Cards to Gain Humanity.pdf

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© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
Hub Experience
Cards to gain
humanity
A Card Game to Facilitate A Discussion
About Emotions at Work
The space between stimulus and response

Hub Experience
“Between stimulus and response,
there is a space.
In that space is our power
to choose our response.”
– Viktor Frankl

Hub Experience
Why this game?
Talking about emotions is hard. Especially in business context.
However, we know that human behavior is driven by emotions …
accordingly, a company’s culture – any culture – is driven by
emotions.
To be able to intentionally generate a positive work environment it’s
therefore important for a leader to be able to recognize, name, and
react to emotions in a conscious way.
This game is thought as a discussion trigger to learn about emotions,
how they are caused, and how to create a conscious space for
reflection when experiencing emotions … so that we can actively
shape the way our emotions impact the world around us.

Hub Experience
What’s happening in the game?
The Cards to gain humanity game offers a five-step path from a
triggering event through the evoked emotions and the caused
initial knee-jerk reaction to reflecting upon the impact of that
reaction on the world. Finally, it’s about designing a conscious
response to the trigger, taking into consideration all the steps
before.
As Cards to gain humanity is mostly designed to elicit a
conversation and reflection about emotions, it is not about
winning but about repeating the approach to consciously
confront one’s emotions and their effects.

Hub Experience
Step by step

Hub Experience
Trigger à Response Sequence
Trigger
prompt
Emotion
feeling
Response
action
Outcome
impact
YOU rest of the world
1 2 3 4
The normal sequence: you get triggered, this evokes an emotion
(you cannot avoid that), the emotion colors the response to the
trigger, and this affects the world around you.

Hub Experience
Trigger
prompt
Emotion
feeling
Response
action
Outcome
impact
1 2 3 4
!
The game aims at initiating a process that supports Viktor
Frankl’s quote from the beginning: creating a space for you to
consciously pick your reaction to that trigger and emotion.

Hub Experience
5
Trigger
prompt
Emotion
feeling
Response
action
Outcome
impact
Therefore, we include a Step 5 in the game: reflect on the
outcomes your reaction creates and reconsider how this could
change your reaction!
1 2 3 4
!

Hub Experience
How to play
the game

Hub Experience
How to play the game (I)
You play this game in a group, possibly your team:
1. The group picks a Trigger card. You can make this a conscious decision
because you want to address a specific topic or you can blindly draw a card.
2. Everybody selects an Emotion card corresponding to the emotion that is
elicited in them.
3. Decide what reaction this emotion initially causes (your “knee-jerk reaction”)
and write it down on an Action card.
4. Review the impact of your response.
5. Discuss how – considering this impact – you would change your initial
reaction. Write this reaction down on a new Action card.
Repeat with the next trigger card …

Hub Experience
Example of Play
1. The group picks a Trigger
card, “Talent Departure”.
2. Group members indicate
their emotions, “Anger”,
“Disappointment”, and
“Defensiveness”.
I tell the leaving
employee that
they will never
make it
anywhere else
and that they
will return
begging for a
new chance”
I tell them that
I thought
better of them
and that I’m
personnally
hurt by their
decision.
I tell everyone
that there’s
nothing I could
have done to
keep them and
that it’s just
their greed that
made them leave
for a better paid
job.
3. Everyone notes his initial
impulsive reaction on a blank
action card.
4. As a group the players discuss the impact
that these reactions will have … on them, on
the affected people, and the perception of
others about the company.
5. Reflecting on what impact
the players want to achieve
they write down their more
considered reactions.
I wish the leaving
employee all the
best and tell them
that they can
always come back.
(Creating a better
talk track on us
for them)
I start
reflecting on
how to improve
our employee
experience so
that this
doesn’t happen
again …
I investigate what
other advantages
and benefits we
offer that maybe
beat a better
financial offer by
the competition.

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The cards

Hub Experience
Trigger Cards
We’re also including a
blank Trigger card for you
to come up with your own
triggering events!

Hub Experience
Emotion Cards

Hub Experience
Action Cards
The Action cards can
be used in step 3 of the
game to record your
knee-jerk reaction and
in step 5 to write down
a more measured
response to the trigger.

Hub Experience

Hub Experience
Created for the April 2022
Leadership Offsite of the
SAP Digital Hub in Barcelona
by Paula Cardozo, Marlene Sans,
Kathleen Muller & Daniel Markwig.

Cards to Gain Humanity.pdf

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