Helping Behavior

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Identify barriers to asking for assistance and define concrete team agreements for requesting and offering help.

Use it when: Use during a team kickoff, retrospective, or project reset when members hesitate to ask for help or work in isolated silos.

Skip it when: Skip when members work entirely independently with no shared dependencies, or during acute interpersonal disputes that require formal mediation.

Group arrangement: Small groups of 2 to 5 participants, followed by whole-group review

Timing: Source suggested 15 to 30 minutes; UWT plan sets 20 minutes.

Materials and tools

• One printed Briefing Sheet per participant (or digital document link)
• One index card per small group
• Pens or markers
• Wall tape or digital workspace for posting index cards

Before participants arrive

1. Print or link the Briefing Sheet for all participants.
2. Set out index cards and pens at group tables.
3. Designate a wall section or digital board to post cards.

Say this to open

Take the next three minutes to read this brief case study on team effectiveness silently. Note what separated the highest-performing teams from the rest. Afterward, we will break into small groups to decide what that means for how we collaborate.

How to run it

1. Introduce and distribute 2 minutes

   Hand out the Briefing Sheet to each participant. Read the opening script aloud. Answer any procedural questions before starting the reading timer.

2. Read in silence 3 minutes

   Ask everyone to read the text silently. Keep the room quiet until the timer finishes.

3. Discuss in small groups 9 minutes

   Group participants into teams of 2 to 5 (pairs or trios for 4 to 6 people; groups of 3 to 5 for larger rosters). Have each group discuss the three prompts on the sheet. Instruct each group to choose one writer to record a single practical team norm on an index card. For example: 'If you are blocked for more than 30 minutes, post a request for a 5-minute check-in on the team channel.' At the five-minute mark, prompt groups to draft their final card.

4. Post and debrief 6 minutes

   Have each group tape their card to the wall or post it to the shared board simultaneously. Give everyone one minute to read all posted norms. Facilitate a brief discussion using the debrief questions, taking observations from two or three volunteers.

Debrief questions

• Looking across these cards, what makes asking for help difficult on this team, and what lowers that friction?
• Which single norm will make the biggest difference in our work this coming week?

Finished output: Every small group produces a written team agreement card posted to a shared board.

Remote

Distribute the briefing text via chat or shared document link. Send participants into breakout rooms of 2 to 5 people for 9 minutes. Groups type their norm into a shared digital whiteboard or chat. Review the entries together in the main room during the debrief.

Hybrid

Keep remote participants together in dedicated video breakout rooms and have in-person participants form table groups in the room. Both remote and in-person groups write their norms onto the same digital board or shared slide deck so all participants see the full list during the debrief.

Access and participation choices

• Provide digital text with screen-reader compatibility or read the text aloud for participants who prefer audio.
• Participants may contribute to discussion without sharing personal past performance issues.
• Writing on the index card can be delegated to any group member.

If the session gets stuck

Groups spend the entire small-group time debating the intelligence study rather than their own team.

Provide a time check at minute five: 'Shift now to prompt 3 and draft your team norm card.'

Participants equate asking for help with weakness or lack of skill.

Point out the study finding: top-performing units asked for help more frequently than lower-performing units, treating help-seeking as an indicator of competence.