How often do we tell people that they are really good at something, they have impressed us with the way they organized an event or we really appreciated a gesture that they did for us or someone else…? If we are really honest - generally it is not enough. Interestingly much work in the training room around team building is about what is not being said within the team - not always the said stuff!!

To enable people to say some positive unsaid things, one of my favourite

exercises as a session is coming to a close is The Gift…

Very simple - only items needed are a sheet of paper and a pen each!

• Sit everyone in a circle; close enough so they can pass a piece of paper to someone next to them.

• Give everyone a piece of paper and ask them to put their name on the top. Then comes the fun! (Tip: check everyone is familiar with everyone's name!)

• Everyone together passes his or her piece of paper to the left (doesn't matter which way - as long as everyone goes the same direction!)

• On the sheet of paper they write a good thing they have observed, noticed, thought or heard about the person on their sheet.

• A few words are great and they must be good.

• Once everyone is finished pass the sheet round together again and again until everyone has written something about everyone. (The biggest group I have done this with was 22 people and it worked well. I have also done it with around 100 people and broken them into groups of 7/8, again worked really well.)

• Then finally pass the sheet back to its `owner' and then read the sheets.

This is a great way of giving very personal and long lasting feedback to a group of people. And most people I meet later have always kept their sheet

Other times to use this may be… when working with a team of people over a couple or more days where great working relationships have been forged, personal learning's have been high and challenges overcome.

It also creates a powerful anchor which is remembered and retained generally by most delegates.

Enjoy and let me know how you get on!!

This week’s FriendlyBrain Tip comes to you from  Caroline Holland of Kaizen Training. Kaizen Training Limited is a well-established consulting and training firm based in the UK and offering its services to the global business community. Training for Excellence is a leading-edge Train the Trainer company based in the U.S. and providing training programs internationally. For more information, contact us at info@wetrain.biz