🪶 Totem Wisdom Gathering
Step into the circle of totems—each representing a cornerstone of our team’s sprint. Share your successes, challenges, and visions for growth as we draw strength from each totem’s spirit to guide our next journey.
Template Columns
🦅 Eagle’s Triumphs
Celebrate the achievements that soared high like the eagle this sprint.
Base column: What Went Well🐻 Bear’s Obstacles
Reveal the hurdles and setbacks we faced, just as a bear confronts its challenges.
Base column: What Went Wrong🦉 Owl’s Insight
Offer wise ideas and improvements inspired by the owl’s perspective for the next iteration.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
The Totem Wisdom Gathering retrospective invites your team to reflect on recent work using animal totems for inspiration, fostering open sharing of successes, challenges, and wise ideas for continuous improvement.
When to use this template
Use this retrospective at the end of a sprint or project milestone when your team needs to celebrate wins, address obstacles, and brainstorm improvements in a creative, theme-driven way.
How to facilitate
Welcome the team and set the stage by introducing the totem theme, emphasizing each totem’s meaning for the reflection columns.
Give everyone a few minutes to add notes to each column: Eagle’s Triumphs for successes, Bear’s Obstacles for challenges, and Owl’s Insight for suggested improvements.
Invite team members to read out or cluster the items in each column, discussing patterns or notable stories together.
Facilitate a discussion focused on extracting key takeaways and actionable steps, with special focus on the Owl’s Insight column for forward-thinking ideas.
Collaboratively agree on one or two actionable commitments to bring into the next sprint, appointing owners where needed.
Close the session by reflecting on the group’s energy and spirit, leveraging the totem theme to reinforce a sense of shared journey.
Pro Tips
Encourage everyone to use the animal metaphors to express ideas creatively—it can lower defenses and prompt fresh perspectives.
Share a brief story or visual representing each totem at the start to help ground the theme and spark team engagement.
If discussion stalls, prompt with questions like, 'What did we do that the eagle would be proud of?' or 'Where did we confront difficulties like a bear?'
FAQ
What if team members aren’t familiar with the animal symbolism?
Take a minute to explain the traits of each totem at the start—this also helps set a reflective tone and ensures everyone participates with shared understanding.
How can we make sure discussions stay constructive, especially about obstacles?
Remind the team that the Bear’s Obstacles are about shared challenges, not assigning blame, and steer conversation towards solutions and learning.
What if there are too many ideas in the Owl’s Insight column to address at once?
Have the team vote or agree on the most impactful or feasible insights to action this time—capture the rest to revisit later.
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