Cards against the Status Quo
Challenge yourself and your colleagues with these three cards
Too often people are afraid of giving and receiving feedback. In companies it’s either given on a forced monthly (or quarterly) basis or bottled up till it’s delivered like you’re a total drama queen.
Continuous feedback helps us to challenge our own status quo: the things we do that may make us feel like we’re smart and safe, but are actually preventing us from being effective. All of us need to be able to give and take criticism. That’s why we’ve made a little game you can play with your colleagues (which you can download for free here). Give it a try and tell me what you think.
It starts with three cards, to address some of the most counter-productive behavior at work:
I call Bullshit
The first is the bullshit card. This one is self-explanatory. If you see someone waffling on about something that just isn’t true and making assumptions without basing them in facts, well time to whip out the BS card.
Get out of your Comfort Zone
Next we have the comfort zone killer. This is for when you notice a colleague heading into their safe zone and focusing solely on their strengths. They’ll say things like, “This is how we did it the last time” or “I can’t do that, that’s not my role” in order to avoid taking on new and different types of tasks. Comfort zones are places people go to when they should be testing themselves.
Ditch the Survival Strategy
Lastly, we have the survival strategy card, which is what you throw out when you see someone reverting to their coping mechanisms in stressful situations. By becoming overly defensive or sensitive to criticism, or by becoming reclusive and not sharing their workload with others. The survival strategy is a pattern of negative behaviour that people exhibit when dealing with uncertainty.
Each card has two sides, the first directly challenges the recipient to take on feedback. The other side challenges the card giver to provide constructive criticism on how the situation can be improved. These pointers are based on a method by Arthur Menko.
Rules
Now while you might be tempted to throw these cards out at the lunch lady when you don’t like the soup of the day, that could end in tears. Instead assemble a group of trusted colleagues to play the game. Make sure everybody understands its purpose: not to name and shame or vent frustrations, but to help each other learn by giving and receiving criticism. Create a safe space together, where it’s okay to be blunt if necessary.
When you start playing, keep in mind the house rules:
- Make a team of at least five people to play the game.
- Give everyone nine cards in total, three of each type. Print out one pack of the game per person.
- Play the game for a set amount of time, such as a week.
- Give feedback immediately after you hand out a card on the basis of these guidelines.
- No reusing cards, and you must use at least one of each of the three types before the game ends.
Results
Once you’ve finished come together to discuss how it went. Everyone should get a turn and speak about their experience:
- Which cards did you get?
- How did they make you feel?
- What are you going to do with this information?
Once you start playing the game you’ll see how feedback can help you to build a culture of continuous learning. Criticism is something you should take on board, but not to heart.
You can download the cards here. Print it out on three double-sided pages and cut to make 10 cards.
PS. I think people who don’t give honest feedback are 100% zounderkites.
Mats Siffels is partner at Professional Rebel. He’s also a master in strategy and wants to share the tools and tips to help people drive change in their working and daily lives. He draws inspiration from a diverse group of people including NBA coach Gregg Popovich, Grammy-nominated trumpeter Christian Scott and Italian restaurateur Massimo Bottura.
Get in touch with Mats: LinkedIn | Twitter
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