Explain to the team that to become stronger it helps if we get to know each other better, what we consider our strengths and skills, which areas we might like to grow in, and explore ways in which is can support each others development objectives. Let them know that time will be set aside at the end to plan out how we can best support each other.
Then hand out the market of skills template, including the instruction sheet. Either printed or shared electronically (templates below).
Give each person 10 minutes to complete theirs. Check in at the end to see if people still need some more time and offer up an extra 5 mins if required.
Once complete, ask each team member to walk the rest of the team through their personal shields. Allow 20 mins for this, depending on team size.
An alternative approach can be to pair up the team members and interview each other to complete the shield. Then take turns sharing the shields with the team with the interviewer telling the group about their colleague.
Some questions you can ask during the playbacks
What did they learn about their team-mate?
What did you like about their market stall?
What might you be curious to learn more about?
To get the most out of this exercise I suggest you set aside 15 mins at the end to allow people time to plan for ways they can help each other develop (buy, sell and grow skills).
Some examples could be:
Mentor or pair with a fellow team member in an area they are wishing to develop.
Setting up a group learning session on a semi regular cadence.
Or agreeing to be each other’s accountability buddies and checking in with each other on their learning plans and goals.
At the end, you can invite the team to play back their agreements and commitments on how they are going to support each other. You can ask them, ‘how will we know we have been successful in supporting each other to upskill’?. Perhaps you might agree to check in again and see how things are going.
I hope you have found this useful and I would love to hear your stories or see your examples if you give this exercise a go. Feel free to comment below or tag me in LinkedIn.
Template (Instruction and blank template)