How To Use A Constellation To Jell A Team?

When you start new project you assemble a group of people to work on this project...this is the easy part of the job. The really hard part is to transform this group of people into an effective team that run like a well-oiled machine and that will successfully finish the project. And here is where most of the managers fail.

 

It takes time for a team to jell because it takes time for team members to get to know each other and build trust. And this is a prerequisite for effective communication which is imperative for the project success. That's why you must create many opportunities for team members to get to know each other better. And one such opportunity is a Constellation exercise?

 

The main purpose of this exercise is that the team members learn more about one another, see what other team members will do and not do, what they do and do not believe, and what they will and will not tolerate. It is especially useful at the beginning of a project when most team members do not know each other.

 

How to facilitate a constellation exercise?

 

Choose any object (chair, ball,...) and put it on the floor in the middle of the room. This object represents the center of the constellation and all team members should arrange themselves around this object. Tell them that you are going to read some statements, and as you read the statement they should gravitate toward or away from the center object in relation to how true the statement is for them. The more true the statement is for them, the closer to the center they should move.

After you read the statement everyone should move at the same time and they should not pay attention where other team members are moving. After everyone has moved they should all look around and see where other team members stand and they should feel the shape of the constellation. Once they have looked around, read the next statement.

After you read your statements, let the team members write their own statements. Collect all the statements and read it to the team.

 

Here are some statements that can be used:

• I like to work alone
• I am competitive
• I like to facilitate meetings
• I am a perfectionist
• I like to learn new things
• I like surprises
• I like lots of documentation

To learn more about the exercises that can help the team jell read a great book Coaching agile teams written by Lyssa Adkins.