Get to Know the Team

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Collect and share voluntary personal background facts across six defined categories to establish team familiarity.

Use it when: Use during team onboarding, project kickoffs, or new cohort forming when members need a low-pressure way to learn basic facts about colleagues.

Skip it when: Skip when the group has worked together for years and already knows basic background details, or when sensitive workplace dynamics make personal disclosure uncomfortable.

Group arrangement: Individual posting followed by whole-room sharing or pairs

Timing: UWT plan allocating 15 minutes to fit the 5 to 15 minute band for groups up to 16 using parallel sharing when needed.

Materials and tools

• 1 large wall board, whiteboard, or virtual whiteboard
• Sticky notes (2 pads per table in person)
• 1 fine-tip marker per person
• Digital or physical column headers: Family, Travel, Education, Hometown, Hobbies, Music
• 1 digital timer

Before participants arrive

1. Label six columns on the physical or virtual board: Family, Travel, Education, Hometown, Hobbies, Music.
2. Verify all participants have access to sticky notes and markers or edit access to the digital board.

Say this to open

We are going to build a quick reference board to get to know each other. You will see six columns: Family, Travel, Education, Hometown, Hobbies, and Music. Take a few minutes to post notes in any columns you like. Share only what you are comfortable making public. You can skip any column or pass entirely.

How to run it

1. Explain columns and set comfort boundaries 2 minutes

   Speak the opening script. Point to the six categories: Family, Travel, Education, Hometown, Hobbies, Music. State clearly that every column is optional. Give an explicit neutral example: under Hobbies, someone might write 'Baking sourdough.' Set the timer for 4 minutes.

2. Write and post notes silently 4 minutes

   Participants write short notes and post them under their chosen columns. In person, participants place sticky notes on the wall board. Remotely, participants type digital cards under the column headers. Anyone who prefers not to post may read along silently.

3. Share personal highlights 6 minutes

   For groups of 4 to 9, go around the whole room. Each person has up to 30 seconds to highlight one or two items they posted. For groups of 10 to 16, split into breakout pairs (or one trio if the participant count is odd) to share two items each in parallel so everyone gets speaking time without exceeding the clock. Anyone may say 'pass' without giving a reason.

4. Review connections and close 3 minutes

   Facilitate a brief whole-group debrief on commonalities or surprises discovered on the board. Take two or three volunteer comments, then declare the board complete and leave it accessible for the team.

Debrief questions

• Which note or hobby surprised you most?
• What shared interests or background links did you notice across the team?

Finished output: A populated six-column board displaying voluntary background facts about team members.

Remote

Use a digital collaboration board with the six preset columns. Share the screen during instructions, then mute facilitator audio while participants create cards. Run the verbal sharing round by calling names in roster order or sending pairs to two-minute breakout rooms.

Hybrid

Remote and in-person participants both post cards to the same virtual board on laptops or mobile devices. In-person participants view the shared screen on a room monitor. Alternate between in-person and remote speakers during the sharing step.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may choose which categories to write under and may leave any or all blank without explanation.
• Offer text chat or silent posting as an alternative to speaking aloud during the sharing step.

If the session gets stuck

A participant writes private or overly detailed information.

Remind the group gently that all entries should remain work-appropriate and light. If someone asks to remove their card, let them do so immediately.

Whole-room sharing runs over time in a group of 10 or more people.

Switch immediately to 2-minute paired breakouts (with one trio for an odd count) where each partner highlights one item, or limit whole-room sharing to one sentence per person.

Terms used here

• Column board: A visual canvas divided into vertical sections for sorting cards by topic.