Start by creating uncertainty
Avoid presentations or lectures. As the first step, have your leaders come to a session with only a minimal amount of detail in advance. That way, they will enter the room with a sense of uncertainty, which is what they experience in their daily work environment. This creates the necessary frame of mind.
Next ask them to think of the current situation. Then let them use materials provided for the purpose (modelling clay, cotton buds or foil) to mould an object which will represent and express that situation.
Real-life example
In the case of a global healthcare company in China, its employees had grown unhappy. The office was about to move to a new site which was far away. HR employees were asked to bring objects representing how they felt about the move.
They put these objects on a table and began to observe both similarities and differences between them. Next they engaged in a facilitated discussion about what the objects represented. Participants then could take a step back from their business roles and explore their own feelings. They could give voice to their unconscious minds and ease all the triggered anxieties, according to an article on the website of the INSEAD business school.
Solutions and reconnection among colleagues
By reflecting in this way, people begin to see alternatives and solutions. Finally, they can reintegrate their previously unconscious thoughts and feelings, and work their way towards further concrete steps.
-jk-