talking piece Word Grab Bag
Traditional reflections tend to be based around the "What, So What, Now What " technique. The "What" part of the discussion asks the group members to discuss what just happened. The literal discussion of the recent events may segue into the "So What" part of the discussion. During "So What," participants discuss what they learned and observed during the activity. "Now What" focuses participants on how they can utilize what they learned when they return home. On the following pages I have questions that may spark conversation or be relevant to your activity. These question are based around the "What, So What, Now What " technique as well as some transitioning questions in order to relate the activity or situations to real life scenarios.
2
Examples of Reflection Questions based on the “What? So What? Now What?” Model What? What happened? What did you observe? What was your role in this activity? What issues did your team have and how did the team address them? What were your initial expectations? Do you feel that your team was successful/ unsuccessful? How many different ways could you define success for your team in this activity? So What? Did you learn a something new about yourself, another teammate, or the group as a whole? Did anything surprise you? How was your experience different from what you expected? What impacted the way you viewed or handled your involvement in the situation/experience? (What did you like/dislike about the experience? What were some of the issues that happened between your team that can be translated into situations that happen at home or in other social situations? Could some of the issues be handled differently in both situations? How? What other experiences during this activity could relate to real life scenarios? What specific skills or talents that you possess did you use or fail to use? Has your view of team with changed? Do you feel more distant or closer? How? What did you or a teammate do that seemed to be effective or ineffective during this activity? Talk about any disappointments or successes of this activity. What did you learn from it? What sorts of things made or make you feel uncomfortable when you are working in an activity like this? Why? Now What? What things have you learned from this challenge to take to the next challenge? What things have you learned from this challenge that may be beneficial to real life situations? How will your group behavior change for the next challenge? What learning occurred for you in this experience? How can you apply this learning? What follow-up is needed to address any challenges or difficulties? What have you learned about yourself or teammates that can be shared or beneficial to their community? If you could do the activity again, what would you do differently? 3
Can you share one comment or positive thing about a teammate that they should be proud of?
General Questions What was the first clue that the situation was not going well? How did the chaos stop? What had to happen before you could start working towards a solution? What type of solution were you striving for? What are some real examples from your lives that mirror this activity? As a team initiative, which elements of high performing teams were evident and which elements needed more emphasis? Clarity of purpose and clarity of roles are essential for team performance. How did these two factors influence performance? What similarities do you see between this and the situations in real life? Is there anything we want to focus our attention on in future activities? How did you use your planning time? Was everyone incorporated into the planning, if not why? Those of you who did not feel part of the team what stopped you from pushing your way in? Was a common language created? How is this like situations in daily life? How can we implement our learning into the team? What strategies did the group develop to implement an effective solution? What was the consequence of change during the activity? What strategies did the group develop to adjust to change? What recommendations does the group have for managing change at work based on the experience? How did this activity build trust? What changes have you noticed since you finished the stages? How did you overcome any anxieties? How well did support your team members?
Other Questions that may relate to: Different Roles/ Team Dynamic Describe what it was like to have your role. What made it so challenging? Which role do you think was most challenging? Why? Did you trust your teammates before doing this activity? Why or why not? Do you trust them more after completing the activity? Less? Explain. If trust doesn’t exist in a team, or if a team’s trust is broken, how can work to develop it? Why is trust important for teams? 4
Do you have a sense of community in this group? Why or why not? How does one become a part of a community? How can communities make you feel welcome or unwelcome? What types of communities do you feel comfortable and/or uncomfortable in? How does this group make feel people feel welcome? If people don’t feel welcome, what needs to change? Mis/Communication If this would have been a real life scenario where your lives were depending on your communication, how well do think your team did? In what ways does this activity relate to how rumors and gossip spread? Were there times you doubted the information being communicated to you? If a rumor has been spread, how do you respond? Was there ever a time that you did not feel that your ideas were listened to? Did you have ideas but did not feel comfortable enough to share them? Has there ever been a time or situations in life where you don’t feel that you are being heard? Have you ever felt that you have had great ideas, but don’t feel as if they will be listened to or taken seriously? What tends to happen in group relationships when one person has more information than another? How can members of a group deal with this situation? What could change in that situation if all the information is distributed and communicated clearly? Problem Solving Was there any time during this activity where you wanted to cheat? Why did or didn’t you do this? Can you think of any real-life situations where you were trying to solve a problem but didn’t have all of the information you needed? What would have changed the situation if we had all of the information?
5
Facilitation and Group Dynamics When you are facilitating an activity, please keep in mind the following: • • • • •
How long has the group known each other? Can you read your group within the first minute? Are you giving clear instruction? Building the story. Are you making your activity too challenging or not challenging enough? Are you addressing them as a group or as individuals?
Ideas to help with facilitation: • • • • •
Establishing an agreement Documenting (writing pad) Reward and give back Let them figure it out Provide some excitement, positive attitude and encouragement
Reflection Reflection is a critical component at the end of a team building activity. Reflection is the use of creative and critical thinking skills to learn from the activity and to examine the larger picture and context in which similar challenges may arise in real life scenarios.
