What are we doing with our "one wild and precious life?" - Restorative Practices Appreciation

On my walk today I was reminded of Mary Oliver’s quote, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” While chaos seems to press around us daily, particularly for those of us working in education, my hope is that we can all individually and collectively ground ourselves in this thought. How are we using our time to support, care for, and love other people? How are we opening our eyes to see needs in the world, listen to those who are closest to the problem, and look beyond our own self interest to seek collective solutions?

As our team has been supporting schools through the close of the ‘21-22 academic year and now as they open the 22-23 school year, the grief of the pandemic, as well as the Uvalde and Buffalo tragedies are often at the forefront of my mind.  Being an educator and person of faith at my core, I frequently wonder how we come back together after the collective griefs we have endured. I want to remain hopeful in our larger community to confront the challenges head on with a “strong back, soft front, and wild heart” as Brené Brown says. I want to believe in our ability to reflect and reimagine. Because in the face of any danger, we absolutely need each other. 

I found brief comfort in this Learning for Justice article that says, "We must balance these two needs right now—to reestablish the routines necessary for our mental health while maintaining the urgency to take collective action. We can’t take away the pain of this moment for the families in Uvalde or Buffalo, but we can steel ourselves to not despair." I’m striving to hold this as a guideline while in the trenches each week, collaborating with other amazing educators in support of young people.

We know that there is no one simple solution for us to heal from the ongoing difficulties that we confront. However, one set of practices that I’m grateful to lean into for our schools, workplaces, and communities is Restorative Practices. I’m encouraged by seeing leaders of all ages from across the world model a “strong back, soft front, and wild heart” through restorative practices. The vision this offers - of grace, love, and care for each other - is an aspiration we can all strive towards.

To Brené’s quote, if we only have one of those pieces - a strong back, a soft front, OR a wild heart - we won’t be able to engage in community with each other in a productive way. Without all three, we aren’t able to both build trusting relationships and confront conflicts that come up. It’s the power of the combination that helps us bring our authentic, vulnerable selves to create community together and to confront conflicts and challenges that inevitably arise both inside and outside of our schools and workplaces. As I think about schools in particular, regularly using Restorative Practices allows young people and educators to get in the habit of seeing each other eye to eye, to build trusting relationships, empathy, and understanding over time. Thus, when conflicts come up, students and educators are more comfortable having conversations with each other to confront what happened, how they are feeling, and how to chart a path forward together. 

When we do the hard work of valuing authentic relationships and supporting our students’ and co-workers’ well being - over judgment and discipline for their own sake, or over just moving on without talking about our individual and collective grief - we can truly set ourselves on a path of healing. This path can lead us to a place where what we build together can be infinitely stronger and better for us than what we’ve had. That’s the path I hope we can walk together, as we continue navigating the ongoing challenges we face and ultimately seek to support each other. What are we doing with our “one wild and precious life?”

In solidarity and partnership,

Katie

Retaining and Supporting Our Staff Through Thoughtful Hiring Practices

As we close out one school year and start preparing for the ‘22-23 school year, I want to offer a gigantic THANK YOU to all of the amazing educators and other critical folks who supported students and families during the 21-22 school year. What. A. Year. You navigated working through a global pandemic. You waded through the chaos of mask policies, book bans, speech restrictions, restrictions on culturally responsive pedagogy, and even socio emotional learning. You were forced to yet again contemplate the physical safety of yourself and your students after the tragedy in Uvalde. And all the while you worked to connect your students with needed mental services as they dealt with so many of the same issues. The weight of your work does not go unnoticed. I see you. I appreciate you. And I thank you.

Right now my team and I are supporting several schools as they close out hiring for the 22-23 school year, at a moment when many teachers feel more stressed and burnt out than ever before.  As a former teacher, I know a school that supports, values and listens to its people is of the utmost importance. There is so much power in a school where the staff is seen as necessary partners in the work. Hiring projects excite my team because we know that thoughtful, strategic hiring  can fuel a stronger school community. 

