Find the common thread

Find the Common Thread is an activity to force your team to confront the foolish nature of stereotypes and how they reduce our view of others.

The game also reveals the ability of a seemingly random group of people to find something in common. That is a skill worth developing.

The goal of this team-building exercise is for your team members to find some of the things that they have in common. To play, divide your team into small groups and ask each group to find something they all have in common.

This can include hobbies, musical tastes, favorite food, or even the last movie they saw. For example, they may be fans of roller coasters or fans of a series.

Once they have established themselves in their common thread, ask them to create a short list of stereotypical traits or qualities of people who share that trait.

Once completed, you should have a team that knows a little more about their teammates. Some will now find that they share something in common. Some might even realize that the notions or preconceived assumptions they had made about their peers were wrong.

At the completion of the meeting, talk about stereotypes that we assign to people. Discuss how silly stereotypes can be and how they reduce our view of others. Discuss how they affect how we perceive other people’s abilities.

The topics of this publication: reflection, trust, self, interactions, stereotypes, integration, empathy