It's Called Gratitude

Hands up if you think the world needs another format for retrospectives.

Yeah, right.

Yet here I am.

Last October it was clear that we were becoming jaded. After a phase of novelty themes (at the festival, NSYNC, 8-bit video games, ...) and a long stretch of Stop Start Continue, engagement in our retros was sliding.

So when it was my turn to facilitate I wanted to find a different format and I had some specific requirements in mind: a simple and intuitive structure, invitations to express feelings, and opportunities to be publicly grateful.

I didn't find an existing template that fit the bill so I made one up, just four columns in a basic table with these headers:

Kudos to ... 'cos of ...
I like it when ...
I feel meh about ...
I don't like it when ...

I expected it to be a one-off palate cleanser but it's proven popular and we've been using it for six months straight.

There's no originality in those categories, by the way: I see a strong family resemblence to Mad Sad Glad and the idea of kudos shout-outs is not novel either, but there's something about the starter phrases and the ellipsis that's working for us.

We always begin with the kudos, and when I'm facilitating I ask that everyone finds someone to be grateful to for something, in or outside the team. Taking a moment to think about who you appreciate is a useful step back from the grind, telling them about it and why can make their day, hearing about the good deeds of others is uplifting, and understanding what your colleagues value is the icing on the cake. This is my favourite part of the retro.

The other three columns are deliberately phrased to focus on feelings rather than actions or events. In Stop Start Continue, the focus is strongly on the what but in our format we start with the why and the conversation leads to potential whats.

Naturally, enthusiasm for retros ebbs and flows, and some people just naturally have more time for this kind of conversation than others. However, kudos to my team 'cos we're keeping on keeping on talking and I'm delighted that my one-time format is helping us to do it. Thank you all.
Image:Beastie Boys with thanks to Pink Floyd

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Hiccupps

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