Back2Back ~ Face2Face
A super energetic trust-building exercise!
Liberating Structures are a collection of interaction patterns that allow you to unleash and involve everyone in a group — from extroverted to introverted and from leaders to followers.
A couple of years ago, I hosted a conflict workshop with Christiaan Verwijs, Karen Dawson, and Julie Huffaker. Karen & Julie introduced us to the exercise “BackBack ~ Face2Face”. It quickly became one of my favorite trust-building exercises!
Its purpose is to have some rapid laughter 😄 and to share personal stories in pairs, in short iterations. The exercise itself won’t magically build trust in a group. Still, by sharing personal stories, people learn more about each other, establishing trust and psychological safety.
How to facilitate?
It’s super simple!
- Invite people to pair up with someone else, standing face to face;
- When you say ‘B2B,’ people safely and quickly turn around, standing back to back. When you say ‘F2F’, people switch back and have a short connecting conversation (1 min ⏰) until you say ‘B2B’;
- When you say ‘change,’ people safely and quickly find someone else to pair up with while standing back to back or face to face.
- Repeat a couple of times, and use one of the conversation starters.
Potential conversation starters:
👉 Share the story of your name (first name, last middle, middle name, etc);
👉 Tell a story of the place where you grew up;
👉 As a kid, when people told you to ‘go out and play,’ what did you do? Where did you play? Who did you play with?
👉 Tell a story of your fondest memory growing up;
👉 Share the story of your life in a minute, and end with ‘And that’s why I’m here today;
Before the pairs start a conversation, give them various prompts to decide who goes first. This also helps people to connect and prevents the person with the loudest voice, strongest opinion, or highest in the hierarchy starts.
Examples are:
👱♀️ The person with the longest hair goes first
🐟 The person who has owned the most fish goes first
💍 The person with the most jewelry goes first
🔴 The person with the most red in their clothing goes first
Our findings
- When changing pairs, encourage people to walk backward. It’s a bit weird, but that’s the whole point!
- Play with the ‘change’ part. Sometimes, I let people change pairs multiple times before I say ‘F2F’ again. Changing pairs also brings a bit of laughter, which remains a surprise with whom they’ll converse.
Closing
This exercise takes only about 10–15 minutes in total. It’s fun and energetic, and by sharing short personal stories, the seeds of building trust in groups slowly emerge. It’s magic!
Why don’t you give it a try? It’s time well spent!
