Breakthrough 2022: Schedule

Pre-Workshop Schedule

3 Weeks Prior

Purpose: Managers are a key component to success of the workshop

Manager Pre-Workshop Meeting

This time will be used to review the goals of the workshop, the schedules, and answer questions about the activities. There is likely going to be some apprehension and this will be an opportunity to soften fears.

Steps

Show Manager Deck
Pass out materials for review
Specifically discuss Full Value Contract

2 Weeks Prior

Purpose: The full value contract is meant to help the team value themselves and others.

Source: Project Adventure

Full Value Contract with Managers

Given the short time of the workshop, this allows folks to brainstorm their strengths and needs in their teams before coming to the workshop. We can then create an affinity map and present the final affinity map to the whole department. First, this will be demonstrated to and practiced with all team leaders so that they are able to facilitate it with their teams.

Steps

Using Google Slides, write down one strength you have and one thing you need from the group going into the workshop.
Ask each participant to talk about their strength and the thing they need.
Debrief questions:
- Is there anything on here you have questions about?
- Is there anything you are surprised about?
- Is there anything that you absolutely can’t agree to?
- What do you need to feel comfortable facilitating this activity with your team?
Provide directions and tools so that they are able to facilitate

1 Week Prior

Purpose: The full value contract is meant to help the team value themselves and others.

Source: Project Adventure

Full Value Contract with Teams

Steps

Managers facilitate previous activity with their team
Managers submit results to me by end of the week
Create affinity map for full workshop

3 Days Prior

Purpose: Prepare the team for the workshop and build confidence.

Facilitation Team Run-through

It is very important to the success of the workshop that facilitators feel prepared to lead in the breakout rooms. Additionally, they will need to help with observing attendees for dissonance. By running through the whole workshop, it can be assured that the facilitation team feels confident.

Steps

Utilize sample Full-Value Contract
Run through entire workshop start to finish.
Ensure each facilitator practices leading each breakout room activity.
Answer questions and make edits to activity material or directions as necessary.

1 Day Prior

Purpose: Prepare the team for the workshop.

Facilitation Team Meeting

There will likely be questions that come up between the run-through and this meeting. Utilize the time to answer questions and deliver announcements.

Day 1 Schedule

8:35

Purpose: Welcome everyone to the space

Introductions, Level Set, and Who are you?

This is an opportunity to welcome everyone to the space, ensure we’re all ready to begin and know how to engage at the beginning, and to get everyone to participate and share a bit of vulnerability with their mug/drink of choice

Steps

Thank you for coming
Agreements
- Cameras on
- Muted
- Use raise hand feature
- One thing you can remove that is distracting
Introduce Yourself
- Name
- Current location
- Morning beverage and show us your mug
- Invite next person

9:00

Purpose: Begin building trust and introduction to vulnerability within a small group.

Source: training-wheels.com

Dicebreakers

Steps

Breakout rooms with 5 people
Provide link to Dicebreaker
Assign each room a Dicebreaker number (1 – 4)
Set timer to 7 minutes

9:10

Purpose: Align around why we are spending 2 mornings together.

Why Are We Here?

While it will have been talked about prior to walking into the workshop, it is important that everyone settle in and understand why we are doing what we’re doing. This block is meant to align participants around what are we hoping to accomplish and why it is important to each other and to our business.

Speaker: VP of Services

Begin working together
Embrace our differences
Value the differences of others
Learn how to embrace and handle conflict
Create opportunities to see how we can use what we do here in a workshop to value the contributions of others, handle conflict in our roles when we’re not in a workshop, become comfortable learning from each other.

9:30

Break

9:35

Purpose: Bring folks back into the session.

Source: training-wheels.com

Wheel of Questions

It’s hard to ensure that everyone is back at exactly the same time. This allows people to not miss content and also to let folks who feel comfortable demonstrate vulnerability.

Steps

Ask for volunteer
Spin the wheel – Level 1 Questions
Ask question
Volunteer answers question
Do 3 rounds

9:45

Purpose: Set the tone for what is expected in the rest of the session.

Source: Project Adventure Inc.

Full Value Contract

The Full Value Contract was created by the group. These are the strengths we all bring to the table and the things we each need to ensure that we get full value from our time together. This will teach participants the values that are important to the rest of the group and illustrate how we often have similar needs and wants, though we might word them differently.

Steps

Show affinity map of results
Ask questions:
- Is there anything on here you have questions about?
- Is there anything you are surprised about?
- Is there anything that you absolutely can’t agree to?

10:15

Purpose: Let people reveal the places they are comfortable and what stresses them out.

Source: training-wheels.com

Comfort Zones

This can be an eye-opening experience for a group to see what people are comfortable with and what stresses others out. This will Illustrate that we are different in the things we like, even though we have the same/similar job. It will increase trust and vulnerability by allowing people to talk about what they are comfortable with.

