Use a 35-minute session to connect offered contributions with requested support, then ask for confirmation before making a match. Members can speak, write, or pass. The outcome is a contribution map with visible gaps and proposed connections, plus an agreement about how help is requested.
Keep the purpose small enough to finish
The Communities for All Ages resource guide discusses discovering partners' skills and resources, identifying group gaps, and considering roles. Its sample agendas also include group ground rules and decision processes. This agenda adapts those broad planning ideas to an original library-event team; it does not copy the guide's exercises or claim a measured improvement in trust. Community Building Resource Guide, Appendices A and B
Tell participants: “We are learning what people may want to contribute and where they would like support. An offer does not assign work. You may answer in writing, answer aloud, or pass.” No personal history, age disclosure, physical contact, or personality score is needed for this task.
Prepare one blank card per member with space for a contribution they choose to offer, support they would like, scope or time limits, and whether a proposed match has been confirmed. Leave actual cards blank. Show the fictional sample separately so nobody mistakes a demonstration for submitted team responses.
Use a map that preserves uncertainty
Here are three fictional sample cards:
| Member | Offered contribution | Requested support | Confirmation needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex | Edit instructions | Setup support | Scope, timing, and acceptance of any match |
| Blair | Organize materials | Wording review | Scope, timing, and acceptance of any match |
| Casey | Illustration | Not supplied | Available hours unknown; no accepted assignment |
Blair's wording-review request can be linked to Alex's editing offer as a proposed match. Alex's setup request can be discussed with Blair, whose materials offer might cover part of setup; the group must check that fit rather than equating the two tasks. Neither link becomes an assignment until the people involved confirm the work and time.
Casey's illustration offer remains visible with availability unknown. Do not turn it into “Casey owns illustrations” or invent a free hour. A contribution map is useful even when it reveals a gap. It gives the group a specific question to ask instead of a false plan to rely on.
Facilitate the 35 minutes
Use four minutes to explain the purpose, pass option, and difference between offering and accepting. Ask whether participants prefer to speak or write. Make sure the reusable card gives them both routes.
During ten minutes of reciprocal introductions, invite pairs to share a chosen contribution and a support request. With the three-person sample, rotate the speaker, interviewer, and listener so each member has a turn; nobody needs to be left without a partner. Before reporting a partner's contribution, check what they want repeated to the group. If someone passes, leave their card blank; do not guess a skill from their job title.
Spend eight minutes building the contribution map. Write each offered contribution beside its member, then place related requests nearby. Label candidate connections “proposed.” Ask, “Is this the help you mean?” and “Does the offer cover this request?” Record unanswered fit or availability questions openly.
Use another eight minutes to discuss the help-request agreement. The original example is: “Ask before assigning help; confirm scope and time.” Present it as a proposal. Ask members whether it works for them and record the actual agreement only after they adopt it. For a candidate match, practice a specific request: “Alex, would you review the wording of the event instructions? What scope and timing could you accept?” No answer is supplied in the sample.
Close in five minutes. Read back what was offered, which connections remain proposed, and what still needs confirmation. Let members correct how their contributions are described. The five sections total 35 minutes. An unresolved match stays unresolved after the closing recap.
Copy this prompt to prepare the agenda and cards
Create a complete US English 35-minute team building meeting agenda for contribution discovery, with facilitation instructions, reusable blank participant cards and a separately labeled fictional sample help map. Do not create actual submitted responses or assignments.
Fictional library-event team:
Alex offers editing instructions and wants setup support.
Blair offers organizing materials and wants wording review.
Casey offers illustration; requested support is not supplied and available hours are unknown.
Propose Alex's editing offer for Blair's wording request without assigning Alex. Discuss whether Blair's materials offer fits any part of Alex's setup request; keep fit unconfirmed. Casey's availability must remain unknown, with no accepted illustration assignment.
Blank cards need chosen contribution, requested support, scope/time limits and match confirmation. Provide spoken, written and pass paths; passing leaves a blank card. Check permission before reporting a partner's chosen contribution. No forced personal history, age disclosure, physical-contact game or personality scoring.
Allocate 4 minutes purpose/pass option, 10 paired introductions, 8 contribution map, 8 request/help agreement, 5 close. For the three-person sample, rotate speaker, interviewer and listener so each member has a turn. Include complete facilitator questions and a recap distinguishing offers, proposed matches, accepted matches and gaps. Actual acceptance stays blank.
Use this proposed agreement: Ask before assigning help; confirm scope and time. Label it proposed until the actual group adopts it. Do not claim trust or performance improvement.
If proposing a local HTML blank/sample view, preserve all labels, unknowns and confirmation states. It collects nothing and requires actual construction/testing. Do not imply help messages were sent, assignments accepted or records saved.
Inspect the contribution map in NOS
If you prepare an HTML review copy, NOS can save and render the blank-card instructions beside the clearly fictional map. Use that copy to check whether a proposed connection still shows the offer, request, and missing confirmation. Actual member responses and agreed work belong in the team's normal records.
End with people accurately represented and a clear way to ask for help, including the freedom to leave an offer unassigned until scope and time are confirmed.