When the KJCG team enters into a partnership with a school around hiring, we truly see the work as a shared responsibility. Because the truth is that for such projects, the conversation is never JUST about hiring. Yes, we create sustainable recruitment and selection systems for the long term; we post open teaching positions on Indeed and Handshake; we reach out to university contacts; we connect with folks through NEMNET and other organizations seeking to diversify the teacher candidate pipeline. But in addition to this seemingly standard hiring work, we also encourage school leadership teams to consider how their hiring practices will continue to build support and  community for new staff once they’re hired. Our fundamental belief is that one cannot happen without the other. 

So where do we start? As a human centered organization, we start by encouraging school hiring teams (usually the administrators) to listen to their people. Just like we want classroom teachers to give up some control and invite in student voices, we want this same thing with adults. We want those at the “top” to cede some of their systemic control and understand that including other key voices will make their work better - and by better we mean that by getting more weigh in and involvement from the school community, hiring is more sustainable and aligned, and teams are ultimately more effective. We believe in gathering the voices of everyone involved in the daily work of schools to understand what’s going well, what’s NOT, and how to create solutions together.  In these instances where we’re working on a hiring strategy with a school partner, we’re really talking about the retention and support of their entire team. When creating recruiting strategies, crafting job descriptions, drafting interview processes, and writing interview questions, these rich conversations with our school partners help drive our work with hiring teams. 

 These last few years have brought a great deal of change to schools, to say the least. As organizations and teams chart the course ahead, it is more important than ever to be human-centered in pursuit of goals. We would love the opportunity to think with you about how your school’s current systems, practices, and procedures could be strengthened to inform the evolution of both your  work and workplace. Sign up for a free 30 minute “Connection with Katie” call and we can discuss your unique needs. 

Teacher Celebration Thread: From Abbott Elementary to Real Life Heroes

A few years have passed since I was a classroom teacher. But every time I drive past a school, I wonder about what’s happening inside and reflect fondly on the high points of my teaching career. I remember my favorite students- even though I know you’re not supposed to have favorites- and think for a moment about my fabulous former coworkers who continue to serve the community as teachers. When I meet a teacher, I have to consciously stop myself from blurting out immediately: “I MISS MY STUDENTS!” The word is like an immediate bond for me. Teachers.are.heroes. I can’t say it enough, and we can all do more to celebrate and honor them.

Given all of this, it’s probably not a surprise to know that I also love “Abbott Elementary” on ABC. Though it follows the mockumentary/ sitcom format (like “The Office” and “Parks and Rec”), Abbott Elementary is named after one of Quinta Brunson’s favorite teachers - Ms. Abbott. This show gives us a humorous but cringingly real peek inside what it can look like to support your students no matter what. It’s an understatement to say the past few years have been extremely challenging for educators, with the normal stressors that come with working towards their students’ academic success and well being, in addition to the ongoing challenges of navigating a pandemic for themselves and their students. 

“Abbott” has inspired in me a desire to lift up more educators more often. Because despite all of the school challenges we see in the headlines, let us not forget that MILLIONS of teachers, staff members, counselors, and school leaders- MILLIONS- continue to walk into their buildings every morning ready to support students and families in incredible ways. Every school that I drive- that we all drive by- each day MIGHT be full of challenges. But they are also full of learning and energy and joy and good as well. We love teachers, and we want to continue to celebrate the lasting impact they have on our children.

If you ask anyone to talk about an educator who had a positive impact on them, we ALL have those stories. I think back about my own incredible teachers who introduced me to writers that I still LOVE like Toni Morrison, Dante Aligheri, Lorraine Hansberry, Chinua Achebe, J.D. Salinger… the list goes on. Teachers pushed us to value and seek out other perspectives beyond our own. They taught us to think critically about our world, to acknowledge, ponder, and discuss difficult topics, and to imagine how we might contribute to making a positive impact in our society one day. I wouldn’t be where I am without the tireless work of my teachers and parents (who were also teachers). Teachers not only inspire students and push their thinking, but they also  remind students that it’s ok to make mistakes, and that even in the midst of extremely difficult times - our children matter. Teachers.are.heroes. 

