The Team Talents Exercise

[HopE2019]

Dimension / TPI: Camaraderie/ Positivity
Supplies & Logistics:

• Flip chart & several pens of different colors
• The facilitator draws a circle in the middle of the flip
  chart, around the circle he/she draws as many (flower)
  petals as the number of team members participating.
• The end result of the drawing looks like a flower. In the
  flower center (the circle), at the top, the facilitator writes
  the title of the team and the word: TALENTS. At the top
  of each petal the name of each team member is written.
• Music background suggested to be used throughout the
  exercise: Disney classics (it takes us back to childhood)

Time:45-60 minutes depending on team size
Set-up: With a team up to 10-12 people you can do this exercise
with the whole team. Once team size gets above 12 or so,
you may decide to divide into smaller groups.
Context: This exercises focuses in deepening team members
knowing of each other, it works on sentiment, memories,
worth, pride, trust and fun. It promotes playfulness, story
sharing, and authenticity. As an end result it highlights the
consolidated wealth of talents the team brings in.
This exercise offers the team the opportunity to identify and
share the talents of each team member and concludes with
a synthesis of the overall team talents picture (in the shape
of a flower).
Instructions: Ask team members to take 10 minutes in order to think and
complete steps 1&2:

1. To scan back in their memory and recall

activities/tasks/games that gave them most joy in their
childhood, things they truly loved to do and would loose
completely truck of time when involved with them. Ask
them to recall a relevant short story.

2. To dwell on what today comes “natural” to them, those
   activities/tasks in which they are very good at without a
   lot of effort or difficulty. These same activities/tasks may
   seem challenging, or tough or may require a lot of effort
   for other people.

<p>After team members complete steps 1&2, ask them to
identify (utilizing previous steps), their dominant natural
talents. Give them another 5 minutes to think about them
and prioritize them -max 3.</p>
<p>Some people can easily identify the links between their
childhood preferences and their talents today, some not. For
those who cannot do that, ask them to identify their talents
only from their current/adult status.</p>
<p>In case you see them having difficulty with step 2, ask them
to think what would their best friend, their mother or better
half, describe as their strongest talent.</p>
<p>If that does not help either, ask team members input (this
can work beautifully for camaraderie and positivity).
Ask each team member to share his/her childhood story and
following that to identify the top 3 talents he/she brings in the
team, ideally using examples.</p>
<p>As a facilitator your role is to help team members open up
and bring out their authentic self and their vulnerability
together with beautiful/funny/sentimental childhood stories.
In the case of the talents sharing step, it is critical to ensure
that a clear description is provided of what each person
really means when referring to a specific talent. In this case
asking for examples can be very helpful.</p>
<p>As a next step the facilitator adds in each petal (below the
team member name) a couple of words as key reminders of
the story shared together with the 3 natural talents shared.
Finally after each member’s input has been captured in the
relevant petal, in the center of the flower the facilitator adds
with different colors all the unique talents owned by team
members that define the actual team talent profile.</p>
Debrief:

• This exercise creates a very positive framework. It
  celebrates personal stories and qualities, it increases
  familiarity and understanding while enhancing the
  feeling of belonging in a team with a variety of unique
  talents that one can feel proud of.
• Usually teams choose to take the “team talents flower”
  back to their office after the workshop and use it as
  quick reference point to team potential.

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