Generate empathy, to get to know each other, and re-connect as a team through the personal map.

Sometimes as a team, we do not know our stories. We are focused on the day to day, trying to solve short-term problems. I remember my mother telling me many years ago: I will not go to work to make friends. She had a time where the role of a working mother was more questioned.

At least in my case, I grew up with that idea, but now I discover that being empathic with each other from understanding our life stories has more benefits and is more relevant in this age.

Nine months ago, as a UX team conformation, we faced many challenges …

We paused the pace of work for 1 sprint of two weeks and took time to reflect on how mature we had of UX in the organization and as a team. At that time, many problems came to the surface. In fact, I felt overwhelmed or overwhelmed by the number of problems we had to solve.

Months passed, and little by little, even though we achieved the results, I could not connect with my team, even making all the efforts, and the worst thing was that I did not understand why … I decided not to give up and try once more and voila!

It worked! Initially, I implemented with three teams the practice of Personal Maps, the team that felt distant, but little by little, they allowed me to get to know each other and reconnect. From applying the dynamics of Management 3.0, we were overcoming those barriers.

Knowing what their interests and tastes are were revealing findings that I got to know through Personal Maps.

I invite you to learn more about the practice on the Management 3.0 site https://management30.com/practice/personal-maps/.

This practice's objective is that anyone can show us visually what represents the most important thing in their life or history.

We divided the entire UX team into 3 teams, no more than ten participants per group.

Due to the issue of the contingency due to COVID-19 and given that the team is distributed in different locations, we decided to do it remotely, through zoom and look. I prepared the board for each team. At the time of doing it, I gave two instructions: Write in the fields what is most important to them, plus they could add other categories, and finally, they would have to expose their Personal Maps to others.

With each team, it was fun to discover that we had common interests. We managed to enjoy ourselves for a period of time, without having to run or solve problems. It just allowed us to stop, reflect, and reconnect.

I learned that although daily interaction provides information about people, taking time to reflect and open spaces to share enriches us as a team.

What I would do differently next time I would unite the personal maps with the Ikigai technique to be able to carry a deeper reflection.

As the union leader, I connected their Personal Maps with the Moving motivators subsequently and, with the semi-annual Feedback wrap (practices that Management 3.0 also provides us), which allowed me to focus on improvement actions with their personal motivations and interests.

The results of the team are that there was a greater union between us. We managed to find points of intersection between tastes, interests, and motivations. I managed to shorten the distance between us.

I advise you to apply this dynamic if your team is new, as well as if it is already a team, you will always be surprised that there are aspects that we do not know about our colleagues.

I invite you to create spaces from time to time (semi-annually, annually) to open conversation and feedback. It is an activity that energizes the team.