About five years ago, PowerTools expanded our client base beyond schools to include youth-serving institutions, non-profit organizations and companies. At first, I was intimidated about the jump, thinking that perhaps our PowerTools team might not know enough about workplace efficacy and engagement in these new (to us) settings. However, as time passed, a foundational theme emerged across clients (from a doggy day care to Dior, from John Dewey High School to JP Morgan Chase). TRUST turns out to be a key to community, communication, efficacy, and equity.
With trust we gain a sense of psychological safety. Trust allows us to ask questions, assert and challenge ideas, innovate, collaborate, and delegate. High trust allows us to have difficult conversations and manage constructive conflict, necessary skills when creating an equitable and inclusive environment. Students need to trust teachers, educators need to trust each other, employees need to trust colleagues and bosses. Trust is the foundation to all relationships, both individual and collective, personal and professional. For that reason, PowerTools now centers trust building in our work.
Check out these examples of trust building work we’ve done with two of our fantastic partner/clients this month.
Building Trust through Storytelling @ MECA
MECA, an early college high school in the downtown Manhattan, is committed to becoming an anti-racist school and has engaged PowerTools to support their equity work. At MECA we act as thought partners with MECA’s Equity Planning Team (MEPT), with whom we co-design professional learning experiences for the staff. One way we’ve built trust within MEPT is through mini-storytelling using a circle practice technique.
Why we use storytelling:
Storytelling is humanizing. It builds empathy. It reminds us that we all have our own perspective and lens, formed by our own experiences. In turn, it widens our own perspective. Storytelling is rooted in the oral traditions of BIPOC communities, who’ve used storytelling to express history, values, resistance, resilience, customs, life lessons, etc. for centuries.
Circles offer a break from the usual hierarchies of our professional roles, while cultivating a deeper understanding among colleagues about who we are as three-dimensional humans living complex lives. Circles allow us to speak about our own experience without interruption or dialogue, equalizing voices in the room. Circles allow choice. You may choose to pass if you’d like.
How we did it:
STEP ONE: PREP!
Before the session, we designed open-ended prompts such as:
Talk about a time when you talked with someone who enacted a microaggression, or when someone talked to you about a microaggression that you enacted.
We also created a speaking list, mindful to balance race, ethnicity, genders, etc.
STEP TWO: SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE CIRCLE STORYTELLING
We reviewed guidelines and norms.
We introduced the circle protocol.
Once the prompt is presented, participants have 2-3 minutes to tell a story one at a time (aligned with the order of speakers) that responds to that prompt and as relates to their own lives.
They must refrain from cross-talk or direct feedback, so as to allow each person to say their piece (or pass) while equalizing the amount of time each person spends actively listening to the others.
STEP THREE: THE CIRCLE BEGINS
Participants spoke, one at a time, and could choose to pass. We all listened silently, and the facilitators thanked each person for their participation (whether they passed or not). Each story was moving and personal.
STEP FOUR: DEBRIEF AND DECOMPRESS
Circles can be intense and one about microaggressions can be vulnerable and painful, especially for BIPOC participants and others (such as women and members of the LGBTQIA+ communities) who face frequent microaggressions. After this circle we took a moment to do a grounding exercise to reconnect us to our bodies through slow breathing.
The group discussed the value of circle storytelling as a trust-building activity that helps explore challenging topics. It was decided to hold a “fishbowl” circle discussion in the larger staff session.
Building Trust through Games @ BlocPower
BlocPower is a Brooklyn-based climate technology startup that is making American cities greener, smarter, and healthier. Since its founding in 2014, the company has retrofitted more than 1,000 buildings in under-resourced communities in New York City, with projects underway in 24 cities. As their green energy projects expand, so does their team, with approximately one fourth of the team having joined within the past six months. CEO Donnel Baird recognized the importance of pausing for people to get to know each other, build community, and honor everyone’s humanity within (and beyond) the stressful times that we have all been going through. That’s when he reached out to us!
Why we use games:
Games provide a fun, powerful opportunity to build trust and, ultimately, effective teaming. The It’s ON! game uses creativity, humor and connection to illuminate and counter latent or unspoken assumptions, while building new insights about the wonderful uniqueness of their team.
Games where we learn more about each other create bonds, as we love to find commonalities and are often impressed by novelty and difference. These sorts of games act as an anti-bias tool, as our discoveries replace stereotypes and assumptions.
Laughing is good for us! According to the Mayo Clinic, laughter can improve our immune system, soothe tensions, increase personal satisfaction, improve our mood, and even relieve pain.
How we did it:
STEP ONE: PREP!
We designed and sent the entire team a pre-workshop survey with questions like:
What might we not know just by looking at you?
What is one of your non work-related talents?
What's your favorite dessert?
Responses in hand, we created team game sheets (see below) and an answer key (via Google Slides).
BlocPower game sheet…
look at these great experiences, talents and hobbies.
STEP TWO: THE GAME BEGINS!
Small groups played in breakout rooms. Each group received an It’s ON! quiz sheet. After re-introductions and selection of a “note taker”, they were given 15 minutes to collaboratively determine which staff member matched each listed hobby or characteristic (i.e. “___ likes chocolate.”) It was an almost impossible task with 33 questions and only 15 minutes!
STEP THREE: THE REVEAL!
When time was up, the groups reconvened, and answers were revealed one at a time (thanks to the “transition” function on Google Slides!) In the meantime, participants guessed, laughed, cheered, and expressed surprise at the characteristics and hobbies exposed during the game.
STEP FOUR: THE SCORE!
At the end of the game, points were tallied and the winning teams were announced. (In this case it was a tie.)
STEP FIVE: DEBRIEF (THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP)!
The debrief is where the magic happened, as usual. People expressed their appreciation, respect, surprise, and curiosity for and about each other. They remarked that without this game, and with their busy schedules, they might not know they were sitting next to an opera singer, an expert brunch-maker, or someone who failed their written driver’s test three times (by one point!) The game reminded them to continually connect, be inquisitive, and to seek commonalities and differences as a way to become closer and build trust with each other. It was super fun—there was lots of laughter in that Zoom room.
“I left knowing more about my colleagues than I did before. Some facts were quite surprising. Given that we work remotely, we do not get a chance to get much interaction and learn about each other. This workshop, though short, I left feeling as though I have a deeper understanding and knowledge of my colleagues. ”