Cliques and Exclusion

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Identify informal exclusion patterns in distributed communication and agree on practical meeting and messaging habits that broaden participation.

Use it when: Use during team retrospectives, team launches, or inclusion initiatives when information sharing feels siloed or newer members feel sidelined.

Skip it when: Skip when active interpersonal grievances require formal conflict mediation or when safety to discuss team dynamics has not been established.

Group arrangement: Trios or quads for breakouts; whole room for aggregate review. Spare participants join an existing group to make four or form a trio.

Timing: 60 minutes matches the published WorkshopBank session framework.

Materials and tools

• Digital polling tool or anonymous digital forms
• Shared collaboration canvas or document with breakout tables
• Printed or digital copies of the three inclusion strategies and redesign worksheet
• Countdown timer

Before participants arrive

1. Create the anonymous poll with the opening prompt: 'Where does subtle exclusion most often show up here?'
2. Prepare breakout groups of 3 to 4 people each, adjusting dynamically based on final attendance.
3. Load the three inclusion strategies and scenario redesign worksheet onto the shared workspace or print them for each breakout group.

Say this to open

Welcome. Today we are looking at how informal subgroups and communication habits form in distributed teams, and how they can accidentally leave people out. We will share observations anonymously, examine three practical habits for opening up communication, and redesign a common team scenario. Everything you share from personal experience can be framed generally. You always have the choice to pass or keep specific details private.

How to run it

1. Introduce patterns and run anonymous poll 10 minutes

   Speak the opening script. Post the anonymous poll: 'Where does subtle exclusion happen most in distributed teams? (e.g., side chats during calls, decisions in direct messages, unwritten norms, timezone isolation)'. Give 2 minutes for silent responses. Display the aggregated results on screen. Point out two major commonalities from the aggregated results.

2. Breakout discussions on subtle exclusion 15 minutes

   Divide participants into groups of 3 or 4. Direct groups to discuss the prompt: 'What small, daily habits make someone feel excluded or on the outside in a virtual team?' Emphasize that people should speak about patterns or scenarios rather than naming colleagues. One person per group notes 2 or 3 common themes in their group's assigned area of the shared document or canvas. Stop when the timer reaches 15 minutes.

3. Introduce three key inclusion strategies 10 minutes

   Bring the whole room together. Introduce three specific strategies: 1) Public-by-Default Communication (moving project talk out of private direct messages into open team channels), 2) Intentional Meeting Turn-Taking (using silent written brainwriting or structured rounds instead of open floor interruptions), and 3) Transparent Context Setting (explaining internal acronyms, inside jokes, and past decisions for newer members). Allow 3 minutes for brief clarifying questions.

4. Scenario redesign in small groups 15 minutes

   Send participants back into their small groups. Direct each group to select one scenario: either a recent vague team communication issue or the provided sample scenario from the worksheet. Groups have 12 minutes to redesign the workflow using at least one of the three strategies, identifying the exclusion pattern and rewriting the workflow in their breakout document area.

5. Individual commitments and closing 10 minutes

   Recall participants to the main room. Invite two volunteer groups to share one practical change from their redesign in 90 seconds each. Ask one debrief question: 'Which of the three strategies would make the fastest difference in how our team shares information?' Hear two quick replies. Give two minutes for everyone to write one commitment: 'One habit I will start doing to make collaboration more open.' Invite voluntary sharing in chat or voice. Close the session.

Debrief questions

• Which of the three strategies would make the fastest difference in how our team shares information?
• What is one unwritten communication rule in our group that a newcomer might struggle to notice?
• How can we address a private clique or side-channel conversation without creating defensiveness?

Finished output: A shared document containing scenario redesigns and a collection of personal commitments for inclusive team communication.

Remote

Run on video conferencing software with breakout room functionality. Use an anonymous polling app (such as Mentimeter, Slido, or Google Forms) for Step 1 so answers remain unlinked to individual identities. Post breakout prompts in the shared chat and use a collaborative whiteboard or doc where each group has an assigned workspace.

Hybrid

Seat in-person participants in small clusters around a shared laptop microphone. Give each remote participant their own video feed. Breakouts should either be fully remote or fully in-person to avoid audio feedback. Use a single shared digital document for all poll inputs, group notes, and commitments so all participants have identical visibility.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may contribute via text chat, digital notes, or spoken voice.
• Personal experiences may be shared using third-person or hypothetical wording to avoid forced personal vulnerability.
• Participants may pass on speaking during breakouts and act as the group note-taker instead.

If the session gets stuck

A participant uses the session to call out a specific colleague by name for cliquey behavior.

Intervene immediately: 'Let us pause there. Please focus on the systemic communication habit rather than naming individuals, so we can redesign the process.'

Conversations stall in breakouts because people fear acknowledging exclusion.

Provide the neutral sample scenario from the worksheet to the quiet group and ask them to critique the fictional workflow rather than personal team experiences.

Terms used here

• Public-by-Default: The practice of holding work-related discussions in shared, accessible team channels rather than private direct messages, unless personal privacy is strictly required.
• Brainwriting: A structured ideation method where participants write thoughts silently in a shared document before speaking out loud.