Share Bright Spots with Your Team
Sharing bright spots with your team after being on holiday is an upbeat re-connection activity. On any given week, people on your team will be experiencing a spectrum of life events, stressors, and emotions. Coming out of the holiday season, some may be relaxed and ready to re-engage, and others may feel exhausted and overwhelmed from difficult experiences they faced.
When you want to facilitate a check-in with a team and you know that some of them have had a challenging time over the break, this engagement question provides a safe space for everyone to contribute genuinely.
The question is: What was a bright spot for you over the break?
The question keeps the responses positive, yet the very word “spot” implies it might be something very small that was bright.
In working with a team where several members had experienced significant losses over a break, the leader and I agreed, we wanted to keep the opening connection activity positive. Yet, we didn’t want to be insensitive and ask, “What was the best part about your holiday?” Asking, “What was a bright spot?” was something that everyone could answer.
You can pose the prompt several ways, depending on your team and the purpose of asking:
- What was a bright spot in your holiday vacation?
- What was a bright spot in your week/month/quarter/year?
- What was a bright spot in the project?
It’s worth noting that the question is about “a” bright spot, not “the” bright spot and not “several.” Asking for just one bright spot makes this a question that most people are able to answer sincerely.
A question like this kicks off the meeting in a tone of gratitude, firing off the chemicals in the brain that help us create, connect, and think effectively.
This team engagement question would couple nicely with the Hopes Team Activity (which is forward looking).
About the Author: Leigh Ann Rodgers, Founder of Better Teams and the Forward, community, is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator with 20 years of experience in the human development field. Leigh Ann is a skilled meeting facilitator, trainer, and coach working across the globe to help leaders cultivate teams that are happy and high-performing.
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