Exchange market
“There are lots of new employees in the team, and a new operating year is about to start. How can I make the team’s goal-setting discussion efficient and inspiring? How to best bring out the expertise and strengths of each team member?”
Topic: group development discussion, meaningful work content, job enrichment, variation at work, use of strengths
Time required: less than half an hour, requires some preparation
Materials: post-it notes, markers or pens
Method description
Give each participant post-it notes and a marker or pen.
Ask everyone to write their tasks on the post-it notes (one task per note). Reserve 5–10 minutes for this.
Ask everyone to divide their post-it notes into three piles: favourite tasks, least favourite tasks, and alright tasks. Reserve 3–5 minutes for this.
Start an exchange where everyone in turn can offer one post-it note (task) in exchange for another. At best, person A’s least favourite task could be person B’s favourite task. Bonus rule: During the exchange, everyone must exchange at least x amount of post-it notes (tasks).
Notify the necessary parties about possible task changes. Arrange a new Exchange market after some time.