Fun Team Building with Larry Lipman

Debriefing Team Building Activities: Facilitation Skills AND Excellent Debriefing Questions

What are some good ideas to facilitate juicy debrief discussions?

• Participants must be engaged. To encourage this, use icebreakers to generate a warm climate at the beginning of the seminar and help people open up.
  
  
• Can participants see each other, or are they sitting side by side in rows facing the front of the room? Eye contact and “equal seating” promotes and encourages more open discussions, like a circle or a semi-circle.
  
  
• Establish criteria for a good discussion at the beginning of the day. Spend a few minutes letting the participants generate these criteria themselves. Encourage your participants to take responsibility for bringing good issues for discussion.
  
  
• Listen well. Respond in a way that indicates that you heard and understood the question or the comment. Validate questions by either expanding on or challenging them, and encourage participants to challenge you.
  
  
• No time limit for debriefs. Good discussions require time for warming up, reflection, maximum input, and closure.
  
  
• Pause often. Quiet time is good. It allows people to think and reflect.
  
  
• Check out The Book of Questions as a resource; it poses dilemmas of all kinds, and it demands that readers take a stand. Asking open ended questions is an art.
  
  
• Present material as problems to be solved, and encourage the consideration of multiple solutions. For example: "Let's consider all the ways we might determine the period in which to place this artifact." --or-- "There are lots of ways this story can be interpreted. Let's see if we agree or disagree with the critics.
  
  
• Maximum participation can be achieved when allowing participants to work in groups of three or four. Assign them a discussion topic and give them five or ten minutes to put together a response. Let them decide how to present their thoughts.
  
  
• Prompt participants with a variety of questions that require different levels of thinking.
  
  
• Some questions can be answered with information from general experience or from basic knowledge of the discipline.
• Some questions require that participants explain the relationship between different ideas, using this to form general concepts.
• Some require participants to apply concepts and principles to new data and different situations.

Excellent Debriefing Questions

My  favorite 1st Debriefing question:

What  was your experience?  And some follow up questions:

Can you be more specific?
Can you say that in another way?
Can you provide some more details about ______?
Who else had the same reaction? Who had a different reaction?

- Desired outcome:  Participants make sense of data by drawing meaning from it, identifying significant connections, patterns, or trends.

Facilitation  questions:
Do you see a pattern here?
How do you account for ______?
What was significant about ______?
What connections to you see?
What does ________ suggest to you?

- Desired outcome:   Participants generalize information to other experiences. They understand how overarching principles apply to different situations.

Facilitation questions:
What can we infer/conclude from _______?
Does _____ remind you of anything?
What principle do you see operating here?
What does this help you explain?
How does this relate to other experiences or things you already knew?

- Desired outcome:   Participants apply new learning to real world situations.

Facilitation  questions:
How can you use that information?
What does this new information say about our own actions/lives?
What are the consequences of doing or not doing _____?
How can you adapt this information to make it applicable to you?

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

14 Outstanding Qualities for Team Building Coaches

• Mentoring – Choose strong role models and be one to others. 
• Laughing – Laugh at  yourself…and with others…and often. 
• Empathizing – Put yourself in  the other person’s shoes 
• Inspiration – Find a hero, model them, stretch yourself, and share your gifts. 
• Vulnerability – “I’m sorry.” “I was wrong.” “I recommit.” 
• Researching – Go to book stores, listen to tapes, use the Internet, hang out with  wiser people, attend workshops, etc. 
• Reflecting – What have you learned? What will you do differently? 
• Criticizing – Be open to constructive criticism. It has the potential to teach us. 
• Communicating – Ask, ask, ask. Listen, listen, listen. People cannot read our minds. 
• Risk-taking – Attempt new approaches. Let go of old attitudes. Put your beliefs on probation. 
• Assessing – What is important in your life? Who is important in your life? What really matters? 
• Goal Setting – Make measurable and put a time limit. 
• Making Time – You make time for stuff or you make excuses. 
• CANI – “constant and never-ending improvement” (from Tony Robbins)

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Team Building Coaching: Awareness

Blindfold me and take me into a plain room with 12 to 20 employees from the same organization. Don’t tell me who they are, what they do, or the specific challenges they are having at work. I want my  expectations level at zero.

