Building more Psychological Safety on teams using the power of fish!
Surfacing the unspoken contributes to sustainable, healthy teams
Recently we’ve been delivering our psychological safety workshops to a number of groups. In these workshops, we share our advice for creating more safety in organizations and teams.
In those sessions, we don’t always have enough time to share every single piece of advice so we promised folks we’d share more of the tools in our newsletter. We’re making good on that promise today by covering the Stinky Fish exercise.
The Stinky Fish exercise is a facilitated activity where participants confront and share their individual worries and fears related to a specific topic or theme. Participants visualize these concerns as a "Stinky Fish", representing issues that most people are probably aware of (they can ‘smell’ it) but haven’t been prepared to discuss.. The exercise aims to create a safe space for open dialogue, allowing participants to acknowledge and confront their fears.
The Stinky Fish itself is a concept rooted in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). ACT was developed by Dr. Steven C. Hayes and his colleagues in the late 20th century. The metaphor is a powerful one and it’s believed to have been first used in a facilitation context by Åsa Norell.
This exercise can be used at the start of a project or sprint and is a great way to create more psychological safety in your team. We recommend this exercise for groups of 3-12 ( the optimum range for establishing trust and intimacy - which is more challenging as a group gets larger). You’ll want to invest 20-45 mins depending on your group size.
Step 1: Provide Context
When you're introducing the Stinky Fish exercise to your team, start by explaining its purpose in your own words.
Compare the Stinky Fish to something they've been avoiding - the more they ignore it, the worse it gets.
Make it clear that these Stinky Fish can distract the team and get in the way of success. Let them know your aim is to create a safe space to talk openly about these concerns and start dealing with them.
You can conduct the exercise virtually or in person.
Step 2: Let Them Dive In
Give your team around 5 minutes to jot down their Stinky Fish related to the project or topic at hand. You can have them do this directly on the worksheet or on post-its to be added to a central worksheet.
Remind them to keep their statements clear and brief.
We use three buckets for Stinky Fish
Unspoken - what are we not talking about?
Worries - what worries you most?
Questions - what is an unanswered question on your mind?
Step 3: Sharing Circle
Once the time is up, bring the team back together. Let each person share their Stinky Fish, allowing 1-2 minutes per-person. If other people feel the urge to interject comments during someone’s turn, encourage those others to make a note the team can see and circle back around to.
Step 4: Wrapping Up
To close the gathering, thank everyone for their openness. Remind them that it's completely natural to worry, especially during times of change or when embarking on something new. Emphasize that bringing these worries into the open is the first step towards overcoming them.
As you move forward, you can keep referring back to these Stinky Fish. They'll provide valuable insights and help your team navigate challenges together. If you host regular retrospectives - the Stinky Fish can be revisited occasionally in those sessions
Further Tips
Consider creating a visual display of the Stinky Fish, either online or on a wall. It's a powerful way to acknowledge everyone's concerns.
If you’re part of the team (and not a third-party facilitator), make sure you contribute directly in order to demonstrate your own vulnerability and investment in the process.
If you’d like more guidance on creating a great team culture, check out our Psychological Safety Workshop.
If you try Stinky Fish, let us know how you get on and what you’d like to learn more about.