Best Ending for a Team Session (and virtual back up plan if you forgot your cards)

I almost ended a team session without my all-time favourite close.

I’m not sure why, but when I planned this team day, I thought I could do the session without closing the day using Picture Positives. This is unusual for me as Picture Positives is the most impactful way I know to close a session.

Picture Positives is simple to run and leaves everyone wanting more!

It’s powerful for several reasons:

• We don’t get to hear specific positive feedback often – and it feels so good when we do!
• The image cards help to amplify the positive message – the words spoken are reinforced by the image shared.
• The image cards help people say things in a way they might not normally say it, making it more comfortable to share their thoughts and feelings.
• Sometimes people choose the same image for each other – a nice bonus, as it increases the feeling of connection.

The feeling in the room when I run the Picture Positives is joyful, warm, intense and, well … positive!

On this occasion I hadn’t planned to do a CCS Cards closer, as I thought a simple final sharing would suffice.

However, as we headed toward the end of the day, I realised that I needed to end the session on a real high, and Picture Positives was the best way to do it.

I hadn’t packed enough CCS Cards to give everyone a pack, so I pulled out the laptop, set up a VFE (Virtual Facilitation Environment) session, and got people to download the cards onto their phones. This was all set up and sorted in a few minutes.

Now everyone had cards on their phones, and they could use them to give each other a picture positive.

The simple instruction is to ask everyone to stand in two lines, facing each other. Ask them to look at the person opposite, then go through their pack and find 1 card that would describe a quality or something they appreciate about the person. When they are ready, share the card and reason they chose it with each other. Once all have shared, you can move one line down and each person faces someone new and repeats.

As a facilitator, this is the time you get to step back and soak up the oxytocin produced in the room. It’s joy!

I know that some people have been hesitant about using the virtual cards, but it’s moments like these that I’m grateful to have them in my toolkit!

If you are curious to know more about the virtual cards, please get in touch.