Have you worked with teams who lack understanding of each other and have miss-aligned expectations? In short, they are under-estimating each other’s potential and missing the opportunity to achieve greater things together. Continue reading to know how I experimented…

Once I was asked to facilitate a workshop for teams to improve collaboration as they were working together in the same department. Communication and collaboration existed however it was ineffective and expectations were unclear which often lead to frustration. I got inspiration from the vein diagram and thought to come up with a visual to connect people at work and at the human levels.

This post describes my “Team Heart” model to identify similarities and differences in teams. In doing so, the team members can get three benefits 1) build upon similarities,  2) develop an understanding and respect differences and 3) align expectations accordingly.

1.Model Description

• The heart is an area for the similarities
• The left and right sides are team-specific areas

This model can be used by/and at level;

• Teams
• Departments
• Company Merger
• and even a couple (how sweet)

2.Facilitation guide

1. Check-in: welcome participants and explain the purpose of the workshop
2. Do a team collaboration related ice breaker
3. Draw the “Team Heart model” as shown in the image
4. Debrief the model to the audience
5. Individual or group activity to write “similar and difference” on sticky/digital notes, one thought per note
6. In turn, briefly discuss each note and then place it in the respective area
7. As a facilitator, ask powerful questions (clarifying/ history/ exploratory etc…) to strengthen the heart area
8. As a facilitator, ask powerful questions (clarifying/ history/ exploratory etc…) to build understanding and respect differences
   • What is here that you want to share?
   • What other angles can you think of?
   • What is the opportunity here?
9. At this point, you will have a visualization of similarities and differences
10. Do a group reflection
11. Identify and define any next action(s)
12. As a facilitator, appreciate the participants and show your observation
13. Check-out: participants share the takeaway

Please experiment with this model and share your comments!