Building a sense of community creates significant benefits for community members including increased engagement, satisfaction, and feelings of efficacy. Recently, organizational scholars have pointed to ways that communities may swiftly develop a sense of community to reap the benefits more quickly. This is particularly important in situations where time is limited, such as within the constraints of an academic semester or a temporary team in an organization. This experiential exercise draws on this notion of developing a swift sense of community through a card game: We’re Not Really Strangers. The card game is played in small groups and requires that members respond to question prompts on the cards in ways that push the boundaries of vulnerability, trust, and self-disclosure. Across various settings, this exercise has been used to successfully develop a swift sense of community, thereby encouraging broader and deeper participation within the community.
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