🌱 New Beginnings: Starting Fresh Together
Welcome, pioneers! Let’s plant the seeds for our team’s growth: celebrate early wins, learn from the bumps, and nurture ideas for thriving together in our agile journey.
Template Columns
🌞 Sprouting Successes
Share the early wins and good vibes we’ve cultivated as a new team.
Base column: What Went Well🌧️ Growing Pains
Discuss any challenges or missteps encountered as we put down roots together.
Base column: What Went Wrong🌿 Fertile Ideas
Suggest ways we can improve, grow stronger, and flourish as a team.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
The New Beginnings: Starting Fresh Together retrospective helps new or recently reformed teams reflect on early experiences, celebrate initial successes, address early challenges, and co-create ideas to grow stronger together.
When to use this template
Use this format at the start of a new project, sprint, or after forming a new team. It's ideal for building trust, aligning on early lessons, and setting a positive collaborative tone.
How to facilitate
Set the scene by welcoming everyone and explaining the theme of new beginnings. Emphasize this is a safe space for open reflection and future-focused discussion.
Invite team members to recall and add notes about their early wins and positive moments in the Sprouting Successes column. Give everyone a few minutes to contribute individually.
Shift focus to Growing Pains and ask teammates to share any challenges, early obstacles, or lessons learned as you’ve started working together.
Move to the Fertile Ideas column. Encourage everyone to suggest both small improvements and big-picture ideas that could help the team grow and flourish.
Review the contributions in each column together. Highlight patterns and connections between successes, challenges, and ideas.
Facilitate a group discussion to prioritize top improvement ideas. Agree on 1-3 practical actions the team will take forward.
Close the session by acknowledging the team’s willingness to share, and end on a positive note by reaffirming the intention to grow and thrive together.
Pro Tips
Encourage newer or quieter members by allowing written contributions or anonymous notes if the group is shy.
Connect early wins to team values or goals to build a shared sense of purpose.
Use visual imagery (like seedling backgrounds or green color themes) to reinforce the growth mindset.
Revisit the Fertile Ideas column in your next retrospective to measure progress on actions.
Ask team members to share one word that describes how they feel about the team's potential at the end to build encouragement.
FAQ
What if team members are hesitant to share challenges so early?
Normalize that early bumps are expected for any new team. As facilitator, share one of your own challenges to lead by example and set a supportive tone.
How can we ensure our improvement ideas lead to action?
Agree on a responsible person and deadline for each action item. Keep the list visible and review progress in future retrospectives.
Is this format suitable for teams that have worked together before?
It's designed for new teams but can also be valuable after a reorganization, project kickoff, or fresh start situation.
At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
What Went Well, What Went Wrong, What We Want to Improve
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective