in this issue
	RTT Development Opportunities Activity: In a Nutshell Activity: That Reminds Me Of... Activity: Our World Decision Making Facilitation

Activity: In a Nutshell

This activity is ideal for writing or presentation skills training. The goal is to help people pinpoint their message for a presentation or document by imagining that they must create a headline for their message. Part 1: Select several short articles from a newspaper or magazine. Avoid articles of a controversial nature and remove the title of the article. Give each person one article, assigning several people the same one. Instruct participants to read the article and create a headline for it. Allow 5 minutes. Part 2: Instruct participants to select a personal document they need to write or a topic for an upcoming presentation. Instruct them to write about their topic for 5 minutes, without worrying about structure or grammar. The goal is to put down all the information they might want to convey in their document or presentation. You might want to warn them to use good penmanship because someone else will be reading their work. Part 3: Divide class into pairs and have them trade work. Instruct them to read their partners work and develop a headline. Allow 5 minutes. Then have partners share headlines and discuss. This will help them better focus their writing and presentation on what's really important to communicate.

Activity: That Reminds Me Of...

In this great world we live in, there are so many different kinds of terrain. You have desert, canyons, oceans, lakes, mountains, valleys, prairies, and more. Here's an exercise that brings nature into the classroom. The goal of the activity is to get people talking about their team, department, or business unit by comparing it to a specific view of nature. Before training, select a number of photos of different natural views. Have a wide variety, from desert to rain forest, geysers to canyons, mountains to prairies, etc. Prints should be 5x8 or larger. During the meeting, post each picture on separate flip chart, at the top center of the chart. Place flip charts around the room. Instruct team members to choose a picture that reminds them of their team and go to that flip chart. When everyone has chosen a photo, instruct them to discuss and record on the chart all the similarities between their team and the photo they selected. Allow 5 minutes. Then have teams share their ideas. You can use this activity to encourage communication about team strengths and needs. It brings out individual perceptions of the team and brings some of the great outdoors into your session.

Activity: Our World

This activity helps teams and individuals analyze their relationships with customers and suppliers. Begin by creating a map of the group's world on a flip chart. Draw a circle in the middle of the chart, labeled with the group's name. Then build the map with the group, adding lines and circles to represent the other groups with whom they interact. The end result should be a spoke and wheel drawing of the world of the group. When the map is complete, have the group discuss and rate the relationship they have (as a group) with each customer/supplier spoke. Ask questions such as: "What's working in our relationship with [group A]?" Post answers on the chart. "What's not working in our relationship with [group A]? Post answers on the chart. "Overall, would you rate our relationship with [group A] as positive (+), negative (-), or neutral (0)?" Post answer on the chart. Continue in the same way until all groups have been discussed and rated. When the chart is complete for the group as a whole, have each team member create a map of their personal world (at work) on a piece of paper, following the same process you did as a group. Begin with a circle in the middle of the chart labeled with the individual's name. Then add lines and circles to represent the other individuals and groups with whom they interact. They should have other team member names on their personal map. Allow about 5 minutes to build individual maps. Don't have them analyze the relationships at this time. When the map is complete, have each person share their map with someone to ensure that it's complete. (3-4 minutes) Finish by having individuals analyze the relationships on their map, using the same process as the group (what's working, not working, rating). Allow 10 minutes. You may want to follow up this activity with a meeting between each person and their manager to discuss their personal world map and actions that can be taken to strengthen critical relationships.

Decision Making Facilitation

We are currently working with a client to support a new self-directed work team. Given time and budget constraints, our strategy has been to provide the team leader with weekly meeting plans that he implements. Each plan addresses a specific issue for the team and is designed for implementation in less than 2 hours. One such meeting plan was designed to how decisions will be made on the team. I'll describe the process here and give you a link to the actual plan we developed. Preparation was required by all team members. They were asked to track the decisions they made for a one week period. A worksheet was provided for this assignment, and they were instructed to bring the completed worksheet to the meeting. We began the meeting with a short introduction of why decision making can cause team conflicts, especially with self-directed work teams. Then the group brainstormed the types of decisions they make on a regular basis, using their prework notes. These types of decisions were posted on a flip chart. After all decisions were posted, we explained the authority and involvement people can have in a decision (boss makes decision, boss gets input and then makes decision, team consensus with boss, team makes decision without boss). We also discussed the importance of involving stakeholders in the decision. Then we had the manager go back to the list of decisions they make and come to agreement with the team about who should make the decision how/when stakeholders should be involved. This discussion plan works well with new teams. And the manager said that the format of the documentation was easy to use. Think about how you can enable managers in your organization to take charge of their team's development. Here's a link to our documentation. Decision Making Meeting Plan »