Steps

Pull up Google Slide of Comfort Zones
Explain Zones
- Comfort Zone: Where you are comfortable and feel ‘safe’. Routines are easy. “I possess skills that enable me to perform tasks well.”
- Stretch Zone: Where you are doing something new, allowing yourself to learn, you feel energized and engaged. You are willing to take risks.
- Danger Zone: (or Panic Zone) Where you are paralyzed by fear, cannot think straight and are completely and utterly challenged to use your resources.
Directions
- Turn on arrow in Zoom
- When I read scenarios, place your cursor where you fall within the zones.
Scenarios
- Giving a speech in front of 200 people
- Introducing yourself to a room full of new people
- Asking your manager for feedback
- Adjusting your communication to a teammate’s needs
- Demoing Plays to a customer
- Running a Salesforce targeting workshop with a customer
- Asking for help when you are overwhelmed
- Confronting a colleague about using offensive language as they are saying it
- Asking additional questions about why a customer wants a feature
- Sharing something meaningful from your life
- Giving feedback to a senior leader
- Talking to a customer after they have voiced concerns to your manager
Ask questions of people when their selection stands out.
- Why did you choose X?
- What is scary/comfortable about X to you

10:40

Break

10:50

Purpose: This activity will encourage people to work together to come to a solution.

Source: training-wheels.com

Get 20

This activity is meant to be fun and allow people to work with others towards a solution. The reflection will encourage them to think about how they work with others in our roles and how they value the participation of others.

Steps

Introduction
- You will go into breakout rooms to work on a math challenge
- You need to create an equation with all the numbers so that they equal 20
- Face cards and number 10 are all worth 10
- Aces could be 1 or 11
- See how many equations you can come up with
Demonstration and Directions
- Pull up Google Slide of Get 20
- You will get a link to a Google Slide Deck
- Make a copy and share with your breakout team
- Make equations
- Pick your group’s favorite and we’ll share when we come back. Highlight in deck.
Add participants to breakout rooms – 6 people per room
Provide participants with Google Slide deck
Set timer for 7 minutes
When everyone comes back, run through the presentations to see the favorite equations.

Debrief Questions

How did your group work together to come up with 20?
Were you able to come up with more than one solution?
How did you involve everyone in your group?
Who was the leader in your group? What leadership qualities did they portray?
How did you decide on your ‘favorite’ equation?
Who orchestrated the equation presentation?
How did you leverage the strengths of different members of the group?
How does this process relate back to the real world?

11:20

Purpose: To illustrate the conflict is a continuum. Help those uncomfortable with conflict look at it differently.

Conflict Continuum

Steps

Setup
- We are a growing organization. As we grow, we are going to encounter more folks who are not like us. We will work on projects where we will encounter conflict. We will provide feedback to others that may be challenging to either give or hear. We will be asked to change the way we think about the work we do or change how “we’ve always done it”. By embracing constructive conflict, we can challenge each other in a way that is healthy.
- Watch Video

Debrief Questions

How has watching that video changed your perspective on conflict?
Have you worked on a team that you felt was at the line? What do you think enabled you to be there?

11:45

Purpose: To give the team an opportunity to practice conflict.

Pancake vs. Waffle

Steps

Pull up Google Slide with Pancake v. Waffle example
Directions
- We will be presented with two ideas
- We will need a volunteer to advocate for one side, another volunteer to advocate for another side
- Each person will have 1 minute.
- After arguments are in, everyone else will use Zoom polling to vote on the their choice of who should win.
- One choice will win.
- Someone will volunteer a new idea to challenge the winner
- Repeat.
- New volunteer cannot be someone who has challenged before.
- We will play at least 5 rounds or 15 minutes, whichever is longer.

Debrief Questions

Did you notice?
Why did that happen?
Does that happen in life?
Why does that happen?
How can you use what you learned today outside of this workshop?

12:30

Purpose: To finalize the day and encourage participating tomorrow.

Wrap

Steps

Thank everyone for their participation
Provide an agenda for the next day

Day 2 Schedule

8:35

Purpose: To ensure that the group remembers and agrees to participate with the values we defined.

Source: Project Aventure, Inc.

Full Value Contract Review

Steps

Bring up Full Value Contract
Ask questions
- How did we do yesterday?
- Is there anything we can do differently for today?

8:50

Purpose: To learn more about each other and connect on topics outside of work.

Source: training-wheels.com

Human Treasure Hunt

This activity will give team members an opportunity to learn more about each other and connect on topics outside of work. It contributes to trust building and encouraging folks to be vulnerable with each other.

