Building Your Team Toolbox

This Guy/That Guy

Materials:

Two pieces of flip chart paper on display with one drawing on each (This Guy on one, and That Guy on the other)
This Guy and That Guy worksheets
A stack of post it notes for each group
A black Sharpie for each group

Directions:

1)Split the group into teams for 4-8 people

2)Say something like the following: “From time to time, we are all “difficult” team member. Perhaps we are stressed, tired, or preoccupied, and we are not contributing according to our normal standard.” And then say something like: “From time to time, we are all an “excellent” team member. We are calm, energized, or engaged, and we are contributing according to our highest standard.”

3)Say, “Now, I want teams 1, 2, and 3 to imagine a team member with every negative characteristic possible. What would that look like? What qualities and characteristics would this person consistently exhibit? And I want teams 4, 5, and 6 to imagine a team member with every positive characteristic. What would that look like? What qualities and characteristics would this person consistently exhibit?

4)Give teams 10 minutes to consider that questions, brainstorm, and complete the worksheet.

5)Once completed, give teams 5 minutes to select their top 10-20 items from the worksheet, and write each item on individual post-it notes.

6)Have each team place their post it notes on the appropriate flip chart and share their post-it note items with the entire group.

Debrief Questions to Ask:

How have we experienced or displayed some of these more “difficult” qualities in our team?
How can we become more effective team members?
What is our individual responsibility to the team?

Tips for Success:

Prepare Flip Chart A and Flip Chart B before the session.

Copy “That Guy” – Profile of a Non-Team Player and “This Guy”- Profile of the Ultimate Team Player handouts for each sub-team.

Be sure to have enough Post-it Notes so all participants have a large supply for brainstorming.

The use of Sharpie pens is important so that what is written on the Post-it Notes can be seen at a distance.

After the exercise, post both Flip Chart A and Flip Chart B in a common space for all team members to refer back to.