What a Ball of Yarn Can Teach Us
When I walk into a workshop, one of my first goals is always the same: to help teams develop a deeper sense of self-awareness. Yes, that means helping individuals recognize their own stressors — but it also means encouraging them to look around and understand the stress others on their team might be carrying too.
One of my favorite tools for doing this is surprisingly simple: a ball of yarn.
The Yarn Exercise
During this activity, team members sit in a circle. We start with one person holding the yarn, who then passes it across the circle to someone who shares a similar stressor — tight deadlines, poor communication, family demands, you name it. With each pass, a connection is made. Slowly, a web begins to form in the middle of the group.
What’s always fascinating is how quickly this messy tangle of yarn becomes something powerful — a visual representation of just how interconnected we are by the pressures we carry. Recently, during one of these exercises, a team was visibly shocked by how many strands led to a single co-worker. They had no idea how much stress this person was shouldering.
That moment of silence said it all.
What It Showed Us
Stress is often invisible.
People don’t wear their burnout on their sleeves. But it’s there — showing up in missed deadlines, tone of voice, and disengagement.We’re all connected.
What affects one team member has ripple effects. We’re not working in isolation, even if it sometimes feels like it.Compassion counts.
Sometimes, the best leadership move isn’t a strategy or a spreadsheet — it’s asking, “Are you okay?”
Today’s Challenge
Next time you get that spicy email or a Teams message that feels unnecessarily short, hit pause. Ask yourself:
Could they be under pressure at work or at home?
How would I want someone to respond to me if I was having a rough day?
Because let’s face it — we’ve all let our attitude slip when we’re overwhelmed. The more grace we offer one another, the stronger and more human our teams become.
