What is in Your Toolkit?

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Catalog concrete skills, data assets, and tools across a team to identify shared working capabilities.

Use it when: Use when kicking off a project or onboarding cross-functional peers who need to map out what each person brings to the work.

Skip it when: Skip when the team has a rigidly defined single-role workflow or when participants do not have shared work contexts.

Group arrangement: Small groups of 3 to 5 people

Timing: Matches the 5 to 15 minute range in source evidence observation-0; 15 minutes accommodates setup, chaining, and quick gallery review.

Materials and tools

• 1 flipchart pad or large poster sheet per group
• 2 chisel-tip markers per group
• 1 roll of painter tape to post charts

Before participants arrive

1. Place 1 sheet of flipchart paper and 2 markers at each group table.
2. Clear wall or window space where charts can be taped up at the end.

Say this to open

We are going to inventory the skills, methods, and resources present in this room. In your small groups, you will name what you have in your business toolkit. Then, group members will use the phrase 'and then' to link their own capabilities to yours, showing how your tools combine. Pick one person to write your combined list on your chart.

How to run it

1. Set roles and start the inventory 3 minutes

   Form groups of 3 to 5. Each group selects a recorder to write on the flipchart. The first volunteer answers the question: 'What is in your toolkit?' by naming 1 concrete skill, asset, or method they bring to client or internal work. Example: 'I bring survey design and user interview protocols.' The recorder writes this at the top of the chart.

2. Build the 'and then' capability chains 7 minutes

   Another participant responds to the previous item by saying 'and then...' and adding a complementary skill or resource that builds on it. Example: '...and then I can run statistical analysis on those survey outputs in Python.' The next person connects another tool to that step. Continue around the small group so everyone contributes at least one link. If a chain reaches a natural delivery end, start a fresh anchor tool and chain again.

3. Post and review toolkit charts 3 minutes

   Groups tape their flipchart pages to the room walls. Participants walk the room silently or at their own pace to scan what other groups cataloged.

4. Debrief whole room 2 minutes

   Gather attention back to the center. Call on 2 or 3 volunteers to highlight one complementary pairing or unexpected resource they noticed on another team chart.

Debrief questions

• Which combined capability surprised you on another team chart?
• Where did two separate skills connect naturally into a full workflow?
• What missing tool or capability did this exercise reveal that the team still needs?

Finished output: Posted flipcharts listing complementary skill chains and shared tools across the group.

Remote

Run in breakout rooms of 3 to 5 people using a collaborative digital whiteboard. Each room gets a designated frame with sticky notes. One participant types while peers state their tools and chain them with digital connectors using the 'and then' prompt. Regroup in the main room and spend 3 minutes reviewing other breakout frames.

Hybrid

Keep remote participants in remote-only breakout rooms on a shared digital whiteboard. In-person participants work on physical flipcharts and assign one person to snap a photo and upload it to the shared digital whiteboard before the 3-minute gallery review.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may pass on verbal chaining and instead write their skill directly onto the chart or chat box.
• Participants can name everyday operational skills (such as spreadsheet tracking or scheduling) without needing specialized technical tools.

If the session gets stuck

Participants list abstract traits like 'enthusiasm' or 'good listener' rather than concrete tools.

Remind the room to name specific tasks, methods, software, or deliverables they produce, such as drafting brief templates or managing budgets.

One person dominates the chaining step and builds a whole workflow alone.

Prompt groups to pass the 'and then' baton strictly to the next person around the circle so each participant adds only one step at a time.

Terms used here

• And then technique: An additive conversational rule where each speaker accepts the prior contribution and hooks their own skill directly to it.