method · all tools
The Shield
Also known as: Personal coat of arms
Each participant draws a large shield divided into four fields and fills them with PICTURES (no words) on personal themes — "this describes me…", "a difficulty I got over…", "I am proud of this…", "my dream is to…" — then presents it to the group in about a minute. An optional second movement is a formal appreciation round: one by one, each presenter turns away from the circle and listens in silence while the group gives the positive feedback they noted, then turns back and thanks them.
Prerequisites
- Theme choice sets the depth — pick gentler themes for newer groups; participants choose what each field reveals
- Suggested themes include heavy ones ('then I made myself disappear…') — offer them as options, never requirements
- The turned-away feedback round is intense by design (receiving without deflecting); keep feedback strictly positive as instructed, and allow opting out
- Time honestly: sharing expands — the report itself warns rendering may take longer depending on what emerges
Practical
- Time
- 30-240 min + 15 landing
- Group
- 3–16 · small-group
- Settings
- in-person
- Materials
- Flip-chart paper and markers, one set per person; chairs in a circle for the feedback round
- Mechanisms
- creative-expression, narrative-identity, dialogic-encounter, feedback-mirroring
- Change scope
- state · one-off
Origin & where it lives
Codified for the Phase 2 Toolkit by Stefan Dahlberg — Group-dynamics tradition (personal coat-of-arms exercises)
Instructions: open online
In this directory via IDG Phase 2 Research Report & Toolkit (2022)
The Collaborating dimension's closing short exercise, published with full ten-step instructions. Drawing instead of writing is the clever mechanism: images lower the guard that words keep up, which is why this reaches depth 3 on getting-to-know-you material.
status: checked · added 2026-08-25