Steps

Send link to Google form with facts for people to fill out
Directions
- We will put you into breakout rooms
- We will rotate the breakout rooms every three minutes
- While in the breakout room, identify a person for a fact on the list
- You can only use a person for one fact
- We will do 10 rounds of rotating
- Goal: find a person for each fact
Add participants to breakout rooms – 6 people per room
Set timer for three minutes.
Do 10 rotations
When rotations are over, ask who has the whole form filled out.
Reduce by one and continue to ask who completed the form by that number

9:45

Break

9:55

Purpose: Bring folks back into the session.

Source: training-wheels.com

Wheel of Questions

It’s hard to ensure that everyone is back at exactly the same time. This allows people to not miss content and also to let folks who feel comfortable demonstrate vulnerability.

Steps

Ask for volunteer
Spin the wheel – Team/Work version
Ask question
Volunteer answers question
Do 3 rounds

10:05

Purpose: Practice working together

Source: training-wheels.com

Word Circles

This activity will encourage people to work together to come to a solution. The reflection will encourage them to think about how they work with others and value the participation of others.

Steps

Directions
- You will go into breakout rooms to work on a word problem
- You will see three collections of words in different colors
- You need to put each collection of words into an order so that it forms a string of phrases or compound words that make sense together.
- It should eventually wrap around so that the last word pairs with the first word.
- Example: Game – Key – Ring – Leader – Board
- Work on the three collection colors separately
- 1 person is the mover of sticky notes and will share their screen
Add participants to breakout rooms – 6 people per room
Provide participants with Google Slide deck
Set timer for 20 minutes
When everyone comes back, run through the “correct” order
- Blue Set: Front, Yard, Work, Week, End, Note, Book, Store
- Green Set: Screen, Time, Delay, Action, Film, Star, Fruit, Tree, Line, Drive, Home
- Gray Set: Ice, Cream, Cheese, Board, Walk, Out, Side, Step, Ladder, Safety, Belt, Loop, Hole, Saw, Wood, Block, Off, Line, Dry

Debrief Questions

How did your group work together to put the words in order?
How did you involve everyone in your group?
Who was the leader in your group? What leadership qualities did they portray?
How did you leverage the strengths of different members of the group?
How does this process relate back to the real world?

10:40

Purpose: Discover a new way to have conversations

Source: TED

Video: Uncomfortable Conversations

This video is about the benefits of uncomfortable conversations and how to get unstuck when you have different values than the person you are speaking with.

Steps

Play Video
How to benefit from uncomfortable conversations, by Jason Jay from MIT School of Management, 17 minutes

Debrief Questions

What was the main message of this video?
What interactions do you see at work with hidden competing commitments
How do you think that affects how we behave?
What will you take from this video to communicate differently on the people you work with?

11:10

Purpose: Provide an opportunity for people to show others who they are and how we are different.

Source: training-wheels.com

Pocket Processor

This activity is meant to provide insight into how our team thinks about themselves and for the team to learn how others are different. This is meant to build trust and increase vulnerability.

Steps

Pull up Google Slides of Pocket Processor
Demonstrate how to use the Arrow annotate functionality in Zoom
Directions:
- Add your name to where you fall on the continuum
- Ask questions of folks when we discover something unique

11:20

Break

11:30

Purpose: Provide an opportunity for people to create connection with others, build trust, and increase vulnerability.

Uncommon Commonality

Steps

Directions
- You will go into breakout rooms in groups of 5
- Determine amongst the group the most uncommon thing you all have in common
Add people to breakout rooms – 5 people per room
Set timer for 7 minutes

Debrief Questions

Ask teams to reveal the most uncommon thing they all have in common

11:45

Purpose: Provide perspective on what it’s like to learn and teach.

Source: Project Adventure, Inc.

Tiny Teach

This activity will allow team members to experience what it feels like to be both a student and a teacher. Additionally, it will encourage them to bring others along in what they learn in their daily work.

Steps

Directions
- In your breakout rooms, spend 2 minutes teaching your partner something
- How to sing, how to say a word in foreign language, a dance move
- Switch and repeat
Add people to breakout rooms – 2 people per room
Set the timer for 5 minutes

Debrief Questions

What was it like to be the teacher?
What was it like to be the student?
How would you describe learning something new?
How does this relate to how you interact with others at work?

12:10

Purpose: Provide a few moments to reflect.

Source: Project Adventure, Inc.

Later Letter

This activity will give everyone a few minutes to reflect on what the experience was like. This will give them an opportunity to notice the value of it as well as have something to turn back to when they need it.

Steps

Directions
- Open Google Docs, TextEdit, or grab a piece of paper.
- Write a letter to yourself describing your experience from the workshop.
- Alternatively, if you want to be reminded in the future about what your experience was like, you can write the letter to yourself and email the link to me. You don’t have to give me view access.
- Add a date you want it sent back, and I will send it back to you on that date to remind you what you wrote.
Set a timer for 10 minutes