A simple, powerful positive feedback activity

Summary

This video script introduces a simple yet powerful exercise for generating positive feedback within teams. The process involves writing one's name at the bottom of a sheet, passing it to the left or right, and having peers note impressive behaviors or personality traits. The aim is to foster stronger relationships and recognize each other's strengths. The exercise, which can be completed in about 15-20 minutes for a group of 10, emphasizes the importance of positive reinforcement in the workplace and has proven effective over 30 years of use.

Takeaways

• 📝 The script introduces a simple and powerful exercise for generating positive feedback within a team.
• 🙌 It emphasizes the importance of positive feedback in the workplace, which is often lacking and can strengthen relationships and performance.
• 📝 The exercise has been used for over 30 years and is believed to lead to long-term improvements in team behavior.
• 👥 The exercise involves getting everyone in a group to write their name at the bottom of a sheet of paper and then pass it to the left or right.
• 🔄 Participants are asked to write either a behavior they've seen that impressed them or a personality characteristic of the person whose name is on the paper.
• 📝 The feedback should be concise, meaningful, and positive, avoiding generic or trivial comments.
• 🔑 The paper is folded after each comment to keep the identity of the writer anonymous until the end.
• ⏳ The process continues until the paper is filled with comments, which can take around 15 to 20 minutes for a group of 10 people.
• 🤔 The exercise encourages reflection on how people perceive each other and can reveal surprising insights about individual contributions and characteristics.
• 📉 It's important to manage the process to ensure that comments are meaningful and to prevent anyone from opting out by claiming they don't know the person well enough.
• 😃 The final step involves each person writing feedback about themselves, which can be a valuable self-reflection exercise.
• 💡 The exercise is efficient, requiring minimal logistics, and can generate a large amount of positive feedback in a short amount of time.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the exercise described in the script?

The main purpose of the exercise is to generate positive feedback within a team, highlighting the lack of positive reinforcement in the workplace and aiming to strengthen relationships and recognize good work.

How long has the presenter been using this exercise?

The presenter has been using this exercise for over 30 years.

What is the recommended group size for this exercise?

The ideal group size for this exercise is around ten people, though it can be stretched to twelve.

Why is it important to write one's name at the bottom of the paper?

Writing one's name at the bottom of the paper is important as it is an unconventional way to start, which sets the stage for the feedback exercise.

What are the two things participants are asked to write at the top of the paper?

Participants are asked to write either a behavior they've seen that impressed them or a personality characteristic of the person that impresses them.

Why is it encouraged to keep the statements visible during the exercise?

Keeping the statements visible helps to ensure that the feedback is driven by those specific prompts and maintains focus on providing meaningful and positive feedback.

How does the paper-passing process work in this exercise?

Participants pass their paper to the person on their left or right, and each person adds a comment about the person whose name is at the bottom of the paper, folding it over after writing to keep the comments anonymous.

What is the expected duration for the exercise with a group of 10 people?

The exercise is expected to take around 15 to 20 minutes for a group of 10 people.

Why is it important not to let anyone 'cop out' during the exercise?

It's important not to let anyone 'cop out' to ensure that everyone engages in providing meaningful feedback, even if they feel they don't know the person well, as this encourages everyone to reflect on their impressions and interactions.

What should participants write about themselves at the end of the exercise?

Participants should write feedback on themselves, acknowledging their own strengths and behaviors that they believe are impressive or positive.

How does the presenter suggest handling the completed feedback sheets?

The presenter suggests pausing before opening the feedback sheets, discussing the experience, and then opening them to reflect on the positive feedback received.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Generating Positive Feedback in Teams

This paragraph introduces a method for fostering positive feedback within a team setting. The speaker emphasizes the lack of positive reinforcement in the workplace and suggests an exercise that has been used for over 30 years to enhance relationships and performance. The process involves each team member writing their name at the bottom of a sheet of paper, then passing it to the left or right. Each participant is to write at the top of the paper either a behavior they've observed and admired in the person named or a personality trait that impresses them. The paper is folded after each entry to keep the comments anonymous and is passed around until it is filled with positive comments. The exercise is recommended for groups of 8 to 12 people and is designed to be a straightforward way to generate meaningful feedback.

