The Five Finger Contract
The five finger contract is a very simple and practical activity to discuss and establish the norms of behavior of the group.
Extend your palm facing forward with all five fingers extended to your group. Announce that each of your five fingers represents one critical component of healthy and respectful group norms.
They will build a system that will guide the behaviours of group.
Point to each of your fingers one at a time, as you announce what each of them represents:
- Pinky Finger: Safety because it’s the smallest and most vulnerable finger
- Ring Finger: Commitment and willingness to let things go and not hold grudges
- Middle Finger: Awareness of put-downs
- Pointer Finger: Taking Responsibility for our actions instead of pointing blame
- Thumb Finger: Agreement to work toward individual and group goals, ie as in thumbs up.
To reinforce their understanding, take a few moments to discuss what each finger or tenet means in the context of creating and maintaining healthy and supportive relationships.
From this point, your primary role is to remind your group about the existence of this agreement and, where necessary, revisit it periodically to invite them to reflect on how well they are working towards a safe learning space.
Moment of Reflection
- In your own words, how do you define each of the five tenets of our agreement?
- What do they look like, sound like and feel like?
- What should we do as a group when one or more of these tenets is not honoured?
The topics of this publication: interactions, integration, make agreements