I will take  off my blindfold, set up, facilitate, and de-brief the following activities:

 
• Gravity Pole 
• Zoom 
• Journey in the Forest 
• Back-Talk 
• Amazing Maze

Through Awareness Coaching, I will  be able to tell you all about this organization: their strengths and their challenges.Even better, the team  members will be able to come up with the answers themselves.

The key is awareness.

“The all important link between  performance and behavior change
in organizations is the elusive quality of  awareness.”
The Wisdom of Teams –  Creating the High Perfomance Organization,
Katzenbach and Smith, Harper Business.

When we become more aware of our own actions and beliefs, and those with whom we work, we work better as a Team. These new perspectives and new appreciations compel us to treat each other better and interact more productively.

These activities are the vehicle. Participants enjoy the unique challenges of each one. They strategize, search for solutions, find surprises along the way, and  play full out.  All they can think about is success. And like life, it doesn’t always happen. That is when the learning kicks in.

Awareness is noticing if you or your teammates:

• Follow the rules
• Bend the rules
• Lead
• Follow
• Cheat
• Play honestly
• Trust
• Respect
• Speak up and assert
• Choose to listen
• Communicate effectively
• Communicate unproductively
• Ask for help
• Go it alone
• Get frustrated and angry
• Use frustration to change strategies
• Take responsibility for the outcome
• Blame
• See the big picture
• See the tiny details
• Have fun
• Have fun only if successful
• Play win-lose
• Play win-win

These activities reveal so much. Because I believe that how we play these activities is how we do life, I am able to see and observe how organizations really, really, really act and behave in the trenches.

Awareness Coaching is guiding and allowing the team members to gain specific  perspectives into their own behavior and attitude and how it affects others. To me, the difference between typical team building coaching and awareness coaching is that awareness  coaching blends personal one-on-one success coaching with group success  coaching.  Maximum engagement is achieved through whole group activities, groups of 4, dyads, and individual challenges --- so that the learning jumps back and forth between individual eye openers to  group discoveries.

Example Activities:

Journey in the Forest --- Individuals learn how they perceive the challenges in their life. One lady several years ago stood up and remarked how this metaphorical journey reflected her life perfectly. Until this moment she had not taken the time or effort to step back and  see the whole picture. She was anxious to get back home and make some decisions. When I asked her for an example, she  said it was time to change her relationship choices. Not all are that dramatic!

Back-Talk --- Teams of 4 create personal ways to communicate with each other as a Team. I remember  one person commenting that he used to assume that people in his department who didn’t understand him were stupid or resistant to his ideas. It just might be the way he communicates. He now takes responsibility for both giving and receiving the information.

Amazing Maze --- The whole group attempts to find the hidden path from one end of the maze to the other. This powerful activity tells more about a group than any other. Is your group a TEAM or not?  Who are the TEAM players and who are not? Is  there room for improvement? What is this TEAM’S chemistry? What is your TEAM’S potential?

My personal turning point in Awareness Coaching came on a train to Callaway Gardens many years ago. I was peacefully reading a book when a man and his 4 children boarded. They proceeded to run all over the place screaming and playing tag. The father did nothing. I found myself reading the same line over and over again. I was mad. Just as I was about to say something to the man, he apologized to everyone  and said his wife had just died. They were on their way to her funeral. Somehow, I didn’t notice the kids the rest of the trip. That was a huge lesson in awareness and judgment for me. To this  day I do not judge my Team Building  groups and ask them not to judge themselves during our day. That is Awareness Coaching.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Team Building Coaching: Inside vs. Outside Motivation

“Outside motivation” typifies the rah-rah, pump-it-up, get-out-there-and-attack-the-world approach. There is nothing wrong with this motivational approach; many excellent trainers use it. I find that it wanes over time and requires periodic tune-ups.

“Inside motivation” begins on the inside. Tougher to achieve, inner motivation lasts because it becomes part of our belief system. Experts say that is the key to behavioral change. Beliefs guide our behaviors. My definition of beliefs:                  

 

A belief is a certainty that we create. It is something we believe it true.

Beliefs incorporate our views about the work place, religion, family, money, honesty, failure, happiness, life, death, etc. We believe them until something happens that challenges them. Some beliefs serve us well; many do not. That is why all my beliefs are on probation.

Example 1:  I used to believe that I had to be perfect before becoming a Success Coach:  my speaking skills, my facilitation skills, my activities, and my credentials. And of course, I had to make zero mistakes in front of people. This belief delayed my career 8 years.

