Constellations

Yesterday I ran a retrospective workshop for a group of folks at work. We used the constellations activity, which is a really interesting format. In my experience it helps people think hard about “group think” and “group mind”. The former generally being not very effective, the latter being amazing when channeled properly at the work place. 

To me, Group Think closes doors. It slows innovation and creativity, and ultimately progress, however you measure it. Group Mind on the other hand makes people feel like they have each other's backs, are moving in the same direction, and open to new ideas to find the next best thing. 

You can run Constellations digitally by having participants move a sticky around a mural or miro board. But there’s nothing better than doing this in person.

You get the body language. You get the social pressure (that helps you think about group think and group mind), people are more open to smiling and laughing when together. Teams and Organizations can’t only laugh their way to achieving their OKR’s, but laughing sure does help teams come together and get that group mind. 

Laughter is the second best medicine after all. 

I haven’t received participant feedback yet (other than some comments during and directly after the event). I would have liked 20-30 more minutes to get to some ideas/hypothesis/experiments for people to commit to. But that exercise was to be covered at a later time in the agenda, after the constellations event.   

If you need to do a retro in person, I highly recommend this exercise. It’s really powerful.