Olaf Krop
A veteran of over 1000 team, division, regional and international meetings and trainings, Board member Olaf Krop will, on a quarterly basis, bring to you a powerful ritual, ceremony or exercise.
Preparing the Men for Ceremony, Ritual and Exercise
The most important thing to remember in such deep exercises is that you are creating a transition. A transition can be as simple as being quiet for a few seconds to more complex actions like physically moving to another area, starting a fire or doing a ritual clearing of the space. Think about what the men just completed and what they are going to do next, and own the transition. It’s your responsibility to create the shift. Don’t demand with such statements: “OK men, get serious – we’re going to do a ceremony!” Take the time to create the “move,” whether it is physically or metaphorically shifting space.
Caveman Art
Exercise: Cover the walls of your meeting place with blank paper before your next meeting. Provide crayons or markers for each man, and then everyone spends ten (or 15 or 20 or … ) minutes covering the paper with art that emphasize masculine qualities..
Preparation: A roll of butcher paper, tape and crayons. To open the exercise, tell the story of how cavemen drew on cave walls to tell their story, because this was how future generations would know their ancestors. Tonight, they will express their masculine identity on cave walls. You could have the men participate in the exercise with no language if you choose.
Completion: Have the men reveal their contribution to the cave painting and what it means to them. Ask they if they are complete.
Recommended ReadingI recommend The Men’s Challenge Deck by Rob Biagini. Available from Amazon, it is a series of 80 challenge cards that can be used in a team meeting. They are organized by low, medium and high challenges. They are derived from the book The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida. Some of the challenges may not fit for your team, but they have great ideas. I highly recommend both books