Organizational Development Consultant and Leadership Coach

Seven Techniques to Boost Creativity and Teamwork: #7 The Funeral

April 19, 2014

“Our group has just gone through downsizing and restructuring, and we’re having a difficult time letting go of the past. This negatively impacts our ability to concentrate on future demands. What can I do to help the group deal with this type of situation?”

7. The Funeral

What Is the Funeral?

The Funeral is a technique for helping a group put the past aside and prepare for the future. The Funeral acknowledges in a good-natured way that the past had both its good and bad points. However, in order to go forward, the group must now bury the past and Continue reading

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Seven Techniques to Boost Creativity and Teamwork: #6 Milestones

April 17, 2014

“I’m want a technique for helping our group understand and appreciate the diversity of experience and backgrounds in the room, but in an informal and interesting way.  Do you have any ideas?”

#6: MILESTONES

What is MILESTONES?

MILESTONES is a technique that allows for participants to learn more about the members of their meeting group, thereby building a stronger sense of team.  By focusing on MILESTONES in each participant’s life, the exercise promotes learning more about each other, both on a personal and professional level, which ultimately helps people work together more effectively.

It is often an underlying Continue reading

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Seven Techniques to Boost Creativity and Teamwork: #5 Two Truths and a Lie

April 14, 2014

“Even though we’ve worked together for a while, no one seems to know very much about the other people in the group. Is there a fun and simple technique that will help us learn more about our fellow participants?”

5. Two Truths and a Lie

What Is Two Truths and a Lie?

Two Truths and a Lie is a team-building exercise that provides your meeting participants with personal information that reveals more about the other team members as individuals. By having fun and revealing pieces of trivia about themselves, people expose parts of their background and interests that other group Continue reading

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Seven Techniques to Boost Creativity and Teamwork: #4 Team Learning

April 7, 2014

“Our group is limited to our own old habits, opinions and experiences.  But the challenges facing us call for a fuller understanding and broader perspective.  We joke that we all need to go back to college to get some new ideas, but, of course, there’s no time for that now.  Do you have any suggestions?”

#4:  TEAM LEARNING

What is TEAM LEARNING?

TEAM LEARNING is a technique that provides a work team or meeting group with the resources to learn new information.  Teams often become so busy accomplishing tasks and making decisions that they don’t Continue reading

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Seven Techniques to Boost Creativity and Teamwork: #3 Incrediballs

April 4, 2014

“More than ever before, our group needs to start making some radical improvements in the way we do our business.  We haven’t worked particularly well together in the past and I need to get these people together and jolted fast.  Do you have any suggestions?”

#3:  INCREDIBALLS

What is INCREDIBALLS?

INCREDIBALLS is a technique that motivates people to work together as a team and challenges them to think about ways to work together differently and more efficiently.  The INCREDIBALLS exercise presents participants with increasingly difficult and seemingly impossible deadlines, which stimulates creative thinking and solutions.  Continue reading

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Seven Techniques to Boost Creativity and Teamwork: #2 New Glasses

March 25, 2014

“Some of my group’s participants seem resistant to change and insist on looking at problems in the same old ways. Is there a simple technique that can help them snap out of their old habits and perceptions?”

2. New Glasses

What Is New Glasses?

New Glasses is a simple technique to help your meeting participants look at the meeting agenda’s topics through new eyes and to support them in leaving their biases and old perspectives behind. It is an instantaneous energizer and also serves as a good technique for the tactile learner.

New Glasses involves literally asking each participant to Continue reading

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Seven Techniques to Boost Creativity and Teamwork: #1 Thinking Outside the Box

March 22, 2014

My last twenty blogs described techniques for improving meeting productivity.  The next seven blogs will describe meeting facilitation techniques to boost creativity and teamwork.  They will include:

1. Thinking Outside the Box

2. New Glasses

3. Incrediballs

4. Team Learning

5. Two Truths and a Lie

6. Milestones

7. The Funeral

Today, we’ll start with Technique #1: Thinking Outside the Box.   Here we go!

What Is Thinking Outside the Box?

Thinking Outside the Box is a technique designed to help your participants see the value of thinking in new and different ways.

People think and problem solve Continue reading

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20 Techniques to Improve Meeting Productivity: #20 Small Groups

March 14, 2014

“Sometimes it seems impossible to hear from everyone in our meetings. The group is too large, the agenda is too long, or the time is too short. How can I be sure that everyone gets a chance to speak his or her mind?”

20. Small Groups

What Is Small Groups?

Small Groups is a productivity technique for gaining input from everyone in the meeting. This process involves breaking a large group into smaller, more manageable groups of participants.

Small Groups stimulate fuller participation, require less time, and tend to create higher energy and better results. They can be combined with Continue reading

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20 Techniques to Improve Meeting Productivity: #19 Writing

March 10, 2014

My last three blogs highlighted techniques to stimulate and maintain high energy.   The last two techniques in this section are designed to increase participation.  Today I’ll describe Technique #19: Writing.

“I know that meetings are designed for two-way communication, but sometimes a verbal discussion doesn’t seem like the best way to utilize the time of my meeting participants. This usually happens when the agenda is long, the group is large, only a few people participate, or the information requested is delicate or volatile. Is there an alternative to group discussions?”

19. Writing

What Is Writing?

As a productivity Continue reading

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20 Techniques to Improve Meeting Productivity: #18 Music

March 1, 2014

“Sometimes I think that the energy swings in my meetings are due to the lack of diversity in my facilitation. And this sameness becomes a source of tedium for my participants. What can I do to change the atmosphere and the pace or create a different mood in my meetings?”

18. Music

What Is Music?

Music is another technique designed to keep your meeting group’s energy high. Music can set the stage for increased creativity and productivity by a simple change of mood. Well planned, Music alters the ambience and tone of a meeting, thereby changing its pace and sparking Continue reading

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