Phew, taking a breath after driving down memory lane. In addition to my teachers and Ms. Abbott, here are a few highlights from amazing schools we’ve had the pleasure of working with over the past few months.  At Citizens of the World Charter School in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ms. Tania has received shoutouts from staff and parents for the joy she brings into the classroom and for her creative problem-solving to meet her students’ needs and to encourage their growth as young leaders! At Liberty STEAM Charter in Sumter, South Carolina, Ms. Calhoun brought STEAM to life for her students during Black History Month by spotlighting inventors. She put together an ice cream social to celebrate inventions like that of Augustus Jackson, also known as the “King of Ice Cream,” and Alfred L. Cralle, inventor of the ice cream scoop. Joy so often brings meaning to learning, and we are blessed to partner with educators weaving joy into student learning every day! 

Though Teacher Appreciation Week isn’t until May, what other champion teachers do you want to lift up right now? What other amazing things are you seeing in the classroom that we can shine joy upon? Let’s start a celebration thread!

Breathe-Move-Connect-Reflect

We tend to hear about people, myself often included, making New Year's resolutions framed in changed behaviors: I will workout MORE; I will eat MORE healthy foods; I will drink LESS; I will work LESS, and so on. This year I am taking a different approach - focusing on strategies that are rooted in research about how our minds and bodies are deeply connected, particularly as we navigate inevitable stress.

Earlier this week, I heard that about 50% of Americans will NOT make resolutions this year at all.  I’m not sure of the methodology behind this stat, but I get it. The past two years were not what we expected, and yet here we are ringing in another new year marred by the pandemic. So instead of narrowing in on the habits I could add to or take from my life, I’m approaching the year ahead with intentional grace for myself. I’m pondering: What are practices I already engage in that I can more intentionally continue to feel healthy, happy and whole? What are the things that I already know can serve me well, regardless of the inevitable ups and downs that 2022 has in store? This mindset flip is allowing me to reflect on what went well in 2021 despite all the challenges it brought. And what has evolved for me is a mantra of sorts: In 2022, I will breathe | move | connect  | reflect. (Shh- these are all things I’m already doing!) Bonus, this is inspired by research by scholars including Dr. Bruce Perry about how stress impacts the mind and body, and how we can navigate stress through mind-body strategies. Let’s dig in.

I will continue to breathe. I breathed my way through 2021- and so did you. Let’s pause to celebrate our collective presence.  For me, continuing to breathe looks like taking  moments of pause in my days. When kids are upset, adults often ask them to take a deep breath before they begin to unpack what’s behind the tears. The power of breath can be infinite if we notice our inhales and exhales, and rest in their beauty. So for me, a continued commitment to breath is a commitment to noticing what I am drawing in and out. Nothing fancy: I may time it, I may not, depending on the day. But I know this is a practice I want to and very easily can continue doing for myself in 2022 to keep me grounded.

I will continue to move. Not a specified number of miles a day or workouts per week or minutes on a bike. Instead, I will simply make myself a promise to continue to move. It may be an intense workout; it may not. But I will relish in the knowledge that a short midday walk brings me calm and that a softball game with my friends can do the same. In 2022, I will continue to think about movement in a way that is broader than “SMART goals”; motion that’s not attached to a quantifiable outcome but motion that simply energizes my body and mind. 

I will continue to connect. Perhaps most importantly, I know my sense of self is stronger and my outlook on the world happier when I am in community. Sometimes this is in community with friends, other times it’s with my family, and sometimes it’s with the other dog owners at the park.  The ability to converse and be present with others brings me joy, and we know that being in community is a deep, innate human need. And for me it’s not about doing that any differently in the new year, but rather continuing it.

I will continue to reflect. My reflections don’t always look like they’re “supposed to.” I don't journal in the same notebook (I have about three where I store my musings, along with a few Google and Evernote documents) nor at the same time of day. Scheduled reflection may totally work for you. But regardless of how, where or when it’s done, I know that reflection brings about my personal growth. And in allowing my brain to think back in order to move forward, I am doing myself an important service. 

Reflecting in this way allows me to look back at moments that uplifted me in 2021. It gives me time to think about what was instead of what was not. And to frame my reflections with a focus on  what I want to keep doing - not what I want to change. This mindset gives me grace and the ability to enter 2022 with a commitment to staying grounded in what is good for my brain and body.

