Critical conversations become much more valuable if you can bring concepts to life. Working in small groups and using visual metaphors does wonders to encourage understanding and learning. The following Watercooler Sketch kits are tools to help you achieve these goals. They provide the insight and knowledge you need to facilitate – and learn from – your team, while improving your own performance.
Each kit includes the following elements in a branded, reusable package:
- Watercooler visuals, enlarged to 5′ x 3′ and printed on a foldable, tear-resistant material
- Dialogue discussion questions, laminated for durability
- A facilitator’s guide booklet
Available kits for purchase
Select the kits you would like to purchase by checking the appropriate boxes. After choosing “Submit” at the bottom of this page, please fill out the purchasing form. Kits are shipped and received within 2 weeks of your order confirmation. Kits are $500/each and include ground shipping anywhere in the continental U.S. Or we can ship via your account if you require sooner. A Root Learning representative will call and confirm your purchase.
Fall 2008: Employee as Customer – Marketing Your Strategy Internally
In marketing-speak, most strategies resemble products that sit on shelves way too long with limited sales. If you think more like a marketer and create a plan for “driving sales” of your “strategy product” with your employees as the customer, you might be amazed at the impact on your business. This sketch illustrates why it’s best to go about communicating and engaging employees just as you do with your clients.
Summer 2008: Engaging Employees in an Economic Downturn
Everyone agrees that the economic downturn has caused a lot of distress. Although it’s not really “all in our mind,” mindset does have a lot to do with how we view the future. Using this sketch will help you understand why it’s important to constantly define reality, communicate the score, use urgency as an alignment ally, scout the possibilities, and celebrate small victories.
Spring 2008: Manager Development
It’s easy for managers to see their life like the people in this picture. Constantly being barraged with new tasks and initiatives while none of the old ones are taken away can really take its toll. This exercise will help you understand the pressures your managers are faced with. That way you can make decisions about how to resolve their issues so they can shine.
Winter 2008: The Roots of Engagement
It’s true – most people come to work wanting to do their best. But there are all kinds of barriers that keep them from feeling truly engaged, which is the key to performance. In this exercise, you and your team will identify the four things people need to feel connected. Once you explore a few questions designed to help you understand this concept, you’ll know how to improve things in no time flat.
Fall 2007: Building Organizational Trust
In today’s fast-paced businesses, masks and cover-ups tend to be more popular that being real. This exercise will take you through examples of how teams and organizations function when trust is absent. You’ll learn to identify and overcome these challenges so your people can thrive.
Summer 2007: Curriculum Design and Redesign
Future value is increasingly based on an organization’s ability to execute today … nurture talent to run the business tomorrow. This exercise will help you understand the challenges current architectures face. Then you can better evaluate and improve the state of curriculum design in your organization.
Spring 2007: Putting Your Strengths to Work
According to Marcus Buckingham, the opportunity for employees to use their strengths at work is the strongest correlate to high-performing businesses. People who focus on playing to such strengths are not only more creative, but they achieve more goals. This exercise illustrates the concept, so you can tap into all the hidden talent in your organization.
Winter 2007: Leadership Alignment
It’s a simple fact: An organization can’t change unless everyone honestly assesses their not-so-successful habits – and then takes accountability for doing things differently in the future. This exercise highlights behaviors that limit your organization’s ability to create a connected, trusting, high-performing team.
Fall 2006: Manager Engagement
Managers who try to “conduct” business in today’s organizations find themselves in exceedingly difficult positions. Daily responsibilities often take priority over connecting teams to the business at hand. This exercise will help you understand how to “face the music” while still maintaining a link between your managers, your team and the business.