Perfect Employees

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Connect desired employee behaviors to specific managerial support actions and systems.

Use it when: Use during supervisory or leadership workshops to shift attention from staff deficiencies to management responsibility and operating conditions.

Skip it when: Skip when participants do not supervise or mentor staff, or when acute workplace conflict makes discussing an ideal employee dismissive.

Group arrangement: Whole group discussion for cohorts up to 10. For 11 to 24 participants, seat tables in groups of 3 to 6 participants (for example, 17 divides into groups of 4, 4, 4, and 5) with individual action planning at the end.

Timing: UWT suggested duration. The source describes an untimed energiser; 25 minutes provides adequate pacing for listing, prioritizing, reversing perspective, and individual planning.

Materials and tools

• 2 flipchart easels with paper pads or 2 large whiteboards
• 4 chisel-tip dry-erase markers or flipchart pens
• Sticky notes (1 pad per table group)
• Pens (1 per person)
• Printed Manager Support Action Plan worksheet (1 per person)

Before participants arrive

1. Label the first flipchart sheet: The Perfect Employee: Traits and Behaviors. Keep it visible.
2. Prepare the second flipchart sheet labeled: Manager Actions: What Must WE Do to Enable This? Keep it covered or positioned behind the first sheet.
3. Place sticky notes, pens, and printed worksheets on each table.

Say this to open

We are going to start by building a wish list. Think about your teams. What specific traits, habits, and skills do you expect from an ideal employee to help reach team goals? Call them out or write them down, and we will get them on the board.

How to run it

1. Brainstorm employee traits 6 minutes

   Speak the opening script. For cohorts under 10, scribe suggestions directly onto the Perfect Employee flipchart as participants call them out. For groups of 11 to 24, have each table write traits on sticky notes for 3 minutes, then post their top 2 or 3 distinct notes directly onto the Perfect Employee flipchart. Group duplicates together on the sheet to form a consolidated list of 10 to 12 distinct traits.

2. Prioritize traits 4 minutes

   Ask participants to review the posted list. Conduct a quick show of hands where each person votes for up to two items. Mark the top 3 to 5 traits that receive the most votes using a star or circle.

3. Flip to manager responsibility 7 minutes

   Uncover the second flipchart: Manager Actions: What Must WE Do to Enable This? Place it side by side with the first chart. Take the top 3 to 5 prioritized traits one by one. Ask: What concrete habit, process, or resource must managers provide so an employee can show this trait consistently? Scribe specific manager actions in a second column aligning directly across from each corresponding trait. For example, if the trait is proactive communication, write establish a weekly 15-minute check-in with an open agenda.

4. Draft personal action plans 5 minutes

   Distribute or refer participants to the Manager Support Action Plan worksheet. Ask each person to pick one employee trait from the board and write down two concrete management actions they will take with their own team, each with a specific completion date. Invite participants to share their plan with an immediate neighbor or keep it private.

5. Debrief and close 3 minutes

   Bring the room together and present 1 or 2 debrief questions. Invite 2 or 3 volunteer responses to conclude the session within time.

Debrief questions

• Looking at both lists, how much of daily employee performance depends on clear management systems?
• Which manager support action on the board is easiest to drop when workloads spike?
• What is one concrete management behavior from your sheet that you can put into place next week?

Finished output: A shared paired list matching desired employee traits to enabling manager actions, plus a completed individual action plan with target completion dates.

Remote

Use a shared virtual board with two columns: Perfect Employee and Manager Enablement. In step 1, participants post virtual sticky notes into column 1. In step 2, give each participant 2 dot-voting markers to identify top priorities. Reveal column 2 and invite managers to add matching manager actions across from the top traits. In step 4, participants complete their private worksheet or personal digital box, with optional paired breakout rooms for sharing.

Hybrid

Point an in-room camera at both flipcharts. An assigned co-facilitator mirrors spoken in-room items onto the shared digital board and reads aloud remote chat contributions. In step 2, count digital dot votes alongside in-room hands. In step 4, remote participants write their commitments on private digital sheets, with the option to share with an assigned partner in a 1-on-1 breakout room while in-person participants talk with a table partner.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may submit ideas aloud, on sticky notes, or via digital chat.
• Action plans may remain strictly private; participants can pass on partner sharing without explanation.

If the session gets stuck

Participants suggest vague personal traits such as loyalty or positivity that are difficult to operationalize.

Ask: What observable behavior does that trait produce during a regular workday? Scribe the concrete behavior instead.

Managers become defensive during the perspective flip and state that experienced adults should not require guidance.

Acknowledge the demands of management, then reframe support as operational clarity: High performers stall when priorities, authority, or resources are unclear. What clear operational guidance removes their friction?

Terms used here

• Action plan: A short written commitment specifying a concrete leadership action and a target calendar date.