Does anyone know of a good source suggesting
teamwork exercises? I have found some stuff
on the net but what I’m looking for is “the mother load”. The deal is I have been charged with demonstrating the value of interdepartmental teamwork and communication to a few small groups of people here (total of 20 from 3 departments). I’m thinking of the sort of physical exercises
like - tie 4 peoples hands together and have them move a raw egg across the room, pass it to the next team with out breaking it - that sort of thing. OR if anyone knows of some good exercises maybe you could you post them?
Here in the States most of the universities have “challenge courses” which can be a lot of fun (‘cause you get to get out of the darn office!) with exercises ranging from having everyone stand in a circle with linked hands, and a semi-small loop of rubber is passed from person to person–one person starts it by putting their hand through the loop, but from then on, the chain can’t be broken.
Being a person who really values their personal space, I hate the “pass a ball, balloon whatever without using your hands excercise” because, while I will hold hands I don’t really want to be doing that necking thing.
The challenge course had a lot of problem solving exercises that can be frustrating but interesting and illustrative of the “committee dynamic.” Let’s go people, c’mon!
If there are local climbing gyms, you can check if they have a business bonding option package, a lot of the gyms here in CA do.
You can learn a lot about trust, working with other people and the importance of proper procedure and attention to detail by just having a regular ol’ “learn to climb” session.
These things suck so bad. I suggest you give everyone an hour to come up with a convincing argument to persuade you to not make them do one. They’d team up and come up with something productive pretty darn fast.
Get a pretty long piece of rope. Have everyone put on a blind fold. All paricipants need to grip the rope with both hands. They must grip the rope with at least one hand throughout the activity. Tell them that they must arrange themselves in the shape of a circle. This must be done without removing the blindfold. This is fun to watch. Look for frustration to set in. Some will immediately take a leadership role. Many participants will stick it out and some might quit pretty quickly. Don’t give them any directions until they are blindfolded. Don’t give them any feedback until they state that they think they are in a circle.
Position someone at a dry erase board with a marker. They must face the board the entire time. Give the audience a diagram. It cound be simple or complex. The audience must instruct the person at the board and try to get this person to sketch the diagram. A variation of this would be to pair everyone up. Sit back to back. One partner gets an index card with a diagram. They must give their partner directions that would help them produce another sketch that looks exactly like the diagram. The person giving directions should not look at the sketch in progress. Switch later and let the other person give directions and another draw.
Unknown Facts: Everyone needs a sheet of paper. Write three facts about yourself that are unknown. For example, I broke both sides of my jaw @ 13. I once owned a Honda Shadow 500. During my childhood a had a dog named Pepi etc etc. Wad up your sheet of paper into a pretty tight ball. Have a paper fight for thirty seconds. Throw a wad, catch a wad, throw…etc. At the end of thirty seconds, everyone gets a wad, opens it, reads it out loud, and tries to guess who wrote it. Everyone take a turn. Variation - write two statements that are true, one false. Guess who wrote them, then guess which one is not true.
Counting: Explain to you group that during this activity they may not give any suggestions or guidelines. There can be no pointing. Tell them that during this activity, the only thing they are allowed to say are numbers. Explain to them that everyone in the group must say at least one number. Tell them they may not count according to the way they are seated (counting off). They are trying to count to 25. If anyone speaks at the same time, they must start over at one. You really must emphasize no pointing. And no directions can be given. I suggest that you state your directions clearly a couple of times then just say, “go”. When two people or three people speak at the same time, say “start over”. “go”. This is pretty funny. My kids have not counted past 19.
Not sure if these will be popular with adults. Some might like it , others might not. Good luck.
Well thank you all very much, especially you Jacksen9 good stuff -
Also the suggestion by voguevixen, very funny, and I bet
your a real HOOT at parties.
As far as being a time wasting idiot goes…(Ahem)
[soap_box]
I don’t give a rats ASS what these people
think of me, I don’t have to. If they cant learn to work together
I just may fire the lot of them and start over, not a pretty
prospect for them OR me. Another thing you need to realize
is that these people never herd of Dale Carnage, or Peter Drucker
they know nothing of “the communication process model”, hell
they don’t have a definition for “process”. The educational
level we are talking here is about 7th grade at best,(yes they are adults).
Thus to make my point, the exercise needs to be engaging and have
a high level of impact at a very basic level, without humiliating
anybody.
[/soap_box]
Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