Breathe | Move | Connect | Reflect. That’s my “formula” for personal balance and one I like the ring of. As you all know if you’ve been following my recent work, the majority of my workshops have focused on how the brain and body are interconnected, and the importance and power of embracing our feelings and emotions as a natural part of us. These four words are becoming not only my personal formula for balance but one I am ready to integrate into my work life as well. As we allow ourselves to Breathe | Move | Connect | Reflect, we can encourage others to do the same, and strive to co-create safer spaces where we all can make room for our own humanity to thrive.

Three Ways to Strengthen Team Cohesion

It’s easy to envision the “ideal team”- it’s one that communicates clearly, works well together, collaborates openly, practices often, and is committed to improvement over time. When obstacles appear, this “ideal team” seeks solutions and moves forward in the same direction. When this “ideal team” experiences a win, its members authentically celebrate one another. 

When I dig below the surface of this vision, however, I realize that it lives only in my mind. Abstractly, my brain can jump to find a perfectly functioning group achieving outcomes without thinking about how its members learn to work together. In fact, my own “team” experiences as an education professional have rarely played out so smoothly. I’ve been on teams where, in the face of challenge, many of us panicked. Or, in the presence of a win, one person took all the credit. And I’ve been on teams where we frankly didn’t get better at working together over time- teams where members left because they didn’t feel heard or valued.

When I was in high school, it seemed so easy to get my softball teammates and I aligned on our collective purpose: to win every game and bring home the state title at the end of the season. But for a team of adults in the workplace- adults with varying experiences coming in, different lengths of time in the role, different personality types, and potentially different roles within the team- getting aligned on our collective purpose is less clear than winning games. 

Building a team of adults who work well together takes time. And creating strong team chemistry is surely an art, not a science. There is not one magical way to make it happen in a single moment, but there are ways to invest in team chemistry continually over time. Here are three ways to strengthen your team’s chemistry:

1. Establish trust through vulnerability and authenticity - Normalize celebrating big and small wins, sharing struggles, and supporting each other through the inevitable ups and downs that we all experience. As the leader, be “appropriately vulnerable,” to paraphrase Brené Brown. Share questions you’re pondering, potential solutions brewing, and things that feel hard. A window into each other’s thinking followed by space for even brief conversation after builds authentic community and culture.

2. Strengthen communication - On your team, avoid assigning blame, and instead focus on co-creating solutions. Invite team input and model genuine listening.  “What are some glows and grows from this experience?” “What do we need to adjust for the future?” Help the group keep the solutions they generated in mind as the work moves forward, fostering a growth mindset.

3. Support your people - Be clear that when each staff member is successful, the team as a whole is successful. Find out what each team member needs to execute their role, and share what your support can look like to get them there and name how others on the team are also positioned to assist.  

Remember that many adults in the workplace today have learned to survive as individual contributors. A commitment to building a team mentality will take time. A strong leader will recognize unique individuals and connect their strengths to the collective power of the group.

Want to learn more? KJ Consulting facilitates team building workshops and 1:1 coaching sessions using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and DISC tools as a powerful lens. Contact us at katie@kjconsultinggroup.come to book!

Stress, Type, and Mind-Body Connections!

Let’s get right to it: If you have a brain and a body, you have stress. Yup- it’s a fact. We can’t avoid stress all the time. Of course you can seek out situations we think will be less stressful, or avoid certain experiences entirely to minimize our stress, but our bodies are wired to experience it. To navigate this reality, let’s strive to view stress more as a given in our world rather than something we need to avoid. Stress is- and will always be- as sure a part of daily lives as our need for food, shelter and water. It’s what compelled our ancestors to run from threats like bears, and--  if we’re thinking about it through a positive lens--  it can compel us to change our behaviors in our modern world, too.  

But let’s be real: the ‘stress’ we are more used to experiencing is the negative kind. This often shows up in our bodies as sweaty palms, feeling jittery and unfocused, being on a short fuse, and may bring with it physical ailments like an aching back or headache.  And the reality of a global pandemic on top of the stress our bodies were already experiencing has put many of us in a more heightened and more frequent state of stress. E-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-n-g. In some ways our brains have adapted to pandemic stress over time -- at this point we likely pay less conscious attention to the changes of the pandemic than we did in March of 2020 --  but our bodies are still undergoing pandemic stress, as the threats and fears persist.

