Engagement Technique: The Machine

Every team says they work well together – until you ask how.

That’s where ‘The Machine’ comes in, it’s a fantastic Teamwork and Accountability exercise. It gets departments thinking about their role in the organisation, and individuals reflecting on their part within a team. It’s practical, creative, and best of all, it gets people talking.

Step 1: The machine metaphor

Start by asking each department to imagine the company as a giant machine. This machine helps you achieve your overall goal.

Then ask: what part of the machine are you (aka the department)

There’s no right or wrong answer – it’s about perspective and collaboration.

Sales might see themselves as the engine, driving growth.
Operations could be the oil, making sure everything runs smoothly.
Marketing might be the spark plugs, keeping attention and momentum alive.
Finance might be the dashboard, tracking performance and spotting issues early.

Already this can be a simple exercise to get departments thinking about their own contribution. But the next step gets them engaging with other departments.

Step 2: Building the full machine

Once each department has decided on their role, representatives visit the other groups to learn what part they play. Together, they “build” the full company machine. You should have no department be the same part, so they may need to negotiate with each other to map how each part connects and depends on the others.

This would suit a company-wide or away day activity, but you could do a small version by taking managers or representatives from each department in smaller groups.

With this exercise, it’s not necessarily about getting ‘the right answer’. The point is you have teams collaborating, understanding their perspectives, sharing understanding, and using some creative metaphors that you’d hope to keep using long after the session – I’ve found this metaphor helps when you’re outlining your company in onboarding or in talent attraction too, so new people understand the role of a department within an organisation.

Step 3: Accountability in action

Following this, bring it to the individuals within the teams. You can follow up with questions to understand if they are accountable for their role within ‘the machine’. Questions like:

How can you make sure your part of the machine runs smoothly?
What do you need from other teams to keep it moving?
How do you improve the handover points between departments?
What’s your personal contribution to keeping the machine performing?

This is where the accountability piece comes alive – and it should also uncover where there might be breakdown across departments. The idea is to help teams move from “we understand each other” to “we support each other.”

Why it works

It encourages systems thinking. People see how their work connects.
It strengthens relationships across departments.
Boosts collaboration and creative problem-solving.
Create shared accountability, not just within teams, but across them.

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What to watch out for

Some departments might get stuck on who’s more “important.” Remind everyone that every part of the machine is vital – remove one cog and it stops working.
Keep it light. This is a metaphor!
Make sure accountability discussions stay positive – it’s about improving, not blaming.
I understand for some the ‘machine’ analogy might not land. There could be a concern ‘we’re just small cogs in a big machine’, or people don’t want to be part of ‘the machine’ – you could try a different analogy, like ‘The Car’, or ‘The Person’ – lifting from the ‘Model Employee‘ exercise I shared previously.

The takeaway

When people understand how they fit into the bigger picture, they take more pride in their part of it. The Teamwork and Accountability exercise helps teams visualise that connection and gives everyone a sense of ownership in making the company “machine” run at its best.

More on Teamwork & Accountability:

This post is part of our Engagement Techniques series of practical, low-cost ideas to bring more connection and meaning into work. Find the rest here

👉 Want to explore techniques like this in more depth? I run interactive employee engagement workshops where we bring these ideas to life.