Once we had decided to explore the concept of vulnerability, we decided to focus our exploration specifically on fostering vulnerability within teams. As a newly formed group, this was a cause near and dear to our hearts. To find what was interesting about the topic, we first conducted a round of interviews with four university students in tech-related fields to explore vulnerability and how people open up to one another. Next, we moved on to looking at secondary sources for more information on the impact of vulnerability on the workplace and how to foster productive vulnerability.
Main Takeaways
What is the need we are fulfilling? How are we different than other icebreakers out there?
- Need: fostering vulnerability in new teams, for use in facilitating honest feedback, collaboration, and growth
- Focus on small groups rather than breaking the ice in a large meeting setting
- Explore building connections on a personal level rather than a surface work level, allowing players to feel more comfortable sharing personal thoughts and feedback with one another
- Low stakes environment - no time or competitive pressure, low pressure to immediately share deep stories, opportunities to avoid judgement
- Buy-in to bubble of play - create the feeling of a safe game world
- Repeated opportunities to practice being vulnerable with rich, positive feedback to reinforce sharing and reciprocating
- Opportunities to think outside the box to find common ground
- How do we get players to begin to dare to be vulnerable? Is initial good will and a general human desire to share stories enough?
- What types of feedback are useful for players to have in a moment of vulnerability? How can we incorporate openness and honesty into this area without dragging the game out too long?
Primary Research - Interviews
We reached out to people our age with group work experience and asked about how they get to know one another and their thoughts on vulnerability. We asked them how they valued vulnerability in the workplace, how they get to know others, and how they built vulnerability in different relationships in their lives. We synthesize findings from interviews with four users. See the Appendix for our full interview guide and notes.
Those that we talked to preferred small group, casual settings to get to know people. One person mentioned that large-group icebreakers can cause stress because people are observing what you're saying and it feels forced. Another participant said that groups can make it easy to fall into a persona. Another person mentioned that the small group, or preferably one-on-one, settings made it easier because it is uninterrupted time that you've already committed to getting to know someone better. Multiple people mentioned getting a coffee together as a time they were able to have an open and honest conversation with someone.
Across the board, it appeared important to our participants to have respect and good relations with people that you work with, although they disagreed with the level of personal connection you needed to have. While a couple of them said that personal vulnerability in work is not super essential, they also said that you need to know the personality of the other person and their work habits in order to communicate with them. It helps to be able to relate to other group members and have common ground for working together. In some cases, this level of relationship can build through process of working together or is made as a judgement through meetings, although one participant mentioned a case in which she spent months working to create a good personal relationship with a co-worker in order to have a good professional relationship with her.
Another common theme from our interviews was that it is easier to be vulnerable when you have similarities with the other person. Feeling like the other person had a similar background, story, or values led to better, more open getting-to-know-you experiences. They also mentioned that it is easier to be vulnerable with people who are also being open and vulnerable.
Multiple participants mentioned that they tend to be open/ respectful with people because unless something bad happens, you give them the benefit of the doubt. Most participants said that they are most easily vulnerable with people who they have known for a long time.
Those that we talked to preferred small group, casual settings to get to know people. One person mentioned that large-group icebreakers can cause stress because people are observing what you're saying and it feels forced. Another participant said that groups can make it easy to fall into a persona. Another person mentioned that the small group, or preferably one-on-one, settings made it easier because it is uninterrupted time that you've already committed to getting to know someone better. Multiple people mentioned getting a coffee together as a time they were able to have an open and honest conversation with someone.
Across the board, it appeared important to our participants to have respect and good relations with people that you work with, although they disagreed with the level of personal connection you needed to have. While a couple of them said that personal vulnerability in work is not super essential, they also said that you need to know the personality of the other person and their work habits in order to communicate with them. It helps to be able to relate to other group members and have common ground for working together. In some cases, this level of relationship can build through process of working together or is made as a judgement through meetings, although one participant mentioned a case in which she spent months working to create a good personal relationship with a co-worker in order to have a good professional relationship with her.
Another common theme from our interviews was that it is easier to be vulnerable when you have similarities with the other person. Feeling like the other person had a similar background, story, or values led to better, more open getting-to-know-you experiences. They also mentioned that it is easier to be vulnerable with people who are also being open and vulnerable.
