Jamie’s favourite activity: Digital Display, perfect for developing high performing teams
Updated 20th April 2023
Originally published 21 Aug 2018
In this series we’ll showcase the favourite activities of the MTa team.
The idea is to capture some of the immense experience held by our senior facilitators, and to demonstrate the appeal of the activities to people in all sorts of other roles.
Today we’re looking at Jamie’s favourite activity:
Activity: Digital Display
Kit: MTa Team Kit, containing 16 activities
Level: Advanced
Duration: 1.5 – 2 hours
Why is Digital Display your favourite activity?
I like this activity because of the profound and long lasting impact it has on team performance. It’s hard hitting, and this leads to attitudinal change.
Participants tell us it’s the most powerful activity they’ve ever experienced.
What contexts have you used Digital Display in, and what benefits did it bring?
It’s fascinating to look back on the range of contexts that I’ve applied it in. From sales teams in Saudi Arabia, to university students wanting to improve their employability, to senior leaders in a global telecoms business.
Also, I often use it on the MTa Facilitator Masterclass.
Despite all these diverse contexts, I’ve always seen participants get the same benefits. Namely:
Experiencing the value of a culture where the needs of the team are put first
Feeling the power of true, selfless collaboration
Realising how they often focus on just the task, and forget about their colleagues
So, what makes Digital Display so powerful?
There are two critical facets to the design of this activity which combine to create a perfect microcosm for learning about effective teamwork:
Prioritising personal objectives makes team success difficult: Unless a team works in a way which puts individual success as secondary, the task cannot be successfully completed. Any dysfunctional behaviour that exists within the team, such as those types identified by Lencioni, will come sharply into focus in this task and will need to be overcome.
Participants are not allowed to speak to each other during the task: Working in silence focuses attention on non-verbal communication. To be effective individuals must risk public failure (trusting their teammates not to judge them) and be observant of others’ work. Most importantly they must use their emotional intelligence, reading others’ emotions, including assessing their confidence, level of understanding and needs.
In short, they have to shift from a mindset of ‘how can I succeed’ to ‘how can I help others achieve their goals so that we can all succeed?’
Participants often experience a lot of different emotions during this task, from the satisfaction and relief of completing their own individual task, to being grateful for help from another team member.
They may even feel frustration if they are not supported by their team, or they may have a fear of failure when they want to try out an idea which might help the team. Many eventually experience guilt that they didn’t help their teammates sooner.
As the activity progresses, an effective group will begin to work together, forming a transactive memory of others’ actions, noting what behaviour has helped, or hindered, progress.
From this the natural next step is a shared mental model of how to reach their goal. Once the team reaches this stage, there is a rush of euphoria as they make fast progress. The contrast between any difficult emotions they have felt and the positivity of now having pulled together and made progress powerfully reinforces the learning.
How do you ensure that the learning is embedded?
As with any experiential learning activity, it’s crucial to facilitate meaningful discussion about how the task went. Reflection by each individual upon their input to the activity must be carefully facilitated, so that they are able to be honest, objective and constructive about their own, and others’ contributions.
When facilitating this activity I use the MTa Arena methodology to help people let go of the plastic (task) and focus instead on the interactions, as this is where the beneficial team skills learning lies. This may sound obvious, but it’s easier said than done! All the review materials, and some helpful guidance, is provided in the Facilitator’s Notes manual.
What feedback have you had from Digital Display participants?
Team members and managers alike have reported an uplift in team morale, and improved co-operation, due to a heightened awareness that they all need to consider others’ perspectives in order to succeed as a team. Fuelled by the sensory memory of emotional experience gained in this task, underlying attitudes have changed; positive behavioural change is the natural consequence of this.
With this culture shift comes the biggest foundation of great teamwork – trust. It’s the foundation of Lencioni’s big five. What’s more, psychological safety (comprising shared team norms that centre around all members having an equal voice and a culture of high social sensitivity) was the only statistically significant factor found in successful teams in Google’s massive Project Aristotle. They built upon the finding that teams where members have an equal share of voice succeed in having a higher collective intelligence than teams where a few key personalities (however intelligent/competent) dominate and others are intimidated out of interacting fully.
Finally, do you have any tips for someone using Digital Display for the first time?
Digital Display is quite an emotive activity and requires a skilled facilitator. It’s human nature to want to help, but you mustn’t give the team advice on how to solve the task. You also have to police the rules about communication strictly, otherwise the activity loses its power.
Also, I would not recommend this as the first activity in your programme! The task put in front of the participants is conceptually advanced. It is best to build up some rapport with the group first and help them build their confidence and understanding with some easier tasks.