Department Swap Day
A structured empathy-building exercise where members of different departments 'swap' roles or shadow each other's meetings for a set period. It breaks down silos and improves cross-functional understanding.
To reduce friction between departments by experiencing the specific challenges and workflows of colleagues.
Solves: Inter-departmental blame, silos, and 'us vs. them' mentalities.
- 1
Step 1: Pair up individuals from different departments (e.g., Marketing and Engineering).
- 2
Step 2: The 'visitor' attends one standard meeting of the 'host' department as an observer (30-60 min).
- 3
Step 3: The pair meets for 15 minutes to discuss what the visitor observed and what surprised them.
- 4
Step 4: All participants gather to share one 'Aha!' moment with the larger group.
- Ensure the 'host' department feels safe and not 'audited'—emphasize that this is for learning, not evaluation.
- Focus on the 'why' behind their processes.
- Reverse Shadowing (Junior employees shadow Seniors to learn leadership styles)