05:00

🙂 Reflecting on the Positive Feedback Exercise

In this paragraph, the speaker discusses the importance of taking the positive feedback exercise seriously and avoiding trivial or insincere comments. The goal is to provide meaningful and useful feedback that is genuinely positive. The speaker advises against sharing the comments during the exercise and stresses the value of self-awareness, encouraging participants to write their own feedback last. Once completed, the speaker suggests a moment of reflection on the experience, discussing the feelings and difficulties encountered during the process. The exercise is meant to be a rich source of positive reinforcement, capable of generating a significant amount of feedback in a short time. The speaker also mentions that the exercise has been personally impactful and provides a link to more resources on their website for those interested in further exploration.

Keywords

💡Positive Feedback

Positive feedback in the context of the video refers to the act of giving compliments or recognitions to reinforce good behaviors and relationships within a team. It is central to the video's theme as it emphasizes the importance of acknowledging what team members do well, which is often overlooked in the workplace. The script describes an exercise designed to generate positive feedback among team members, highlighting its role in improving long-term performance and team dynamics.

💡Workplace

The workplace is the setting where the video's concept of positive feedback is applied. It is defined as the environment where people work, often in an office or a team-based setting. The script points out that there is a lack of positive feedback in the workplace, suggesting that this exercise can help to fill that gap and improve the work environment.

💡Exercise

In the video, an exercise is a method or activity used to achieve a specific goal, in this case, to generate positive feedback among team members. The script details a particular exercise that has been used for over 30 years by the speaker, which involves writing down positive observations about each team member, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing team relationships and performance.

💡Group Dynamics

Group dynamics refers to the way in which members of a group interact and influence each other. The video's exercise is designed to improve group dynamics by encouraging team members to express positive observations about one another. This is important as it fosters a supportive and collaborative atmosphere within the team.

💡Behavior

Behavior in this context is the actions or conduct of an individual that others within the team have observed and found impressive. The script instructs participants to write down behaviors they have seen that have impressed them, which serves as a form of positive reinforcement and a way to highlight good practices within the team.

💡Personality Characteristic

A personality characteristic is a trait or quality of an individual's personality that others find admirable. The video encourages participants to identify and write down such characteristics of their peers as part of the feedback exercise. This helps in recognizing and appreciating the unique strengths that each team member brings to the group.

💡Concise

Conciseness is the quality of being brief and to the point. In the script, participants are asked to write their observations concisely at the top of the paper, emphasizing the need for clear and succinct positive feedback. This ensures that the feedback is meaningful and easy to understand, avoiding any unnecessary complexity.

💡Fold

Folding, as used in the script, refers to the physical action of bending the paper over after writing the feedback. This is a part of the exercise's process where the written feedback is kept hidden from the recipient until the end, building anticipation and ensuring that the feedback is given in a structured manner.

💡Pass

To pass, in the context of the video, means to hand over the paper with the written feedback to the next person in the group. The script describes a continuous process of passing papers to the left or right, which facilitates the collection of multiple pieces of feedback on each team member.

💡Impress

To impress, in this video, means to make a strong, positive impact on someone. The script asks participants to identify behaviors or personality characteristics that have made a strong, positive impression on them, which is a key component of the positive feedback being generated.

💡Feedback on Self

Feedback on self involves individuals providing their own self-assessment or self-reflection. The script mentions that after receiving feedback from others, participants should also write feedback on themselves, indicating self-awareness and the ability to recognize one's own strengths and areas for improvement.

Highlights

Introduction to a simple and powerful method for generating positive feedback in the workplace.

The premise that there is often a lack of positive feedback among team members.

The exercise has been used for over 30 years with positive long-term results.

Instructions to write names at the bottom of a sheet of paper as an unusual starting point.

The process of passing papers to the left or right to encourage feedback.