Multiple participants mentioned that they tend to be open/ respectful with people because unless something bad happens, you give them the benefit of the doubt. Most participants said that they are most easily vulnerable with people who they have known for a long time.
Secondary Research
For our secondary research, we focused our attention on the following topics.
- Current games/ ice breakers/ getting-to-know activities used in the workplace
- The importance and influence of vulnerability among teams and in the workplace
- Existing models
- How vulnerability is encouraged
Numerous authors view vulnerability as an essential part of having a successful, collaborative workplace. Vulnerability, which takes the form as the willingness to put ideas out there without fear of the consequences of speaking, allows people to adjust ideas, speak their minds, challenge one another, provide feedback, communicate clearly, and collaborate. There are opportunities to engage in this type of vulnerability repeatedly through everyday work life, and particularly in the design process. While there is common sentiment that work life and home life should be separated, vulnerability-based trust is powerful in that it is based on a human relationship and allows for people to understand how to communicate with one another beyond a surface level.
At the end of the day, the decision to be vulnerable is ultimately a conscientious choice made by a person seeking to share. People feel shame when being vulnerable, but see it as courageous in others. As a result, we are encouraged to be vulnerable when we see acts of vulnerability from others, and we trust those who have weaknesses more than apparent perfection.
Building an environment conducive to decisions to act with vulnerability is a complex process, and requires the foundation of an open and accepting team culture.
Play helps foster vulnerability by allowing for practice overcoming the fear of taking risks and the self-editing tendencies, with a focus on increasing empathy and encouraging thinking outside the box. Play asks coworkers to all buy in to a different system, which rewards risk-taking, builds common ground, and reveals aspects of people that are usually buried in a professional environment. In other words, it asks people to practice vulnerability in a low-stakes environment where everyone has committed to practicing it.
Honest feedback is crucial to collaborating successfully and exploring new ideas, but requires the vulnerability to expose and talk about personal weaknesses among team members. To promote openness, a work environment should support giving and receiving feedback with gratitude and without self-defense. Considerate phrasing and asking for permission to give feedback helps build trust in one another to continuously give this good feedback.
A simple Google search yields hundreds of suggested icebreaker activities for work events. Some of the common features to these games include quick rounds with low stakes, the embracing of the ridiculous, and the search for common ground either through the creation of fun memories or through the sharing of personal details. Previous ice breakers tend to be quick, five-minute activities in large groups, and often feel obligatory and abrupt, rather than a chance to make a meaningful connection. While your typical ice breaker can facilitate talkativeness, it does not focus on creating a personal relationship which can support open and honest feedback.
At the end of the day, the decision to be vulnerable is ultimately a conscientious choice made by a person seeking to share. People feel shame when being vulnerable, but see it as courageous in others. As a result, we are encouraged to be vulnerable when we see acts of vulnerability from others, and we trust those who have weaknesses more than apparent perfection.
Building an environment conducive to decisions to act with vulnerability is a complex process, and requires the foundation of an open and accepting team culture.
Play helps foster vulnerability by allowing for practice overcoming the fear of taking risks and the self-editing tendencies, with a focus on increasing empathy and encouraging thinking outside the box. Play asks coworkers to all buy in to a different system, which rewards risk-taking, builds common ground, and reveals aspects of people that are usually buried in a professional environment. In other words, it asks people to practice vulnerability in a low-stakes environment where everyone has committed to practicing it.
Honest feedback is crucial to collaborating successfully and exploring new ideas, but requires the vulnerability to expose and talk about personal weaknesses among team members. To promote openness, a work environment should support giving and receiving feedback with gratitude and without self-defense. Considerate phrasing and asking for permission to give feedback helps build trust in one another to continuously give this good feedback.
A simple Google search yields hundreds of suggested icebreaker activities for work events. Some of the common features to these games include quick rounds with low stakes, the embracing of the ridiculous, and the search for common ground either through the creation of fun memories or through the sharing of personal details. Previous ice breakers tend to be quick, five-minute activities in large groups, and often feel obligatory and abrupt, rather than a chance to make a meaningful connection. While your typical ice breaker can facilitate talkativeness, it does not focus on creating a personal relationship which can support open and honest feedback.