What is this for?

Any team will hold a range of differences (of opinion, of style, of training, of competencies, etc) - and these can be destructive, or enriching. It is an old and rather glib management consultancy motto that "there's no such thing as a perfect worker, but there could be a perfect team" - but minimising the destructive potential in differences, and maximising the adaptability, range of responses and multiple perspectives that these could add to a team is a reasonable aim.

What to do

• To elicit a sense of playfulness, and reduce anxiety, start with some bland differences (e.g. Who has travelled the furthest/shortest distance to get here today? Last time you ate peas - most recent, longest)
• Draw and imaginary line down the room, and designate one extreme of the range for each end.
• Ask people to line up in the correct order.
• They may need to debate and inquire of each other to find out where they should be standing.
• Ask one or two representatives at the furthest ends of these lines to make a sales pitch to help others understand 2 things
• 1. why they are where they are
• 2. what it is like being there
• Now repeat with the contentious issue:
• If it is "yes" or "no" issue, ask people to line up in terms of how firmly they hold one or other position, emphasising the sense that this is always a continuum, not a stark, easy choice.
• Emphasise the wish to keep people mentalizing each other's position
• This means keeping affect under control
• Remind (literally "Re-mind") people that mentalizing doesn't necessarily mean agreeing!!