What is the Team Mood Thermometer?
So it's been a week of ups and downs, and you're not sure how the team is feeling going into your meeting.
The Team Mood Thermometer is a simple technique to visualize how the individuals in the team are feeling, and the overall team happiness levels. This is not a managerial technique, but an in-the-moment exercise that helps a team recognize each other's mood before working together.
How to use the Team Mood exercise
- Either use this template as a standalone board, or copy/paste it into another board (you will need to right-click and select 'unlock all' to copy/paste the elements).
- Write the question at the top of the thermometer e.g. "How have you felt this week?" and explain the exercise to the team.
- Ask the team to take a mood token and place it on the mood thermometer.
- People can add an optional accompanying sticky note if they want to write anything.
- Depending on how deeply you want to dig into the results, you can either ask the team questions yourself, ask the team to discuss the results, or use it as the start of a mini retrospective "How can we make sure we don't have the same things happen next week?"
Do's and Don’ts of Team Mood Checks
A mood check should be a lightweight exercise. It is crucial to introduce the topic of team health checks carefully, taking the time to explain why you would like to try one with the team. Some key tips:
- Do - explain why. Your intention is to improve the team's work environment, not to manage individuals
- Do - make it optional
- Do - keep the information within the team - do not share it with anyone else
- Don’t - use a mood check as a substitute for having frank conversations
