The Meeting Zest Thumball provides perfect questions for any meeting, which will build camaraderie, ease tension, foster development of collegial relationships and surface hot topics. On this Thumball, you'll find three types of questions - those that focus on "me," "we," and "me & we."
Me
- A high/low of your day, so far
- Something you’d love to learn this week
- Favorite social media platform. Why?
- Your “elevator pitch”
- How you’d spend your time, if you retired
- Something you wish you were better at
- Things that cheer me up on a bad day
- I want to be remembered as _______
- Three things on my “to do” list
- The thing I most procrastinate
We
- Is “Reply-All” no-no or yes-yes? Why?
- Email pet peeves
- Something you like/hate about our meetings
- An important topic for our next gathering
- An insight about our team
- What you wish we could do differently
- Something I appreciate about another person here
- If we added someone to our team, I wish they’d _____
- Something we could change about our environment
- Something we learned recently, as a group
- A weekly tradition we ought to start
- We should do better at appreciating _______
Me & We
- What you wish you could change about your role
- Something you do for us that “works well”
- I wish I were more appreciated for…
- “Work stuff” I like to do when nobody’s around
- What I really like about our team
- Something you like about your role
- I get stressed when we _________
- A (work) project that brings pleasure (past, current or future)
- Players Choice
- Something I wish this group knew about me
Share your reaction to whatever prompt lies under your thumb. Thumball is a soft 6" stuffed ball with loads of applications!
[NOTE: Silver Series Conversation Prompts are available as Thumballs, UNZiP-IT! Pocket & Deck, and Virtual/Remote PPT.]
HOW IT WORKS: Someone throws the ball, another catches it and responds to the prompt under their thumb.
FACILITATION TIP 1
EXPLAIN....
In order to achieve greatness, sometimes teams need to take a step back and reflect on their relationships, communication, and their process of working together.
Tailor your Thumball game to meet your needs:
Option1: Have each player respond only to the prompt under their thumb, then toss the ball to another.
Option 2: After the first player has responded to their prompt, invite others to share their perspective or discuss ways they could work together more effectively.
FACILITATION TIP 2
SET GROUND RULES
Explain that conversations about team dynamics can become emotionally charged. The goal of the Team Dynamics Thumball activity is to raise important issues and have necessary conversations in a positive environment. So that everyone can feel safe, have the group set up their own Ground Rules. Here are some that you might want on the list: * Only one person speaks at a time
* Speak only for yourself; Use I statements
* No personal attacks critique ideas, not people
* Agree to disagree; disagree without being disagreeable
* Listen - make sure everyone feels heard and validated
* Be positive and non-judgmental; open to new ideas
FACILITATION TIP 3
IF CONVERSATIONS GET STICKY
Expert facilitators suggest these techniques to ease difficult or emotional situations:
- Pause the conversation so you can review the ground rules with the group.
- Redirect negative comments; ask what can we do differently?
- Focus on changes that can positively affect the team.
- If two parties disagree, suggest that they switch roles and make the counter argument.
- Keep a flip chart of difficult topics that can be addressed later.
- Be ready to share some of your own experiences.
- Take a break. Stop for awhile and regroup.
- Thank participants for sharing their personal stories.
