Positive introductions
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ―Maori proverb
👥 Serves: Minimum 2, no upper limit
🎚 Difficulty: Medium
⏳ Total time: 70 minutes (or 2 hours with optional steps)
🥣 Ingredients: 1 notebook or sheets of paper, 1 pen
💪 Nutritional values: Connection, Active listening, Happiness, Compassion, Celebration
Positive introductions
📝 Description
Allowing people to get to know your best self.
The following activity helps you connect to yourself and others through your best self instead of the traditional way of telling your story using your CV. It is particularly helpful for groups that are just forming and for people who have known each other for a long time, since it allows them to get to know each other with different lenses.
This recipe has been kindly donated by Ilaina Rabbat, a member of Recipes for Wellbeing’s Advisory Council. To find out more about Ilaina and her work, please visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilaina-rabbat-a78b2424/ and www.amaniinstitute.org. Ilaina learned this activity through James O. Pawelski, PhD during her Master in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. This activity is also used during some of the trainings at Amani Institute.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Setting the stage (1’)
You might find this an unusual activity and it may feel awkward at first (it may feel like you are being boastful or “bragging” – something that many of us have been taught not to do!). Bear in mind that during this activity, you will be exchanging stories and experiences with other individuals. The more meaningful the experience you entrust to your colleagues, the deeper and richers the work you will do together. Having said this, you should share only what you are comfortable with.
Step 2 – Mining your past experience (10’)
Think of a time in your life when you were at your best. It may have been in response to a particular challenge or crisis, or it may have been simply an initiative that you took to make a good situation even better, or a time when you were having lots of fun. Your “positive introduction” will be based on this.
As you write down your story, think about the details, emotions, and images that come up. Try to be as real and “authentic” as possible; the story may or may not include any type of heroism. Your introduction may be about an extraordinary, life-changing experience, or it may just be about you being at your very best in a way that did not attract outside attention.
You will then have 10 minutes to share your story with others.
Step 3 – Sharing the stories (60’)
Get into teams of four (pairs or triads can also work). In each team, take it in turns to share your stories for around 10 minutes (you can read it or tell it). When someone is sharing their story, listen for the strengths and values in their story. Be an attentive and compassionate listener but try not to interrupt the storyteller.
At the end of the 10 minutes, when the storyteller has finished sharing their story, open the space for questions and comments from the others (for 5 minutes). The storyteller should listen to what is being said about them without interrupting the conversation.
The others can use the following prompts to share their comments and have a conversation:
- What did you like about the story?
- What sort of person is this person?
- What type of things do you think they are good at?
- What values did you hear them articulate?
When the 15 minutes are up (10 for sharing the story and 5 for questions and comments), rotate the roles so each person gets the chance to share their story and receive feedback.
Step 4 – Informal group sharing (up to the team!)
[Optional]: Once all team members have shared their stories and received feedback, it would be good to spend some informal time together, ideally over a meal, to keep having time to get to know each other in a less structured way.