The best team exercises have a measurable long-term impact on the organization and culture. While exercises that are entertaining and highly engaging can give a team a much-needed boost of energy, team activities that incorporate learning and application make the organization better.
One such team activity that has such an impact is the “Best Practices Slide” exercise. The idea behind this exercise is that best practices exist at other organizations that should be considered and introduced into the enterprise. The goal of the exercise is to encourage team members to seek out best practices from anywhere outside the organization and be ready to present to the team why they believe it should be initiated inside the enterprise.
The primary instruction for each team member is to create a one-page slide (maximum one side, one page) that explains a Best Practice they believe should be introduced and incorporated. This slide should contain three parts: a description of the Best Practice, why this Practice would make the organization better, and where this Practice is currently in place.
The source of the Best Practice could be someone’s former company, a workplace familiar to the team member via friends or peers, or in an enterprise described in a case study or podcast. The Best Practice can be a process, reward, hack, organizing principle, technology introduction, or any other application that the team member believes would make the organization more effective. The Practice can address any area or level of the company or enterprise.
When the team gathers, each team member takes three minutes or less to persuasively present their Best Practice to the group. After a discussion about the slides and practices presented, the team then prioritizes the top three or four Practices and explores how they can inaugurate their use in the organization. (In large gatherings, this can be completed at separate small tables of 8-10 where the group then selects the top practice from those presented. The top practice from each table is then presented and prioritized by the larger group.) Selecting a champion to make sure each Best Practice becomes a mainstay in the enterprise is also a good idea.
This exercise is engaging, practical, and challenging. Team members delight in having a direct influence on the future of the enterprise. Do this exercise once a year, and over a span of time, you will find more than a dozen new Best Practices that can become part of how the team and organization operate more effectively. That’s a Best Practice in itself.
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