Sharks and Chimps Retrospective

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Surface peer recognition and destigmatize project mistakes by sharing practical lessons learned across the work cycle.

Use it when: At the end of a project milestone, sprint, or work cycle when a team needs to celebrate peer support and normalize talking about honest missteps.

Skip it when: When team psychological safety is critically low, during active interpersonal conflict, or when an error involves severe disciplinary or legal liability.

Group arrangement: Individual silent writing followed by whole-group readouts and dot voting.

Timing: UWT suggested 25-minute schedule expanded from brief online template descriptions to allow adequate readouts and debriefing.

Materials and tools

• Self-adhesive note pads in two distinct colors (one color for Sharks, one color for Chimps; 1 pad of each color per 4 participants)
• Markers or pens (1 per person)
• Adhesive voting dots (4 per person, 2 for each column)
• Wall space, whiteboard, or tabletop divided into two columns labeled Sharks and Chimps
• Optional novelty mascot props or tokens for Shark and Chimp recognition

Before participants arrive

1. Divide a whiteboard or wall into two zones: 'Sharks: Who helped the team?' and 'Chimps: What mistake did you make and learn from?'
2. Distribute pens and sticky notes to each seat, assigning one color for Sharks and one color for Chimps.
3. If using physical props or stuffed animals, place them on the facilitator table.

Say this to open

Welcome to our Sharks and Chimps retrospective. Today we celebrate how we supported each other and openly examine our mistakes so we can learn from them. You will nominate teammates who acted as Sharks by making bold, helpful moves. You can also self-nominate as a Chimp by sharing a mistake you personally made and what it taught you.

How to run it

1. Introduce categories and write nominations 5 minutes

   Explain the rules: Shark cards nominate a colleague for a specific helpful action. Chimp cards are strictly self-nominations detailing your own mistake and what you learned. Give participants 4 minutes of quiet time to write at least one Shark card and, if willing, one Chimp card using the assigned colors. Anyone may choose to write only Shark cards.

2. Post and read submissions 10 minutes

   Invite participants to post their cards in the respective columns. Call on each person in turn to share their contributions. Each person receives a strict 30-second total turn to read aloud. If someone wrote multiple cards, they choose their single most impactful Shark nomination and their single Chimp card to read aloud to stay within their 30 seconds. Enforce this time limit consistently across all participants.

3. Vote on entries 4 minutes

   Distribute two voting dots for the Shark column and two dots for the Chimp column to each participant. Direct everyone to silently review the board and vote for the most impactful peer contribution and the most valuable learning takeaway. Tally the top items in each category.

4. Debrief and assign recognitions 6 minutes

   Announce the highest-voted Shark and Chimp entries. Hand over props or record the recognition in meeting minutes. Facilitate whole-group debrief using 1 or 2 of the provided questions to extract systemic improvements, taking 3 to 4 brief comments from the room.

Debrief questions

• Choose 1 or 2 of the following questions for the room: What recurring patterns did our Chimp stories reveal about our team processes or communication?
• How can we adjust our workflow in the next cycle so teammates avoid these same pitfalls?
• What everyday support habits highlighted in the Shark column should we make standard practice?

Finished output: A retrospective board displaying peer appreciations and documented lessons from recent mistakes, with top contributions recorded in team notes.

Remote

Use a digital whiteboard with two columns labeled Sharks and Chimps. Allow participants to add their name to cards or submit them privately to the facilitator to post without attribution. Run the silent writing timer for 4 minutes. Call on participants in order to read their selected notes aloud within 30 seconds total per person. Distribute two digital voting stamps per column (four total) to each participant.

Hybrid

Use the digital whiteboard as the single source of truth. In-person participants type into the board or dictate cards to an assigned scribe. Remote participants speak first during readouts, and the board remains projected on the room screen for equal visibility.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may submit cards via private direct message to the facilitator to be read aloud without attribution.
• Self-nominating as a Chimp is strictly voluntary; participants may pass on admitting a mistake and contribute only peer praise without penalty or explanation.

If the session gets stuck

Someone uses a Chimp card to call out another person's mistake rather than their own.

Remind the room immediately that Chimps are strictly self-nominations. Remove the card from the board and invite the author to reframe it or discard it.

Participants hesitate to post Chimp cards due to fear of embarrassment.

Share a brief, honest operational mistake you made recently to model psychological safety and illustrate a constructive Chimp entry.

Terms used here

• Shark: A peer nomination celebrating a teammate who took effective, bold action or offered critical support.
• Chimp: A voluntary self-nomination admitting a personal error or screw-up along with the lesson taken from it.