By Bannon Puckett via SHRM
Original SHRM Article: https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/hr-quarterly/better–faster–stronger-together–4-activities-to-boost-collabo
FACILITATED DISCUSSION BY ALYSIA KEHOE, KEHOE CONSULTANTS | Estimated reading time: 9-10 minutes
Pizza parties, bowling nights, and escape rooms are fun, and these kinds of recreational experiences certainly serve a purpose in the workplace.
However, the key to building long-term connections and collaboration on your team is to prioritize ongoing activities that foster more meaningful dialogue and problem-solving — especially in a time of declining employee trust and engagement.
Consider the research: The SHRM Q4 2024 Civility Index, released in December, found that 45% of U.S. workers said their ability to trust one another will get worse or much worse in 2025. Plus, in PwC’s 2024 Trust Survey, 86% of executives said they highly trust their employees, but only 67% of employees said they highly trust their employer — a 19-point gap that’s wider than in previous years.
“The state of trust in today’s workplaces is dismal,” said Jennifer Dulski, CEO of Rising Team, citing return-to-office mandates, repeated layoffs, and overwhelmed managers as a few contributing factors to these feelings. “Team dynamics need more attention than ever. Though we’re starting from a low point, it’s possible to build high-trust, high-connecting teams, even in a distributed or remote work environment. You just have to be intentional and consistent.”
That consistency is key: One-and-done activities are great in the moment, but they can also just be a bandaid.
“Managers should develop a regular framework for collecting team feedback through group discussions and pulse surveys,” said Jay Jones, SHRM-CP, lead, talent and employee experience at SHRM. “They should have a regular cadence for sharing what they’ve done with that feedback and where the team’s heading in the future.”
No matter how your team is structured — in-person, remote, or hybrid — trust-building activities can help people you manage address key challenges, enhance mutual understanding, and forge stronger professional relationships with one another. Here are some possibilities:
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia #1: Building Trust
Is a communication breakdown — and possibly a breakdown of trust — fueling unmet expectations, tension, and a Crazy Cycle in your workplace?
To avoid what Dr. Emerson Eggerichs calls The Crazy Cycle in the Workplace (the program Alysia facilitates for organizations of all sizes), there are a few simple but powerful actions you can take:
Solution: Take action and slow down the Crazy Cycle by learning key communication techniques.
At the core:
- Employees need personal care.
- Employers and leaders need respect.
So, what’s next? You can start slowing down the Crazy Cycle by mastering 3 techniques that directly impact your organization: Decode. Demonstrate. Deposit.
Strategy Workshop
Enlist your team to come up with a solution for one real, complex problem facing the organization.
- Identify the problem you’ll tackle in advance: troublesome bottlenecks, diminishing sales, talent shortages, or the like. Ask your team to submit ideas and even vote.
- Set clear goals. The Team should walk away with a set of actionable solutions: A road map? A decision on a key issue?
- Gather background data, such as metrics or customer feedback, and assign pre-reading so everyone arrives prepared.
- Begin the agenda with context setting, followed by diving deep into the problem, ideation/brainstorming, and refining/prioritizing solutions — culminating in action planning and next steps.
- Employ various tools and formats — such as whiteboards, sticky notes, small breakouts, and full-group discussions — to tap into different ways of thinking on your team.
- After the session, distribute notes and action items to set accountability and schedule follow-ups to track progress.
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia #2: Elevate Engagement
For each team: conduct an “Elevate You, for Organizations” workshop.
This 3-hour customized workshop includes an assessment, targeted training, and coaching solutions designed to elevate engagement at every level of your organization.
For more details, visit Alysia’s website: kehoeconsultants.com/workshops-books.
Strengths Assessment
Guide team members to reflect on their top strengths, how they contribute to team success, where commonalities and gaps exist, and what kind of support they need. Here are some suggestions: DISC for communication and leadership styles, or Myers-Briggs for deep personality insights.
To put everyone’s strengths into action, brainstorm with your team about how to redistribute responsibilities based on these discoveries. Pair employees with complementary strengths on a project so they can learn from each other. Call out team members who use their strengths effectively. And whenever tensions arise, revisit strengths to reframe conflicts as differences in perspective versus personal issues.
