Friend and Foe – If Someone’s Disproportionately Affecting the Team
In my last post, I described an improv theater game you can use to increase your team’s social sensitivity. Here’s way you can vary this game if you have one person who has a disproportionately negative effect on the team, to see how their actions alone can affect the entire team…
Friend and Foe – A Game to Develop Social Sensitivity
Do you want to help your team learn to work together more effectively, and have fun at the same time? Have them play “Friend and Foe.” It’s easy — you just need a space big enough to move around in, and one simple rule…
If You’ve been Giving Way, Try Doing the Opposite
Sometimes, rather than giving way to someone, you have to keep going, metaphorically speaking. I had a coworker once who’d always walk down the middle of the corridors between the cubicles. So I’d step to the side. He kept walking down the middle of the corridor. Then I tried something different…
Should a “Trouble Causing” Team Member be Removed from the Team?
If you’re a Scrum Master, and you have one person on your team who’s causing trouble for the rest of the team, should the person be removed from the team? Actually, the first thing you should think about is whether it’s really one team member who’s causing trouble for the rest of the team, or whether something else is going on…
Surviving and Thriving on Self-Organizing Teams – A Mediator’s Secrets
Have you ever been on a team that’s had problems getting along and working well together? Here are three secrets from a mediator, to surviving and thriving on self-organizing teams: 1) be patient, 2) accept ambiguity, 3) Solve interpersonal problems incrementally…
When a Self-Organizing Team Succeeds, it Might be an Accident
I had a great experience of self-organizing teams at a service weekend I went to for the summer camp I went to when growing up. So that means that what worked there will work for all self-organizing teams, right? Of course not. Here’s why…