Julie Bartkus

Well, it's that time of year. The Holidays are over and it's time to get back in the swing of things. Some of you may find that it's tough to get your team going, excited, and feeling enthusiastic to come to work every day.

So why not kick off your next staff meeting with an activity that will renew spirits and refocus minds on working together, as a team, to make a difference in the lives of the children in your care?

Here's one activity that I've found to be effective for renewing team motivation. I call it: Reflecting on Success. This is a great team building activity that allows each team member to focus on the successes they've experienced during the past year.

This activity can be facilitated in two parts if desired.

The first part is to have team members reflect on a series of questions to illustrate the ways in which success was achieved over the past year.

The second part is to work together, as a team, to create a success book that will be available for team members to view anytime they need some inspiration, a smile, or a reminder of the tremendous impact their constructive efforts have on the overall mission of your program.

Part one: reflective questions. Ask team members to reflect on the following questions and write their answers down on a piece of paper. 1) What successes (small or large) did you accomplish during the past year? For example: reaching a milestone with a child, resolving a difficult situation with a parent, working with team members to overcome a challenge, and etc. 2) What resources did you utilize to help you achieve each success? For example: team members, a communication strategy, a positive attitude, and etc. 3) How were lives impacted because of your efforts? 4) How are lives going to be positively impacted in the near future and the far off future because of your efforts? Encourage your team to be creative with their response to this question and use their imagination. Perhaps someone offered endless positive encouragement to a child and those words of encouragement will continuously drive that child towards a bright and rewarding future. Team members can pair up to answer this question so they can really dig deep and brainstorm about the big picture that may occur because they accomplished this success. After responses are written down - request that team members share their responses with the entire group.

Part two: create a success book. Work as a team to create a book that illustrates the successes that were achieved. Include pictures (real or from a magazine). Include quotes from kids, parents, and co-workers. Create a story about a child and what his future is like because of the successes accomplished by team members. If your team is large, break out in smaller groups and have each group work on a segment of the book. When segments are complete, each group can make a presentation to the entire group illustrating their segment.

Most important -- have fun and reflect on success often!

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