Story Line: Developing Team Listening and Collaboration Skills

A valuable group exercise for retreats, off-sites and team-building gatherings

Story Line is an improv-inspired exercise that goes beyond traditional team-building activities by creating a collaborative experience that reveals insights into group communication. It demonstrates the power of collective creativity to be greater than the sum of its parts.

The exercise draws from interdisciplinary learning approaches, combining improvisation theory's emphasis on spontaneous collaboration with social learning principles that demonstrate how skills develop through group interaction.

For any leader looking for innovative ways to work on team dynamics, the Story Line exercise offers a deceptively simple approach to developing collaborative skills. It’s energetic, engaging and ideal for team retreats / workshops.

The good news is, we’ve written up a complete facilitation guide to share with you…

🎯 Learning Objectives

By the end of this exercise, participants…

• Develop deeper listening skills to improve team communication.

• Prioritize collective success over individual performance, enhancing team cohesion.

• Improve collaborative storytelling skills for more effective communication with stakeholders.

• Enhance attention to detail and ability to structure complex ideas.

• Practice letting go of preconceived ideas to foster more adaptive thinking.

🧰 Setup and Requirements

• Group Size: 8-15 participants (flexible but this works best)

• Duration: 20-40 minutes (depends on group size & how fast the group moves)

• Space: Open stage or room area where participants can move freely

• Materials: None required

🧑‍🏫 Facilitation Guide

Warm things up by beginning with a well-known narrative like ‘The Three Little Pigs’ to help participants understand the exercise's mechanics. Obviously cultural context is relevant here - it needs to be a story the majority of participants will be able to recall the general contents of.

participants on stage in a line

1. Explain the basic gameplay…

   • The group is going to construct a story by supplying individual phrases

   • The final effect will be a line of people saying their phrases from one end of the other and telling a story in chronological order

   • Each participant creates a phrase they think belongs in the story, works out roughly where in the line it should go and then adds themselves to the line in that position

   • Each person chooses which position in line to stand based on, where they believe their line fits in the narrative

   • The story develops from left to right across the performance space

2. Start with a provocative or unexpected line to spark creativity…

   • For example, in the tale of the Three Little Pigs, someone might jump into the middle of the space with "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!”

3. Invite other participants to add lines, considering…

   • How their line connects to existing narrative elements

   • The overall story arc

   • Maintaining narrative coherence

After the warm-up, transition to an original story.

1. Provide a title or theme to inspire creativity…

   • Consider a prompt relating to a current situation/experience or a project/product the team are working on

2. Challenge participants to balance…

   • Personal creativity (being funny or clever)

   • Collective storytelling (supporting the emerging narrative)

⚡️ Facilitation Advice

Facilitators should anticipate that participants may initially feel self-conscious or hesitant to take creative risks, perhaps prioritizing individual performance over collective storytelling. To address these natural barriers, it's crucial to create a psychologically safe environment that validates all contributions and eliminates the fear of making mistakes. By modeling enthusiastic, supportive participation and explicitly emphasizing that there are no ‘wrong’ contributions, facilitators can help participants overcome their initial reluctance and fully engage in the collaborative storytelling process.

Having facilitated this exercise with thousands of teams, here are a few other tips to help it go well.

Encourage deep listening by…

• Prompting participants to listen carefully to existing lines

• Asking clarifying questions: "What additional information might you need?"

• Encouraging participants to request line repetitions from existing contributors (practicing the ability to sense-check before jumping in, something professionals sometimes forget to do)

If inconsistencies emerge…

• Nudge the group to prioritize narrative needs

• Guide them to make collective decisions about story structure (noting that it’s okay to pause gameplay for a moment to discuss things)

• Help participants recognize how individual contributions gain meaning through collaborative development

Support participants with their presence by coaching them to…

• Have a neutral stance (to stop them pulling focus from the person delivering their story line)

• Project their voice (ensuring the audience can hear them)

• Focus on clear word delivery (ensuring their audience can understand them)

• Commit to telling the story (ensuring their audience believes them)

💬 Debrief Questions

1. How did the experience feel?

2. What moments were most satisfying?

3. How did you choose what to add to the story?

4. How does understanding narrative needs translate to workplace collaboration?

5. In what ways does this exercise mirror your team's work dynamics?

Story Line is more than a storytelling game; it's a powerful method for developing team communication skills. By practicing collaborative narrative building, teams can develop crucial skills that translate directly to workplace collaboration.

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If you try the activity with your team, please come back and share your experience in the comments below. And of course, if you’re looking for support with team building or improving communication & collaboration, please grab a discovery call.