Christmas Tree Retro
For one of the last meetings of the year, run the Christmas Tree Retro to reflect on the year that has passed.
This activity will not only allow you to review the current year but also set you up with goals/objectives for the next one. And in the process, you will create a colourful paper Christmas tree : )
3-any
1 hour
Calm
Preparation
- Draw up a large Christmas tree on a whiteboard or large piece of paper.
If you are running a remote session, use a you can use a tool like Mural/Miro and add a Christmas tree image to the board.
Steps
- Ask the team to think about the most difficult, negative things that happened during the year. Allow a few minutes to write them down using, for example, red-coloured post-its.
- Then ask them to think about the awesome, great stuff that happened during the year. Allow them a few minutes to write them down on different coloured stickies.
- Put all post-its up on the tree (like baubles decorations).
- Spend around 20 minutes to group the post-its into categories and reflect on the comments. Pick the categories with most stickies if there are too many to go through them all.
- Point out that both the good and bad events now creates this colourful tree — even negative things will have created valuable lessons!
- Ask them to think about what they have just discussed and what they now would love to see in the next year. What is the most important thing to make them successful, happy, fulfilled etc?
- Everyone writes down 1 wish/goal on 1 yellow sticky and then read it out loud.
- Make a star-shape out of the stack of yellow post-its, and complete the tree by sticking it at the top.
Bonus tip
If actions for the next year already pops up during the discussion, take notes. Bring the ‘goal star’ (ie yellow stickies) and those actions into your first meeting in the next year.
End on even more positive note by adding appreciation with a variation of the Christmas stockings activity, and place the post-it presents underneath your tree.
Want your tree to look even more fabulous? Use different shaped post-its, such as the round and heart-shaped stickies.
What you need
- Whiteboard and whiteboard marker
- Post-its and pens
Creator
Playify
Examples
Christmas tree with post-it hearts
