How To Connect A Team In 5 Minutes
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Unite your team, get new tools to foster psychological safety, and become a better group facilitator.
You know as well as I know. Connection is important. Connection & psychological safety protect against disease, improve mental health outcomes, and increase team performance.
If connection is so important, shouldn’t every leader have a connection toolkit? Shouldn’t every leader know how to systematically and intentionally connect a group of people?
What I’ve learnt is that a lot of leaders do not even make the space for connection. Further, most leaders use ineffective tools, like ‘icebreakers.’
In this article, I want to condense 7 years of leading group connection experiences. I am going to share with you the fastest way to connect and uplift your team. It’s called vyving™. It doesn’t require more meetings and it actually makes people feel good, such that they want to do it again.
There are three exercises to vyving™.
1 Relaxation — Create the fertile soil for connection, a parasympathetic state.
My favorite way to relax participants is through a combination of mindfulness and gratitude. I first ask my participants to relax their shoulder and jaw, and really feel their body. Then, I instruct deep breaths of gratitude for a person in their lives or on their team. I choose songs that inspire the feeling I am going for.
2 Vitality — Wake up the body and activate positive emotions, which reduce stress & boost mental clarity.
I use energizing music and movement. My simplest exercise is getting participants to do a HIDI — high-intensity dance interval. All I ask them to do is jump up and down with their hands above their head. I emphasize that dance is not necessary.
3 Vulnerability — Promote a sense of safety and belonging by taking off the masks.
Once the blood is pumping and the smiles are widening, the body is ready to connect deeply. I’ll pair people up and have them each ask a question to one another in this format — A questions, B answers, A gives appreciative feedback. repeat. My favorite question is: When is a time you felt like you truly belonged?
Summary
Shallow small talk or games, such as trivia or video games, are less effective at reinforcing psychological safety. Vyving™ is a practice you can use to achieve real results and physiological changes. It’s a mix between a human connection and well-being practice.
Final Recommendation
Experiment with a three-stage activity for your team. However… facilitation finesse is necessary to get groups to do new things. So first, you may want to train your facilitation skills.
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Thanks for spreading healthier human connections 🧠
— Jacques, The Chief Connection Scientist
