Optimism: Let’s Get Excited Opener

[Anthony DeVincenzo]

I typically work with teams made up of individuals from different disciplines and from different agencies who are tasked with working collaboratively and cooperatively. I like to start my first engagement with them with a “Let’s Get Excited” mingle type exercise. This can be done with any size group.

Step 1: Self reflection. I ask the group to spend a couple of minutes reflecting on the following question. “What excites you about the work you do as member of this board, team, …” I advise them to come up with a 30 second – 1 minute answer to that question.
Step 2: I put the group into pairs and give them 1 or 2 minutes to share their answers with each other. To keep things moving, I facilitate the exercise by giving them a start signal and stopping/starting them again after 30 seconds or 1 minute.
Step 3: I have the group mingle and find a new partner, then repeat the exercise
The number of rounds I have them do depends on time and the number of participants.
Virtual adaptation: I have done the exercise using breakout rooms, but it can become a little “clunky” since you have to close the rooms then create new rooms for each round and hope the same people do not get paired.

I debrief the exercise by asking what the experience felt like and what they heard from each other. I have found that it is a good way to get everyone talking and the energy in the room tends to build up as you do more and more rounds. With the types of teams I work with exclusively, it usually turns out that the participants have similar things that excite them about the work.

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