How to bring some superhero magic to your team.

What’s not to like about a superhero? They can do all kinds of things us mortals can’t; fix un-fixable things, save the world, turn back time, fly, become invisible, read people’s minds. The list of possibilities is endless.

But did you know they can be quite useful for encouraging great conversations too?

WHY might you want to introduce a little superhero magic into your conversations?

Sometimes, conversations, especially those tricky or important ones, need a little extra magic to really get the best out of them. This is especially true if there is a sense of demotivation holding things back. Adding in some creativity, in terms of a superhero context, can get your team members to think in a bigger, more ‘outside the box’ way which can bring a lot of new and fresh perspectives. By taking away some of the boundaries to reality, bringing in something impossible to make something possible, asking people to take a bit of a step back and think a bit more broadly. It may also just simply be fun!

Here are some superhero activities you can try with your team:

1) What would your super power be to get actions done?

As a kid, you probably imagined what super powers you would like to have. What was and/or is your favourite? I think I’d like to either be able to breathe underwater, or perhaps fly!

This kind of simple question is good to encourage participants to think about the execution of an action plan. It helps them use their imagination a bit and gets them thinking about the resources they need to get things done.

• Ask your team members to list all the superheroes they can think of. Then think about the types of powers that they all have.
• Thinking about the piece of work you have been discussing – what would you like to do most with your superpower?
• Think about your action plan – what kinds of Superheroes and superpowers might help us to make these actions happen.
• The reality – what is the closest most realistic thing that we have at our disposal to help us get these actions done? What do we actually need in terms of resources?

2: Project Debrief: Imagine if [insert superhero of your choice] had been there

A different activity you can try is using superheroes to help with your project debriefs. This helps bring a different perspective when we look back and consider how things could have been better. For example, instead of the Titanic sinking, what if Ironman had come along and saved the day? How might the outcome have been different?

• Ask your team members to think about a project or piece of work you are focusing on.
• Ask them to recall what went well.
• Then ask people what didn’t go so well.
• Consider how things might have been different if there had been a superhero to assist:
  • Which superheroes could they have brought in? These don’t have to be “real” superheroes (it might be hard to imagine Spiderman sorting out your communication issues by flying from wall to wall). They can be the superheroes that you might need for your team, your own versions.
  • How might things have been different if these superheroes had been there.
• Then….what is the closest thing to reality that you could’ve done to make this actually happen?
• What could you do differently next time?

3) IDEA GENERATION: Perspectives – what kinds of ideas would [insert super hero of your choice] come up with?

This is another way of generating ideas, but from a completely different perspective. Using someone else’s skills, or abilities (even if they aren’t real!) to help you to think about something a bit differently. With a superhero there are no limits!

• Ask your team to agree on a superhero, someone that they would like to invite in to help them think of fresh ideas. Maybe it is a composite – a superhero made up by the team (which actually is a whole other activity you could do!).
• Then ask them to think about the kinds of ideas that your superhero might suggest. Some of these ideas may be totally off the wall, some less so. But it’s all about opening up people the possibility of new ideas.
• See if any of them look like you could use them, is there anything that is close to what the superhero was thinking?

You know your team, would these activities work with them?

If you feel they might struggle to get behind thinking differently, or that you could do with a hand to really get them flying, do get in touch and we will help. Superhero capes not guaranteed.