Team Workshop

If-Statements

Improve trust by increasing self-confidence

30-45 minutes

3-15 people

Remote & on-site

Background

Note: For this workshop, a certain level of trust within your team should already be established.

Basic trust is cultivated during adultness within the family and enhanced by the person’s experiences in school, friendship, colleagueship and love. It requires self-confidence because trusting yourself is the necessary precondition to trust anyone else.

The renowned psychologist Prof. Peter Gollwitzer recommends If-Statements to increase self-discipline and willpower on the way to the goal or in our case on the way to self-confidence.

If-then conditions are particularly suitable for situations in which you want to act and react with more self-confidence. Having thought of the situation and possible reactions in advance makes it easier for the person to act towards the behavior that leads to the desired outcome and gives them more self-confidence to face the situation.

Team workshop instructions

Preparation

On Site: provide paper & pencil
Remote: Make sure everyone can make personal notes (no shared whiteboard needed)

Check-In (5 minutes)

Welcome the team and introduce the workshop
You can do a short warm-up to establish trust and include everyone from the beginning (e.g. ask everyone what they had for breakfast this morning).

Overview: Team members share situations in which they feel self-conscious and possible courses for action.

Goal: Leverage the existing trust in your team and increase it further.

Step 1 (10 minutes)

In this workshop, some sensitive topics might come up. To have the most positive outcome and make every team member as comfortable as possible, let’s define some conversation rules right before we start.

Let every team member think about what behavior they would wish for in a good conversation.
Collect everybody’s suggestions and aggree on universal conversation rules. Write the rules down for everyone to see.

Here are some examples for possible conversation rules:

Let each team member finish what they are saying.
Save comments for the discussion at the end.
Your team members share sensitive topics with you – be respectful and supportive. Show them that you care. Information stays in the room.
If you have anything to criticize, think twice if this is the right time to share your thoughts and if you do, be compassionate.

Step 2 (5 minutes)

Let everyone think about one situation in their work life in which they feel self-conscious.
If your team struggles to find situations, find general examples together or ask someone to share their examples with the group.

This should be a challenging situation at work, including other people or themselves. Only give examples if the team members can’t come up with anything. In case you need them, here are some examples:

Holding a presentation
Negotiating a salary
Facilitating a workshop
Standing up to a bully

Step 3 (10 minutes)

Now that everyone has thought of one situation, every team member should write down answers for the following questions:

How did you react in the past?
How would you like to react in the future?
What holding you back?
What’s the worst thing that could happen?
What can you do to decrease that risk?

Step 4 (5 minutes)

Now that everyone has thought about their situation and possible outcomes, write down one or more If-statements starting with “The next time if…, then…” including a particular reaction to the situation
They should think about how they can adjust their behavior or thoughts to improve the situation and their self-confidence the next time the situation occurs.

Here are some examples for If-Statements:

The next time if my colleague approaches me in a bad way, I will stand up straight, look them firmly in the eye and then ignore them.
The next time if I am faced with a challenging situation, I will take three deep breaths, count backwards from 5 and then face the challenge.

Step 5 (5 minutes / person)

Encourage the team members to share their situations and ideas. Maybe other team members have similar situations.
Team members who want to receive more input or want to give more input (advice, tips etc.) can also do so. However, this is optional.

Tip: Since this is the most sensitive step in the workshop, make sure to point out the rule codex you agreed on beforehand.

Step 6 / Outro (10 minutes)

Let the team members reflect on how they felt sharing their if-statements
- Suggest that everyone trys to actively implement their personal If-statements in their everyday work life
- If you have the chance to meet again soon see the option for follow up below
- If you cannot meet again as a team soon let them build pairs of two.. Each pair should meet again after two weeks and follow up about their implementation of the if-statements
Emphasize how sharing If-Statements increases trust*
Make sure everybody leaves the workshop with a good feeling.

Example
“Trust is strenghtened when people share sensitive topics with others and get understanding, compessionate reactions. This way they feel heard and valued. The feeling that others are willing to share their struggles also increases feelings of trust.”

Follow-up (10 minutes)

In a few weeks from now, depending on your given time frame, ask your team how they have implemented their If-Statements:

Did they feel more self-confident?
Did they change the situation with their behavior or thoughts?

First Aid

Didn’t go as expected? Check out the following tips.

Some situations in which team members feel self-conscious are not their responsibility to change
Sometimes there are difficult situations in the work context or between team members. In some of these occasions it should be the responsibility of the team, to make their collegue feel better in that situation and support them. Be aware that there are situations where one needs help from others and can’t change it on their own.

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