Writing either a behavior or a personality characteristic that impresses about the person whose name is on the paper.

The importance of keeping feedback concise and meaningful.

Folding the paper to hide the feedback, adding an element of surprise.

The continuous passing of papers to build up positive comments.

Encouraging participants not to repeat themselves and to think creatively about their feedback.

The exercise's efficiency in generating a large amount of positive feedback in a short time.

The recommendation to not share the feedback during the exercise to maintain its impact.

The final step of writing self-feedback to enhance self-awareness.

The emotional impact of receiving positive feedback and its potential to surprise participants.

Discussion after the exercise to reflect on the experience and the feedback received.

The exercise's potential for top teams and its remarkable effects.

Availability of more information and resources on the speaker's website.

Emphasis on the exercise being informal and positive, not contentious.

Reassurance that there is no negative feedback to follow, focusing solely on the positive.

Transcripts

i'm going to show you i'm going to show

you how to use

a very simple very powerful means

of generating positive feedback

that is particularly useful within a

team of people who work together

this is really based on the premise

that there isn't enough positive

feedback in the workplace

people who work together

just take the helicopter noise at the

background people who work together

far too often withhold positive feedback

don't say the things

to each other that they could that would

uh reinforce those relationships that

would

point out to people what they do well so

this is all about positive feedback

now i've used this exercise for 30 plus

years

and i've had some very very useful

positive results i'd like to think

that it's resulted in people doing

things long term better as a result

anyway i'll stop talking about it i'll

show you how to do it

the first very straightforward thing to

do is to get everybody in a group

to write their name my name is andrew

at the bottom at the bottom very

importantly at the bottom

of the sheet of paper so

that's an unnatural thing to do so most

people want to write it at the top

it's always got to be at the bottom so

after that what you get people to do

is to pass their sheet of paper to the

person

on their left or their right it doesn't

really matter

in other words everybody in a group and

the ideal group size is around about ten

you can stretch to twelve i guess but

four or five isn't enough

so for a group of eight nine ten eleven

twelve that sort of size this works

really well

so at the moment all you've got is a

load of people who have got the person

to the left

or to the right piece of paper so once

they get that piece of paper what they

do is each person looks at it and you

ask them to do one of two things or both

you ask them to write at the top of the

piece of paper

at the very top up here either

a behavior that they've seen that person

do

that has impressed them so something

i've seen this person

in this case andrew must be something

someone's seen me do well

something i've seen this person do that

has impressed me

to write that concisely at the top of

the piece of paper

and or this

a personality characteristic something

about this person that impresses

me so what you've got is two

things to do or just one because one's

enough

two is ideal but it must be kept concise

at the top of the piece of paper

and it's always best to actually leave

these statements

visible obvious and referred to during

the course of the exercise

so how i'm not complicating this already

it isn't at all

because you're asking people on a sheet

of paper with that person's name on it

to write at the top of the piece of

paper

a personality characteristic now i'm not

actually going to write this down

but it could mean you end up with

writing like that

possibly one possibly two sentences then

the key thing is

you fold the piece of paper anyone old

enough like me to remember consequences

will know this

so you fold the piece of paper over

having written the one or two

sentences key thing here is to encourage

people not just to write a word

um i don't know nice friendly

whatever it is we want something more

meaningful we want

something which is either or both of

these

statements driven and that's why it's

important to leave them

up so you end up then without

saying to people pass it now to the

person on your right

or your left it doesn't really matter to

be honest as long as it's in a

continuous

process you don't change one to the

other it's either to the right or as

either to the left

so the person then for the sake of

argument passes it to the right

you then get somebody's piece of paper

which

over a period of a few minutes not hours

that's for sure

the piece of paper gets shorter more and

more comments have been written

about the person whose name appears at

the bottom there so

this goes on for as long as it takes

i find for a group of 10 it will take

around about

15 minutes maybe 20 you'd be surprised

some people find it harder

to think of something in relation to

these two statements for some people

than for others

some people know each other better than

