From the Bookshelf: Totem: A Team Building Activity That Focuses on Positive Feedback

Most team-building activities focus on sharing. Participants reveal information about themselves so others can better understand where they are coming from, appreciate their strengths and challenges, and ultimately build greater trust within the team.

Far fewer activities provide a structured opportunity for team members to give one another meaningful, positive feedback.

Enter Totem.  Originally designed as a card game for families and friends, Totem helps participants discover their strengths through the eyes of others. After several people suggested it might work well with corporate teams, association boards, and leadership groups, I decided to try it for myself.

I have now facilitated Totem with five different teams ranging from three to thirteen participants. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. While the game was not originally designed for business settings, a few modifications can make it an effective and memorable team-building activity.

What Makes Totem Different?

The objective of Totem is simple: each participant receives a personalized “Totem” created by their teammates.

The Totem consists of two cards:

• An Animal Card representing a dominant strength.
• A Quality Card that further describes how that strength shows up.

For example, someone might receive the Totem Optimistic Eagle.

What makes the activity powerful is that participants hear specific examples from colleagues about why those strengths were chosen. Rather than focusing on self-disclosure, Totem focuses on appreciation, recognition, and positive feedback.

How I Adapt Totem for Business Teams

The official game instructions work well for friends and families. In a business environment, however, a few modifications help maintain momentum and keep the discussion focused:

1. Keep One Facilitator Running the Process.  The game normally rotates responsibility among players. Instead, I facilitate the entire activity.  As the “Dealer”, I shuffle the cards, create piles of seven cards to quickly distribute them, collect selections, and keep the process moving. This eliminates downtime and allows participants to focus on the feedback conversations rather than the mechanics of the game.

2. Focus on the Person “At Bat”.   I simply move around the room one person at a time. The current participant becomes the person “at bat” and receives feedback from everyone else.  This terminology seems more natural for workplace groups than referring to someone as the “Dealer.”

3. Limit the Number of Cards Discussed.  When working with groups larger than four participants, the person at bat may receive a significant number of cards.  I ask them to review all the cards they receive, but select only their top four or five for group discussion. They still see every card that was chosen for them, but the conversation remains manageable and focused.

4. Simplify the Selection of the Dominant Strength.  The official rules ask the group to debate and agree on a single dominant strength.  In practice, this can take far longer than necessary.  Instead, I ask the team to briefly call out which animal/quality they believe best represents the individual. After less than a minute of discussion, I allow the recipient to select the strength they feel best captures how they contribute to the team.

5. Capture the Results.  As participants explain their choices, I record the selected animals and key descriptions on a flip chart.  This creates a visual record of the team’s collective strengths and provides useful material for later discussions.

6. Break Larger Groups into Multiple Sessions.  For larger teams on multi-day sessions, I have successfully divided the activity across multiple days:

• Day One: Animal Cards
• Day Two: Quality Cards
• Day Three: Discussion about how these strengths contribute to team performance

This creates additional reflection time and prevents the activity from feeling rushed.

How the Activity Works

For each round:

1. The other participants receive a hand of Animal Cards.
2. Each person selects the card that best represents a strength they see in the person at bat.
3. The selected cards are collected and shuffled.
4. The recipient reviews the cards and ranks them according to how strongly they identify with each strength.
5. One by one, the cards are revealed.
6. The person who selected each card explains why they chose it and shares examples of when they have seen that strength demonstrated.
7. The group identifies the individual’s dominant strength.
8. The process is repeated using the Quality Cards.

The result is a personalized Totem that reflects how the team sees that individual’s strengths and contributions.

What I Have Observed

Several things stand out after facilitating Totem with multiple teams.

First, participants are often surprised by the strengths others see in them. Many people rank certain cards low because they do not recognize those qualities in themselves, only to hear compelling examples from colleagues who experience them regularly.

Second, the quality of the conversation matters far more than strict adherence to the rules. The real value comes from hearing colleagues explain the positive impact someone has had on them or on the team.

Third, the activity works best when participants already know one another reasonably well. While it can help deepen relationships, there needs to be enough shared experience for people to provide meaningful examples.

Finally, I have found that one Totem per person is enough. The primary objective is achieved once everyone has had the opportunity to receive and reflect on feedback from the group.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a team-building activity that focuses on strengths, appreciation, and positive feedback, Totem is worth considering.

Unlike many team-building exercises that emphasize sharing information about yourself, Totem encourages participants to see themselves through the eyes of their colleagues. The result is often a powerful reminder of the strengths they bring to the team and the positive impact they have on others.

For leadership teams, boards, volunteer organizations, and established workgroups, Totem can create some surprisingly meaningful conversations and provide insights that extend well beyond the activity itself.

Related Articles:

The Communication Problem Most Teams Actually Have

The 3 Conversations Every High-Performance Team Masters

You Don’t Have to Like Each Other But You Do Have to Respect Each Other