I changed that belief when I observed other motivational speakers and trainers making astounding mistakes, facilitating weakly, and choosing ineffectual activities. Some had Ph.D’s; others did not finish high school. I learned that beliefs can be dangerous. Right or wrong, good or bad, they guide our behaviors. I learned that following my passion was more important than my needs to be perfect and look good in front of people.

Example 2: I facilitated 2 rival groups within the same team: sales vs. technical. The CEO was having nightmares with their lack of both communication and mutual support. Each thought they were above the other. Back-stabbing, minimal teamwork, and disharmony ruled. I was called in to work miracles.

The turning point activity was “Back-Talk.” Mixing the groups together in teams of 4, they had to create different ways to communicate with each other without talking. They could choose to work together or not. With their pride, egos, and  competitive spirit kicking in, they choose to work together.

Outcomes were hilarious, frustrating, extremely creative, surprising, and successful. Old beliefs were challenged because new awarenesses pushed them aside. This was the beginning of a new culture in that company.

It is learning new awarenesses about ourselves and others that trigger challenges to old beliefs. When we start to fine tune and adjust our beliefs so that they work for us instead of against us, we start creating a powerful and lasting inner motivation.

In my team building programs, my goals are to create compelling activities and ask moving questions that ignite our creative juices and stimulate new ways of looking at things. I cannot change people. I can only start the awareness process.

Awareness is the starting point for giving us the wisdom and courage to change all our need-to-do’s, would-like-to-do’s, and maybe-I’ll-do’s…..
to MUST DO’S. And that starts from the inside out.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Clarity in Team Building

I read this story several years ago, and do not know who  wrote it.

A woman was sitting at a bar enjoying an after work cocktail  with her girlfriends when an exceptionally tall, handsome, extremely sexy  middle-aged man entered.  He was so striking that the woman could not take  her eyes off him.
   
The young-at-heart man noticed her overly attentive stare and walked directly  toward her.  Before she could offer her  apologies for so rudely staring, he leaned over and whispered to her,  "I'll do anything, absolutely anything, that you want me to do, no matter  how kinky, for $25.00......on one condition."

Flabbergasted, the woman asked what the condition was. The man replied, "You have to tell me what you want me to do in just three words."
   
The woman considered his proposition for a moment, then slowly removed $25 from  her purse, which she pressed into the man's hand along with her address.

She looked deeply into his eyes, and slowly, meaningfully said.....
"Clean my house."

The key ingredient in Team Building begins with excellent  communication.
Clarity is the key ingredient in communication.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Good Team Building VS. Bad Team Building

Team members talk and communicate across departmental barriers.	The work place is built around silos, cliques, and isolation barriers.
Leadership walks its talk.	Leadership says one thing --- and acts another.
Team members are encouraged to contribute and are rewarded.	Back-stabbing, private agendas, and low morale rule.
Team members trust each other and ask for help.	People have their own agenda. (What’s in it for me?)
Team roles are clearly defined, supported, and encouraged.	The individual is more important than the team.
Catch people doing things right.	Catch people doing things wrong.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

6 Qualities of an Excellent TEAM

1. Constant and never-ending improvement is encouraged:
   team days, team retreats, motivational seminars, refresher courses, strategy sessions, creative workshops, appreciation days.
   
   
2. Leadership is shared among the whole team with a variety of leadership styles encouraged.
   
   
3. Open communication with team issues is vital for team growth. Conflict is not suppressed. Managing conflict improves team performance.
   
   
4. Team mission statements, goals, and vision are created by the team and held accountable by the team.
   
   
5. Do we ask for Feedback? Feedback clarifies the team direction, helps evaluate team performance, strengthens leadership, and promotes leadership.
   
   
6. Catch people doing things right!

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Top 11 Tips for Team Building Facilitators

1. Ask these 2 important questions to the boss before you meet.
   When a facilitator has these answers, he can create the perfect day.
   
   • What are your team’s biggest issues at work?
   • What specific outcomes would you love to see happen at the end of the day?
2. Have more activities than you will need. A good facilitator always plans ahead by bringing and planning more activities than necessary as back-up, in case the day goes really quickly.
   
