When you’re having a once or twice/year meeting that lasts for a full day, always start with a trust-builder.
I’m not talking about doing ‘trust falls’ or goofy games. What I mean is just spending some time getting to know your team on a deeper level.
One of the best trust-builders that I use is a very simple series of questions:
- Where did you grow up?
- Where are you in birth order in your family of origin?
- What’s one difficult or important challenge you had to overcome before you were an adult?
The answers I have received to these questions are amazing. I once had a guy say that as a child, he had to defend his family with firearms in a civil war. His co-workers made a note to be more careful when voicing complaints with him in the future!
Understanding the life journey of your co-workers builds trust on your team. Give it a try – I’ve never had this one fail.