So what might it look like to better understand the innate connections between our brains and bodies when it comes to stress, instead of ignoring the links? Because the reality is that the more equipped we can become at navigating stressors in our lives (notice I said ‘navigating’ rather than ‘eliminating’) the more calm, at ease, relaxed, and joyful we can be. And isn’t that something we can all use more of?

If you’re curious about strategies to  proactively manage stress in your life, the first thing I recommend is the practice of pausing and noticing. If you’ve been following along with my blogs thus far, you know that I'm a big fan of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI® ). When it comes to stress, the MBTI® tool is another resource to work through stressful moments with a better understanding of why they happened and how to alleviate them. As I’ve shared before, I am an Extravert (or “E.”) And I am working to notice when I feel particularly drained or “stressed” at the end of a workday- even when I am doing work that I love. At my best, I pause and ask myself some questions before I start “treating” the symptom.  For me, these questions sound like: What happened during my day? Did I get a chance to interact with others (an energizer for me as an E)? Did I get to share big ideas with others (another energizer, as an ENTP)? When the answer is no-- which it can be with my virtual work-- I know more about the source of my stress. Without this quick reflection, I have a tendency to give in to the exhaustion, or jump to some illogical conclusions- like “I’m stressed out because of my job,” when the reality may be that I’m not working enough in ways that serve my preference as an E. Pausing to make these connections can be a game changer. 

With this reflection in mind, I know I can proactively adjust my daily schedule to avoid feeling stressed out after a particularly long day.  I might pause for a quick walk or lunch with a friend, work at a co-working space, or schedule a  brainstorm session with one of my teammates to bring myself back into balance and create a less stressed state in which to operate. Not to say that my days won’t ever end in stress- but a better understanding of my innate preferences helps me feed my preferences to maintain focus and re-energize when needed. 

I’m excited that next month, I will be presenting a session at the AusAPT Conference: “Type and Stress: Your Type and Mind/ Body Connections” and I can’t wait for this opportunity! My 60 minute session will dive more deeply into what’s covered in this blog post: how stress overlaps with MBTI® Type and mind-body connections, and what we can do with this knowledge. My goal is for all participants to leave with a sense of how they can individually manage their own stress more proactively via a deepened understanding of brain-body connections and the MBTI® tool.

What can Mare of Easttown teach us about closing a meeting?

At KJ Consulting Group, we’re all about coaching teams to work better together. One piece of our formula - whether we’re training a room full of educators, working with a hiring committee, or coaching leaders - is that we are ALL constantly learning. Today’s blog invites you to consider the ways you are closing your team meetings and invite you, in the spirit of learning, to make a few adjustments. 

If you know me, you know I love movies and TV shows that make me think, challenge the world as I see it, and reflect about how I might apply a new perspective to my own life. One recent show that I became obsessed with was Mare of Easttown, starring an amazing cast including Kate Winslet. The show involved a central mystery, but it had a more lasting impact because of the exploration of the characters’ difficult family dynamics and long-lasting grief. The show didn’t stop at the climax —when we discovered who the killer was - but instead included a few final scenes of falling action and a resolution. The arc of the show and those final scenes have stuck with me, as my brain ponders Mare and her family’s journeys, my key takeaways from the show, and how I might apply them to my own life. 

Thinking about the show and its resolution prompted me to consider the arc of a standard team meeting. Most of us are pretty familiar with icebreakers to START meetings (we recently wrote about it here), but a carefully crafted meeting CLOSING can ensure participants leave with a stronger sense of what they’ve learned and a commitment to making change moving forward. 

We can draw a comparison between shows like Mare and collaborative meetings. As humans we like to draw conclusions and apply them to our own lives. However, to get to the application (or “now what?”) phase, we need to give ourselves time for reflection. How many times have you been in a meeting that never gets to the end? How often have you left a meeting without a clear idea of what to do next? We tend to get stuck in the heart of the content to ensure we meet objectives, when we need to save time for an intentional close, even if we don’t get through all of the content. Even when things aren’t going completely on schedule, saving time for a closing reflection will allow our teams to apply their learning, either as a shift in perspective or to plan action steps for their future work. 