   
3. Go propless. When traveling, one never knows when luggage might get lost. A wise facilitator always relies on several propless activities just in case.    
    
   
4. Be invisible. A good team building facilitator asks good questions and steps back--- allowing the participants to engage, interact, and communicate. It’s their day; let them learn by doing and speaking up.
    
   
5. Lead by example. A good facilitator is aware of his or her actions when things do not go according to plan or in between the activities.
    
   
6. Put EGO’s in the back pocket. A good facilitator allows the group to lead and proceed at their rate and on their agenda. Letting go of one’s agenda to meet the needs of the group is a terrific facilitator strength.
    
   
7. Pause. Allowing participants to pause often gives them time to process, think, and anchor their learnings. Few facilitators do this. Pause, pause, pause.
    
   
8. De-brief. Allowing the participants to process their actions, behavior, and responses after each activity is precisely when the learning takes place.
    
   
9. Be punctual. Start on time, allow breaks, end on time. Period.          
      
   
10. Nurture spontaneity. The best moments and the most teachable moments are usually the unplanned moments. Enjoy, appreciate, and honor them.
     
    
11. Laugh often. Participants learn best when having FUN!

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Every Team Building Group is Perfect

We are brought up learning that nobody is perfect. Fine. I can handle that. As a Success Coach who specializes in Team Building and Leadership Training, I am not perfect. I am far from it. “Perfect” is a nasty word. It encourages us to beat up on ourselves when we are not.

That important thought helps me handle mistakes that I make when I present and facilitate groups. I tell myself that I am not perfect. That I will learn from this. That I recommit. And boom ---- I bounce back and proceed to be the best success Coach on the planet. At least that is what I tell my mind.

A turning point in my life happened when I learned the flipside of “perfect.”

All groups are perfect.

Yes, you read that correctly. I have incorporated that brand new belief into my belief system because it works for me. Now, wait a minute. I just said that nobody is perfect. Yes, and I still believe that. I also believe that all groups are perfect.

I success coach groups of all sizes, ages, and occupations. They are all different. And I mean different. I love the challenge of working with a variety of participants who have different personalities, needs and outcomes. That stretches me and that is how I learn and grow.

More importantly, when I remember that all groups are perfect, it’s OK for anything and everything to happen. I follow the lead of my group. If I anticipate one direction, and they go another, I go their way. If a conflict or upset occurs, we handle it and discuss it. If it takes 90 minutes to do a 20-minute activity, we do it. If we spend 12 minutes on an hour activity, we do it. If I make a mistake, I acknowledge it, they see I am human, and we connect even better. If they make a mistake….

That’s the point. The group never makes a mistake. It was meant to happen because a team building day mirrors real life situations. The learning takes place as we choose how to handle our reactions to these mistakes or unplanned events.

I used to get scared handling situations that pop up unplanned in a team building seminar. Truth: I almost welcome those moments now.

I used to think that there were bad apples in every group: you know, the ones who refuse to participate, the ones who blame others, the ones who are never happy, the ones who thrive on conflict and upsetting others.

These folks are part of that perfect group. In fact, they are the teachers. How would the team learn if nobody pushed our buttons? It is those folks who push our buttons from whom we learn the most.

Individuals are not perfect. Groups are.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

The “F” Word in Team Building

No, not that word!

I have another “F” word that will change your life. It has mine. I learned it from a 9-year old girl several years ago.

I was facilitating a team building session for an elementary school in Philadelphia, PA. There were 300 kids, teachers, parents, and administrative folks packed into a gymnasium. I lead them through several interactive, team building activities touching on trust, leadership, self-esteem, and success.

After a particularly challenging activity, one of the participants brought up the subject of failure. People joined in immediately. Everybody started talking about their failures. The topic spread like wildfire.

Suddenly, this 9-year old girl raised her hand and said, “Mister, I am not allowed to use or say the word, “failure!” The crowd hushed. The silence was scary. Everyone looked at me and I had nothing to say.

Then she proceeded to say, “I am supposed to use another “F” word instead.” My face turned red. There was not a sound in the gym. No one knew what was coming. I could see the parents and teachers squirming in their seats. She quickly added, “My mom says I am supposed to use the word, “feedback,” instead of “failure.”

WOW! We all learned something that day. Especially me.

Not a day goes by in my Team Building Seminars where I don’t use that little girl’s
F word of Feedback!

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!