How to end the year with your team

With Sacred Time we offer "Sacred Time". Moments, weekends, weeks to have time for the things you usually do not take time for. Like reflecting, deep connecting, sharing your stories, deep listening.

We made a format for our own ending of the year. We did in about 2,5 hours with a group of 12 people, with a nice campfire. But it can be done everywhere, if you just make it nice, relaxed and a little bit cosy with something to stare at in the middle.

I wrote down the format, for you. Just as a little holiday gift. You can try it, just to experiment with something different than the usual thing you do at this time of year.

We would love to hear what it did for you!

Sacred Time end of the year session

1 Preparation

Materials:

Paper, pens, talking piece (or nice note with question on it), nice stuff ( candles, flowers, whatever) to put in the middle, maybe some food to nibble on.

How to start:

Explain what you are about to do/ try and how long it is going to take. Something like "let's end our year with reflecting on 2019 and discovering what we will not take with us to 2020"

If you take the initiative, you are the host. You are in the lead. You can always ask for a bit of help of team members if needed. Make sure everybody feel at ease.

It always helps if people know what is about to happen, and how long it will take. And if they are hesitant you can always let them know it is an experiment ;-) If you like a challenge, make a box where they can put their phones until after the session.

Sit in a circle together, or at least in way that everybody can see everybody. No tables. Something to stare at in the middle helps.

We always work with a talking piece. It is a thing that feels a bit strange in the beginning. But I honestly do not know any other tool that works so well with telling stories and listening to each other. I always explain to people that it is a listening tool. It helps you focus on the story that people are telling and refrains you from making it into a conversation.

It you do not want to use a stone or a stick, a piece of paper with the question written on it works well too.

Do one practise round, with an easy question. To get into it. Something like: how are you right now, what are you bringing here today, whatever resonates and fits your team.

2 Circle Talk

Now you can go a bit further. With an essential question. In this case we used:

What was an essential experience for you in 2019? And what change are you facing right now?

Everybody gets to share their story, the rest simply listens. You can just pass the talking piece around. Sometimes people need some time to be able to share, they can just pass the piece to the next person and you can get back to them later.

Being truly listened to without interruption is something we rarely experience. It is very powerful. It seems so simple, but it is a thing we hardly do, especially at work . Thank everybody who has shared their story. It is pretty brave thing to do.

3 Letting go

When everybody has shared their story you go on to the next thing; letting go of what is not needed anymore. Let everyone take a moment ( we used 15 minutes) to write down everything that they would like to let go of, what they do not want to take into the next year.. Let it be done in silence, so people are not distracted.

You probably do not have a campfire in your office ( if you do, I want to work where you work!). So candles are needed. Make a place where people can burn the notes with the things they want to let go of. ( yet, also say thanks to those things, after all they have been useful this year)

If people want to do it out loud let them, but silence is great too.

4 Celebrating

It is good to end the year with letting people know you value them. And it is a good thing to end the year with a positive vibe.

This is a form that is easy and short and is just very nice to do. I call it the Gratitude Walk.

Move away from your circle so you have some space to walk around. Make sure you walk and move your body a bit to get some energy. Walk through the room with the whole group ( I usually play a bit with tempo, fast, slow) Until you find yourself standing in front of someone else. Just look at the other person for a few seconds and give them 3 compliments. ( and change roles after that)

Small note on compliments: Compliments are about the unique talents of the other person. Not about how the other person makes you feel.

Do this about 3 rounds. It's fun!

5 Close

Invite people back in the circle. Do a round of reactions (Using the talking piece is handy)

How was this for you? Do you have anything to share?

Do one final circle. " Give one word that is describes your experience"

Thats it, now you can toast and have a party.

We hope you will have fun doing this. We did!

Nynke

P.s: Sacred Time makes custom made sessions for teams, communities & organisations, gives training weekends with a transformational journey and organises a Desert trip in 2020.