Team Alignment

Setting Context for Bringing Groups Together

This is a great activity when two or more areas are now required to work together as a result of an amalgamation or project team.

Give each group/department a flip chart and ask them to draw a venn diagram with 3 circles. They should work with the area they normally are associated with.

In top circle, fill in what we do – fundamentally, WHAT is it that the department does to contribute to the organization?

In left circle, have group fill in how we do it – HOW do you do your work? (the good and the challenges)

In the right circle, fill in why we do it – this can be personally WHY the individuals do the job AND why doing the work contributes to the overall mission of the organization.
The middle should be filled in with their department/area name. Depending on how new the team is and the level of understanding about each function, I sometimes have them fill more information in the middle, also helps to have people include things like how long the function has been in place, specific roles, etc.

Have each group complete flip chart and present back to group.

KEY DEBRIEF: Ask the following questions:
• What words or phrases stand out to you on the flipcharts?
• What surprises you?
• What commonalities can you draw from this?
• What does this tell you about who you are individually and who we are as a whole?
• How does this conversation inform our work as a team?

During the debrief, there is a recognition that although the distinct areas start out feeling very different, there are significant overlap, most often in the why we do it. This helps to establish a mutual purpose and to get the groups seeing alignment between purpose.