1
Reflection can be meaningful, harmful, or meaningless. Its impact depends on how it is presented, when it is done, and what is done with the insights and thoughts. When carefully and thoughtfully structured, reflection can be a powerful tool that turns challenging experiences into learning experiences. Reflection allows for: • • • • • • • •
on-going learning experiences discussion, exploration, and resolution of difficult or challenging circumstances understanding the larger scope of varying issues self-examination and thoughtfulness thinking about the future problem-solving with peers team and community building reality checks on inaccurate assumptions
How your group performs throughout the activity can give you a good sense of how easy or challenging it may be to get the reflection conversation started. Keep reflection fun and somewhat light, especially for those groups that may have had some tense times. Give some options to the group for those who do not like to share their thoughts orally. • • • • • • •
Post its (anonymous foreheads) Paper to draw or right on Human sculpture/ exhibit Thumb ratings Think, Pair, Share Talking piece Word Grab Bag
Traditional reflections tend to be based around the "What, So What, Now What " technique. The "What" part of the discussion asks the group members to discuss what just happened. The literal discussion of the recent events may segue into the "So What" part of the discussion. During "So What," participants discuss what they learned and observed during the activity. "Now What" focuses participants on how they can utilize what they learned when they return home. On the following pages I have questions that may spark conversation or be relevant to your activity. These question are based around the "What, So What, Now What " technique as well as some transitioning questions in order to relate the activity or situations to real life scenarios.
2
Examples of Reflection Questions based on the “What? So What? Now What?” Model What? What happened? What did you observe? What was your role in this activity? What issues did your team have and how did the team address them? What were your initial expectations? Do you feel that your team was successful/ unsuccessful? How many different ways could you define success for your team in this activity? So What? Did you learn a something new about yourself, another teammate, or the group as a whole? Did anything surprise you? How was your experience different from what you expected? What impacted the way you viewed or handled your involvement in the situation/experience? (What did you like/dislike about the experience? What were some of the issues that happened between your team that can be translated into situations that happen at home or in other social situations? Could some of the issues be handled differently in both situations? How? What other experiences during this activity could relate to real life scenarios? What specific skills or talents that you possess did you use or fail to use? Has your view of team with changed? Do you feel more distant or closer? How? What did you or a teammate do that seemed to be effective or ineffective during this activity? Talk about any disappointments or successes of this activity. What did you learn from it? What sorts of things made or make you feel uncomfortable when you are working in an activity like this? Why? Now What? What things have you learned from this challenge to take to the next challenge? What things have you learned from this challenge that may be beneficial to real life situations? How will your group behavior change for the next challenge? What learning occurred for you in this experience? How can you apply this learning? What follow-up is needed to address any challenges or difficulties? What have you learned about yourself or teammates that can be shared or beneficial to their community? If you could do the activity again, what would you do differently? 3
Can you share one comment or positive thing about a teammate that they should be proud of?
General Questions What was the first clue that the situation was not going well? How did the chaos stop? What had to happen before you could start working towards a solution? What type of solution were you striving for? What are some real examples from your lives that mirror this activity? As a team initiative, which elements of high performing teams were evident and which elements needed more emphasis? Clarity of purpose and clarity of roles are essential for team performance. How did these two factors influence performance? What similarities do you see between this and the situations in real life? Is there anything we want to focus our attention on in future activities? How did you use your planning time? Was everyone incorporated into the planning, if not why? Those of you who did not feel part of the team what stopped you from pushing your way in? Was a common language created? How is this like situations in daily life? How can we implement our learning into the team? What strategies did the group develop to implement an effective solution? What was the consequence of change during the activity? What strategies did the group develop to adjust to change? What recommendations does the group have for managing change at work based on the experience? How did this activity build trust? What changes have you noticed since you finished the stages? How did you overcome any anxieties? How well did support your team members?
Other Questions that may relate to: Different Roles/ Team Dynamic Describe what it was like to have your role. What made it so challenging? Which role do you think was most challenging? Why? Did you trust your teammates before doing this activity? Why or why not? Do you trust them more after completing the activity? Less? Explain. If trust doesn’t exist in a team, or if a team’s trust is broken, how can work to develop it? Why is trust important for teams? 4
Do you have a sense of community in this group? Why or why not? How does one become a part of a community? How can communities make you feel welcome or unwelcome? What types of communities do you feel comfortable and/or uncomfortable in? How does this group make feel people feel welcome? If people don’t feel welcome, what needs to change? Mis/Communication If this would have been a real life scenario where your lives were depending on your communication, how well do think your team did? In what ways does this activity relate to how rumors and gossip spread? Were there times you doubted the information being communicated to you? If a rumor has been spread, how do you respond? Was there ever a time that you did not feel that your ideas were listened to? Did you have ideas but did not feel comfortable enough to share them? Has there ever been a time or situations in life where you don’t feel that you are being heard? Have you ever felt that you have had great ideas, but don’t feel as if they will be listened to or taken seriously? What tends to happen in group relationships when one person has more information than another? How can members of a group deal with this situation? What could change in that situation if all the information is distributed and communicated clearly? Problem Solving Was there any time during this activity where you wanted to cheat? Why did or didn’t you do this? Can you think of any real-life situations where you were trying to solve a problem but didn’t have all of the information you needed? What would have changed the situation if we had all of the information?
5