others you might get told

well i don't really know this person i

said work off what you do know

we all fall first and forth from first

impressions

we've all got feelings about someone

based on a few minutes

so don't let anyone cop out so more and

more of these happen

and you get further and further down the

sheet of paper as it goes round and

round

um don't get people to share it

sometimes they want to show it to people

don't do that

encourage people to take it seriously

you might get a feel for if people are

being a bit daft

you know oh something i've seen this

person do is i don't know

and balance three paper clips on their

nose that's not what we're looking for

we're looking for meaningful uh useful

feedback positive feedback and all the

time emphasize

positive feedback so ultimately with

enough folds

some people might be writing a bit

smaller or condensing their folds by

then

if you need to go to a second sheet of

paper but it's always nice to keep it to

one

you end up with a sheet of paper where

that comes back to you

and then yes get people to write

feedback on themselves

people should know themselves better

than anyone else so andrew should write

feedback

on andrew so once that's done you end

up with a piece of paper which typically

is folded right down to the bottom

now another key thing don't get people

to

to just open them up really nearly two

things to do

first of all pause and tell people

you're going to remind them that when it

comes around to themselves they'll have

their own to do when they've all

finished

that might mean waiting for a few people

when they've all finished and they're

all keen to see what's on their piece of

paper i promise you that

it could be the most feedback they've

had since their last year at

school so stop at that point

at that point you've got a rich moment

to say how did that feel

how what difficulties what problems did

you have doing that some people have a

problem with

repeating themselves well i kept saying

the same things that's interesting why

do you think that is do you see

people in the same sort of ways through

the same frames i had a real problem

with this person why is that

you don't need people to be personal

this is informal in a sense that it's

not

attributed people know perhaps their

handwriting they know the order in which

it was written but this is not

contentious stuff

this is positive feedback if it was i

think this person's a complete pain in

the backside then it'll be different but

this isn't

this is about what impresses you about

them this is about what

they do that impresses you so it should

be good positive feedback so

for as long as it takes not for half an

hour only a couple of minutes just

before they get opened up in a big

flourish

this one's empty but

this one isn't here's one i did earlier

or here's one that was done on me

earlier

here's an example of one that was done

on me

so to speak many years ago and

the thing to notice when people open

them up is typically

um there's smiles on people's faces they

like it they're a bit surprised

and that's the sort of thing to draw

afterwards

what are you looking at are you seeing

anything that surprises you some people

aren't oh no it's the

sort of stuff i expected to be shown um

another people

would say well i didn't expect this and

why did you say that says somebody and

then you end up with

the silly ones and they hopefully feel

silly because they haven't engaged in it

properly

most people do particularly if you

emphasize what it's really all about

so this is an extremely direct

extremely efficient in terms of its uh

only piece of paper and it's done very

quickly it doesn't require a lot of

logistics

um exercise to generate positive

feedback if you've got 10 people in the

room

that's a hundred bits of positive

feedback you're generating

in less than 20 minutes that's pretty

good going

and it's something i know works because

i've used it myself so many times

imagine a top team doing this that would

be rather remarkable wouldn't it

um i've done it once or twice so

if you want more on this there you go

i'm keeping it informal

my website uh which you can see a

reference to there

has got more on this within the free

resources section

and specifically teamworking you'll see

it down as a positive feedback activity

and there's a brief it's a written brief

about how to do this but i thought i'd

show you it first of all and that's the

sort of

outcome that you get and i've kept mine

for ages

and i've come across people that i've

worked with many many years ago

that have done the same that have kept

lawyers and have actually been keen to

show it to me

so there you are you might need to tell

people when they're

uh doing this that there isn't a

negative one to follow

something that doesn't impress me about

this person something i've seen this

person

do that fails to impress me that i don't

like because that's sometimes what they

fear and that can clear their head

to do it with a positive angle

which is good so i recommend it to you i

know it's a work for me

many many times in lots of different

contexts if you want to contact me

and find out more or explore it further

then please do so

alternatively as i say that's where

you'll find it on my website

okay there you go