Easy retro templates for sports fans

These, like all of TeamRetro’s templates, can be edited and adjusted to ensure they address the needs of your team.
If your team’s sporting passion isn’t reflected by the above templates, TeamRetro lets you create and save your own templates.

As well as the direct benefits your sports retrospective delivers in support of the continuous improvement of your product, it can also support the continuous improvement of your team.

The way you facilitate your meeting can add to your play book for intercepting common anti-patterns.

We’ve included examples of some simple but effective plays, named after the anti-patterns they address, for you to try.

The Groundhog Day Play

Repetition is great when you’re first learning something or if you need to get a whole pile of things done quickly, but if over-used, it can have an opposite effect.

In the absence of variety, we can switch off, and start to think of other things to compensate for the monotony we’re experiencing. We lose both focus and interest.

The Play –

To steer your team away from entering a retro Groundhog Day loop (or save them if they’re already in one).

Change things up by –

1. Have a team member share a story or say why they love a sport and how teamwork comes into play in that sport.
2. Changing the retrospective format as each sports theme is a little different to the next.

3. Take your retro outside and maybe even play a little game to embed understanding…if you can!

Not only will these changes disrupt the grind, but they will also help side-step standard responses and inject fresh energy into your retrospectives.

Passive Participants Play

Passive participants are team members who turn up to the retrospective meeting, but don’t contribute. There could be an almost infinite number of reasons for this, so addressing this issue needs to be done gently. It might be that they don’t feel safe to speak up, or don’t feel like their contribution is relevant at the time.

The Play –

To open the channels of communication with that passive player.

Reach out and start a conversation with your quiet team member –

1. Ask them which sport they follow or play
2. Invite them to nominate which sport retrospective they feel should be used for your next retrospective – then
3. Use it!

They get to see their feedback is actioned and you have opened the channels for other conversations. Don’t forget to thank them for that input and note the difference it made.

Small but incredibly simple interactions such as these build and nurture valuable connections with your team and open the door to further conversations.

The Bulldozer Play

Just like a player who doesn’t pass the ball, a Bulldozer is a member of your team who dominates the retrospective meeting. They are very easily spotted; they are usually the person talking at great length (and great volume).

When it comes to sports, where’s a great place to position the loudest person on the team? Why the head of the cheer squad of course! The same can happen with your sport retrospective.

The Play –

To help that team member redirect their energy.

Reach out and start a conversation with your loud team member to help with team morale as well as product development –

1. When morale is down, look to them to help lift it.
2. When morale is high, look to them to help celebrate it.
3. Task them with ensuring all voices are heard and acknowledged during team meetings.
4. Have quiet reflection time – moments of silence, where everyone gets a chance to think and add comments.
5. Use tools that measure how long each person speaks.

Finally, at an appropriate time outside of the retrospective, acknowledge their contribution to the team as well as the product.

The Grumpy Pants Play

In the context of a retrospective meeting, ‘grumpy pants’ refers to a mindset in which a team member has a propensity for pessimism such that even the easiest of tasks can seem either pointless or insurmountable.

Despite never seeing them in department stores, it appears we all have a pair in our wardrobe (and unfortunately, they always fit).

We all wear grumpy pants from time to time, but when they become part of a team’s uniform, it can be a problem.

The Play –

To bookend your sport retrospective meetings with mindfulness and gratitude.

Utilize icebreakers and checkouts –

1. Kick-off your meeting with an icebreaker such as –

• • What colour/season/sport best represents your current mood and why?
  • What thoughts are you putting aside so you can give this your full attention?
  • What mindset are you embracing to make the most of this retrospective?

2. Wrap up your meeting with an exercise in appreciation
   • Who made a positive difference to your sprint and how?
   • How did the last sprint help you grow?
   • What opportunities are you looking forward to in the next sprint?

Incorporating elements of mindfulness and gratitude into the delivery of your sports retrospective can help your team members embrace a mindset that is beneficial to their wellbeing (as well as that of the team). In doing so, they are less likely to turn up wearing grumpy pants.