Closings are an important part of all trainings we lead, so that the content we share and the dialogue we engage in during a session are not lost. I urge you to consider how closings might add value to your team meetings in a similar way. Whether you have 5 minutes or 20, saving intentional time in an agenda to allow participants to extract key learning points from the experience builds a culture of ongoing learning. Coming soon - a few of our favorite closing activities that only take a few minutes, while allowing for valuable reflection. Try one out, and let us know what closings you frequently use!

From the Classroom to the Boardroom: 4 Ways to Check for Understanding

How often have you been in a meeting when, after a quick icebreaker (if there was “time for one), the presenter ran through a deck of new information and sent the team on its way without pausing for anyone to take a breath? I have left meetings like this feeling overwhelmed and often unclear of my own next steps, much less how to communicate the information to the rest of my team. 

In our fast-paced workplaces, we must all tune in to take in new information, and many of us are responsible for quickly turning around that information to share with teammates. However, so often the focus is on getting the next thing done, rather than ensuring that all team members understand the new information and expectations on how to implement it. To make a shift, let’s turn to education. 

In the classroom, most teachers build in “checks for understanding” throughout their lessons to collect quick data snapshots around which students comprehend the key takeaways, who is struggling, and why. These moments ensure that learning is taking place and support the teacher in making decisions about what to do next instructionally (e.g. which concepts do they need to reteach and to whom, how can they present the information in a different way to support learners, and which students are ready for more of a challenge). We can all learn from this practice. Whether we are teaching young people or facilitating a meeting for adults, checking for understanding can be done quickly and will lead to more impactful outcomes, while guiding our work for the future.

Here are a few ways to check for understanding, regardless of your audience:

1. Fist to Five. Ask the group how they feel about new information by a show of hands. 

   • Holding up 0 (fist) or 1 finger = not super confident. 

   • Holding up all 5 fingers = I’ve got this! 

   • Skim the room to see if most people are in the 3-5 range. If not, pause for clarifying questions.

2. Thumbs up/ side/ down. Similar to “Fist to Five.” 

   • Ask the group how they feel about new information by giving a thumbs up / thumb to the side / or thumbs down. 

   • Scan the group to see where people are and follow up as needed.

3. Mentimeter. When you want to integrate technology, use a free, easy tool like this!

   • Mentimeter is one way to nab feedback and create a safe space for team members to ask questions anonymously.

   • As a presenter, you can prepopulate questions before the meeting and share a code with participants at various points to check for understanding. 

   • Participants can use Mentimeter on any device for virtual, hybrid, or in-person meetings.

   • As the results come in, you can share and respond to feedback in real-time.

4. Ask open ended questions. 

   • Instead of asking the group “Do you have any questions” at a pause point, ask instead: “What questions do you have?” Framing matters!

If the end goal is retaining information, we can’t blindly assume it will just happen. Embedding a check for understanding moment into an upcoming meeting agenda or presentation will build stronger team chemistry, clarify outcomes, and give you valuable information as the leader. The cost is low (less than a minute for most named above) and the gains are high. Try it out, and let us know your favorite CFUs!

4 Tips for Purposeful Team Retreats

Four tips for a top notch #teamretreat that builds collective purpose, impact, and - most importantly - JOY!

1. Co-plan with a group! A team is by definition more than 1 person, so more than 1 voice should be heard to create the retreat agenda.

• Keep the planning committee small enough to move the work forward (think 3-5 humans) but large enough to incorporate different perspectives. 

• Include representation from different identities in your organization (gender/ race/ ethnicity/ age, etc) as well as different levels of staff.  Remember that entry level staff have as much to add as experienced leaders! 

• INSIDER TIP: Have your planning committee evaluate a draft retreat agenda for a balance of strategy work AND culture building. Does one strongly outweigh the other? How can you adjust? A strong team needs to spend time on both! 

2. Intentionally infuse joy. A retreat should purposefully give team members time to pause as well as built-in mind/ body breaks throughout, not just at the start and end of the session.

