Getting I.T. and Accounting Together
I work for a company where politeness (at least in public) is a virtue. This means that people will rarely tell others what they really think when face to face with other team members.
I'd been asked to facilitate a session between two departments that had to work together but couldn't be more different from each other -- IT folks and Accounting folks. I needed a way to get people to actually say what they thought of the other team so that both sides could start looking for ways to meet more in the middle. As I wrestled with ways of doing this, I finally hit on a plan: break everyone in small teams with members from both departments on each team and hand out GOOHF cards. The express directions were "Say what's really on your mind. If you offend someone, use the card".
Worked perfectly: the people actually shared their thoughts and we made some genuine progress. What's more, most people didn't even use their cards, it was enough just to have them to break the ice. And I think everyone really wanted to keep them to use back at the office for some future transgression <grin>
David, Georgia