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia #3: Elevate Each Individual
Take it a step further by having each team member complete their own Elevations for Organizations assessment.
(Available at: elevateyourcareer.com/elevate-assessments-for-organizations.)
This powerful tool, based on the Myers-Briggs Personality Traits model, helps individuals uncover:
- Their core values
- Competencies and skills
- Leadership traits
- Areas for further growth and development
By investing in both team and individual growth, you’re not just building skills. You’re building trust, engagement, and resilience across your entire organization.
Cross-Department Job Swap and Mentoring
To kick off a job swap, each department should create a brief overview of its key responsibilities, tools, workflows, and challenges. Participants should shadow team members to observe and ask questions before taking on small tasks. Hold a debriefing session to reflect on surprises and new ideas.
You can also pair employees from different departments for one-on-one mentoring. For example, a designer could mentor a customer care agent on creative problem-solving, while the agent shares insights about customer pain points.
Each person then shares what they learned from the other.
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia #4: Try Reverse Mentoring
Introduce Reverse Mentoring exercises: a cross-training approach where individuals across all generations (Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z) share knowledge and learn from one another.
For example, younger team members (often holding the most up-to-date technical wisdom) can mentor older generations by passing that knowledge up the line.
The results:
- Younger employees feel a sense of pride and accomplishment.
- Older employees feel empowered by new skills and perspectives.
- All generations build stronger connections and a deeper sense of teamwork.
Reverse mentoring isn’t just about technical training; it’s about fostering mutual respect, empowerment, and a culture of collaboration.
“User Manual”
This is one of Dulski’s favorite exercises, which she compares to asking an appliance, “How do you best operate?”
Team members answer such questions as:
- “What time of day do you work best?”
- “What are the best ways to communicate with you?”
- “How do you like to receive constructive feedback?”
- “What is your biggest work-related pet peeve?”
- “What do you need to stay productive?”
Have everyone present their answers on a slide, then bookmark the “user manual” for easy team access and revisit it regularly.
Use answers to these questions for onboarding new employees so they can quickly get to know their colleagues better, and vice versa.
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia #5: Create a Personal “User Manual” During Onboarding
During the first few days of onboarding, ask each new hire to complete a fillable form with the 5 “User Manual” questions (see above).
Then, have their manager sit down to review the answers together, building a foundation of understanding right from the start.
Bonus tip: The manager should also share their own preferences and priorities as a leader, creating a two-way exchange that strengthens trust and sets expectations early.
Empower Your Team — and Yourself
You may wish to seek out a professional facilitator (like Alysia Kehoe) or colleague who can act as a neutral moderator. There are also several tech platforms — from Cooleaf to FullTilt to Rising Team — that do much of the work for you. But keep this in mind: Even if you decide to run these activities yourself, you don’t need to be an expert.
“Anyone can do it with the right tools and support,” Dulski said. “You’ll be practicing the skills you want to model and showing your team, ‘I care about you and want to understand you.’ Your team will view you in a different light, and, ultimately, you’ll become a better leader.”
“Anyone can do it with the right tools and support,” Dulski said. “You’ll be practicing the skills you want to model and showing your team, ‘I care about you and want to understand you.’ Your team will view you in a different light, and, ultimately, you’ll become a better leader.
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia #6: Smooth Transitions for Employees
Prepare for smooth transitions with Alysia Kehoe’s Before You Go, Coach What You Know Strategy Program (2025).
This program is built for Boomers and Gen X team members planning to leave within 1–3+ years — whether for promotions, career changes, or “protirement” (their next chapter of life).
The goal: Before they exit, experienced employees coach and mentor their teams — passing down their knowledge, best practices, and key processes to future leaders.
It’s a thoughtful, empowering way to:
- Preserve critical knowledge
- Strengthen leadership pipelines
- Honor the legacy and contributions of long-standing employees
Companies need to implement consistent, strategic activities that develop stronger communication, trust, leadership skills, and cross-team understanding, especially in today’s climate where employee trust is declining.
Interested in using proven strategies to build a stronger, more connected team? Alysia Kehoe and Kehoe Consultants specialize in customized workshops, leadership training, and strategic trust-building programs designed to meet your organization’s unique needs.