Field Notes

In a time where issues of ideological division are commonly broadcast across various media, it is important for leaders to remind the team that what they share in common is much more powerful than what separates them. Making this point demonstrably, on occasion, can have a profound impact on how people orient to each other.  

One large group exercise to underline what team members have in common is where leaders gather the team and ask a series of statements or questions that prove what is shared by team members. Those in the audience are seated and only the leader or facilitator stands. The idea is to pose a successive list of statements, asking audience members to stand up when they agree, until everyone is out of their seats because of what they share in common.  For instance, consider a leader asking an audience this set of statements, followed by the request to stand: 

• If, in the past year, a client or customer has personally told you that you are the best they have ever worked with, please stand up.

• If you have personally retained a client or customer in the past year by going above and beyond for them, please stand up.  

• If what you do for clients and customers seriously matters to you and you are committed to delighting them through your actions, please stand up. 

By the third statement and request to rise, everyone in the room will be standing. In this example, the leader now has the forum to point out a host of common values and commitments, as well as recognize that the work with clients and customers binds everyone in the audience together.

Leaders can also employ the metaphor of “standing together in unity” to reinforce other messages tied to clients and customers in this example.  

Finding the right time to engage in this exercise and crafting the right statements to build toward a group all standing together requires some creativity but is not beyond most good leaders. Obviously, the exercise can also be conducted as a sit-down rather than as a stand-up, where the audience starts standing and then sits down with each successive statement. 

Even those who expect or have gone through a similar exercise before enjoy the learning and emphasis the stand-up or sit-down exercise imparts. It often makes a big impression on people. When it comes to emphasizing group cohesion, demonstrating unity rather than just saying it can be the best call.