7. Conduct a debrief
After the exercise, bring everyone back into the main room. Encourage participants to share their experiences.
8. Abbreviate if necessary
The most impactful results are derived from comprehensive sessions (45 minutes). However, if needed, you can abbreviate each exercise round to 10 minutes. Even a short session spanning only 3 to 5 minutes before a meeting can be beneficial. In an ice-breaker variation, you can have one person on Zoom pass one of the questions to someone else in the group, who either answers or skips and then passes another question to the next person in the group, for several minutes.
In the brain, engaging in self-disclosure activates regions associated with reward processing. Conversations may also lead to the release of neurotransmitters and hormones like oxytocin as well as to synchronisation of brain activity amongst participants, thereby enhancing trust and cooperation.
How one organisation used it
The Wharton Neuroscience Initiative conducted the exercise with Matriarca, an Argentinian sustainable distributor of clothes, bags, and accessories on a global ecommerce platform. Matriarca’s 2,700 artisans represent several geographically diverse ethnic groups who are unified under a single cooperative. The cooperative was challenged to overcome distrust between rural artisans and distribution managers, as well as amongst the artisans themselves who have historically competed for resources.
The neuroscientists adapted the original Fast Friends questions to be culturally appropriate and translated them into Spanish. Because the artisans live in remote rural areas, NGO facilitators and Matriarca staff traveled to their communities to enable computer and internet access and served as translators as needed. Given the vast logistic demands of this project, conducted in the midst of the pandemic, there were only 20 participants. Most did not know each other prior to participating.
Half of the participants engaged in the Fast Friends exercise, while the other half served as a control group, engaging in guided small talk involving less-personal questions. Participants rated their feelings of closeness to their exercise partner before and after the conversation. Both groups felt closer to their partners, and most participants described the experience as pleasant or extremely pleasant. The Fast Friends exercise tended to more strongly increase social connections than did mere small talk.
“We observed improved relationships, and some conflicts seemed to fade,” said Matriarca’s founder and director Paula Marra after project completion. “The artisans were more open to others in the company who were not like them, and they developed renewed trust in the leadership team. Before, interactions were often confrontational or transactional. Suddenly they became more personal (‘Aren’t you the one who likes…?’). There was also more of a feeling of community.” Thus, Fast Friends can strengthen team bonds, providing an approach that any business seeking to enhance workplace rapport and well-being can employ effectively.