I recently had the opportunity to run a play facilitation session using the program from the Atlassian Teamwork Lab. It was a great experience that challenged me to improve my soft skills and learn how to lead a productive and collaborative meeting. In this blog post, I want to share some of my insights and tips for anyone who wants to try this program for the first time.
Running this session felt like a rewarding exercise in planning, communication and problem-solving. I had to think through the whole process from start to finish, and anticipate how to deal with common scenarios that might arise during the session. I also had to keep all the participants engaged and focused on the goal of the session, which was to come up with a shared vision and action plan for our team.
What went well from my perspective was that I learned how to better structure the session and use the tools and templates provided by the program. I found the play cards very helpful and easy to use. I also learned how to manage the dynamics of the group and ensure that everyone had a voice and a chance to contribute. I was able to balance between giving guidance and letting the participants discover their own solutions.
What I might try differently next time is to conduct the retrospective in a more interactive way. Instead of just asking for feedback and writing it down, I would like to discuss each point with the group and then create action items together based on the discussion. I think this would make the retrospective more meaningful and actionable, and also help me improve as a facilitator.
Some tips for first-time facilitators that I would like to share are:
- Just get started. You will learn a lot in the process and you will get better with practice.
- Reflect on your own performance and ask for feedback from others. You will be surprised by how much you can learn by just stopping and thinking about how you handled the session.
- Take it step by step and don't get overwhelmed. The program has a clear structure and guidance that will help you along the way.
- Prepare in advance for your session. Review the materials, set up the online platform, invite the participants and send them a reminder. This will save you time and stress during the session.
I hope this blog post has given you some useful insights and tips on how to run a play facilitation session using the program from the Atlassian Teamwork Lab. I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to improve their teamwork skills and have fun at the same time.