• Moments of joy will also help team members calm their amygdalas, the part of the brain that controls emotional responses. When the amygdala is at ease, we’re better able to think deeply. 

• To kick off a retreat, check out our favorite icebreakers here. 

• For a mid-retreat pause, consider adding to a Shout-Out Wall where each team member has an envelope, and they can write short affirmations to each other. 

•  To close a retreat, have the team collectively identify wins (both large and small) that they’ve experienced together. 

• INSIDER TIP: We hear a lot that these moments are often skipped because there “isn’t enough time.” If this is the case for you, pausing for ONE MINUTE to ask your team to focus on their breathing and connect with how they are feeling in the space is worthwhile.

3. Use a common language or framework to get to know each other and build relationships over time. One of our favorite ways to build relationships is through the Myers Briggs (MBTI) tool. 

• The MBTI system provides insights about people’s working styles, energizers, stressors, and communication preferences. The MBTI is helpful on an individual level AND when considering how different people on a team interact, approach a project, and keys to navigating conflicts. 

• Read more about using MBTI to co-create psychologically safe spaces, the #1 predictor of team success according to Google’s Project Aristotle study. In a retreat setting, you can apply MBTI preferences as you dig into strategies and systems. 

• Allow for all voices to be heard by incorporating individual processing time before sharing out or use a tool like Padlet or Google Docs to capture team members’ thoughts throughout the session.

• INSIDER TIP: If your retreat is focused on longer term visioning and planning, the Back to the Future protocol is a good framework to use! 

4. Close strong. We’re big fans of properly closing ALL meetings, but a retreat closing takes on particular importance, as team members will likely be carrying bigger things to implement in their future work.

• Build into your agenda time to think, “Now what?”

• Remind the team in closing that the team is comprised of both culture (a deeper understanding of each other + human relationships) AND the strategies and systems for the work itself. 

• Post-retreat: Team members can help hold each other accountable for maintaining the systems and vibe established during an impactful retreat. As a team lead, you can be the one to follow-up on an ongoing basis.

Icebreakers & Type: Introverted Guest Post!

Check out these reflections from one of our amazing Introverted KJCG team members

Meeting icebreakers are ubiquitous these days. And I get it- they’re meant to “warm us up” before we dive into the true content of a meeting. But for an Introvert like me, they can sometimes fill me with dread.  “What IS a hobby I picked up during the pandemic?” Read: Nothing. I tried to stay sane. “Get up and run around the room to find 3 other people who have two siblings and who grew up in a different state.” Read: Why???? 

But for others- potentially E’s (Extraverts) who are more action oriented than me; those who prefer to communicate by talking and are both sociable and expressive- my dread may be their vitality. So in my continual journey to better understand other perspectives and MBTI® Types in the workplace, I’m trying to be more open minded about the utility of the icebreaker. I know a good icebreaker can be a game changer to start a meeting on the right foot. It can create a common, light experience for a team to work from; it can generate needed laughter, and it can truly “warm up” a hesitant group before jumping in. (And even for an Introvert like me- once the process has actually started, and I have had a moment to think through how I want to share or respond, it often brings me energy as well.)

Our team recently led a Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) session for 40 teachers and administrators at a new charter school in South Carolina. Our objective was to help build a trusting, communicative team that understands each other, and we rooted our dialogue in our individual MBTI® “Types.”  The school team took their MBTI assessment before the session, so we knew coming in that about 55% of the group identified as Extraverts. We used that data point to select an icebreaker that would call in the majority, but followed it up quickly with time for individual reflection before we dove into the agenda content. As outside facilitators, we knew that the group would need different ways to move into our day together. Integrating activities early in our session that met the needs of both Extraverts and Introverts allowed for everyone to participate in a way that matched their MBTI® preferences. 

If you seek to build a meeting culture that is inclusive of all Types, we recommend incorporating a variety of icebreakers in your agendas- those that your Type is drawn to, as well as others that may push you a bit. To take it to the next level, set up a rotation of who is leading each meeting icebreaker for distributed leadership and variety. What caters more towards your I’s one week can be balanced by an activity that caters more towards E’s the next- and over time a more inclusive team culture is built.

Check out this free resource: a few of our favorite icebreakers for Introverts and Extraverts!