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Team Building - Activity of the Month
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July 2010, Saran Shuffle 
This initiative can be done with anywhere from 6-12 people.
Get the team to clump tightly together, all facing the same direction. Make sure they are about as tight as they can comfortably get. Now have the people on the outside of the circle raise both hands above their heads so that you can encircle the entire team with a couple bands of plastic wrap.
Now they are ready for your instructions.
The goal is to get their team from one cone (or similar marker) to another, approximately 10 yards away, as quickly as possible.
The rules are simple: Do not break the band (emphasize this!) and keep the band around the midriff without grabbing on to the band with their hands. Time the group on the first couple of attempts, encouraging them to make process improvements to speed up their time.
On the last attempt, ask the group (or those on the outside of the circle) to take a step out, stretching the band as they step. They will quickly discover that they can get a pretty good stretch, way before the band breaks. Their next attempt should result in a much improved time and lots of celebration!
Safety Tips:
- The larger the group, the more dangerous. It is easy for heels and toes to get stepped on. Be sure that everyone has on flat shoes. This should never be done with high heels on.
- As the group gets faster and faster, be ready with spotters to help decelerate the mass as they approach the finish line (cones).
- Caution the people in the middle of the mass. They should hold onto shoulders of those around them to prevent tripping and trampling.
Processing Points:
Boundaries -- this activity is great at illustrating how groups sometimes create self-imposed boundaries around their process and operations.
Ask: Do we ever have tendencies to perceive boundaries that may not exist? What are some examples?
What should we do if we perceive a boundary is not real, or should be challenged?
How do we best communicate "boundary questions and concerns, both to leaders and team members?
Limits
Ask: How do we determine process limits in our day-to-day work?
How are limits set and how are they best communicated?
Paradigms
Ask: How are paradigms created regarding how we do our work?
What are the challenges associated with seeking new paradigms at work?
Teamwork
Ask: Explain where and when teamwork is critical in your actual work.
How do you facilitate excellent levels of cooperation and teamwork?
This activity is great at stimulating teams to think about and to be proactive is looking for improvements in how they perform their work together as a team.
Enjoy!
Larry
| June 2010, Obstacle Course  This is a classic team building exercise. (We used to refer to this as the "Minefield," but in recent years have preferred the simple name of obstacle course.) It is worth sharing again, as we never seem to run out of opportunities and applications for this great activity. It is truly powerful in highlighting the challenges of communication. It can provide excellent insights into the importance of trust and trust buidling within groups.
There are many variations of this initiative but the objective is essentially the same. The purpose is to get through the obstacle course, without touching any of the objects (hazards).
- Select an adequate space (in-doors or outdoors)
- Set you course up beforehand if possible
- Create your course by scattering objects all over your designated area.
- Simply use a rope as a boundary or place cones at the corners of the area.
- Good objects can include hula hoops, rope or yarn, beach balls, bean bags and even paper plates. Tennis balls work fine but realize that they are more dangerous if a person steps directly on one.
Next, organize your group into pairs and instruct one in each pair to put on a blindfold. It will be the sighted person's job to guide the blindfolded partner through the obstacle course without touching an object. The sighted person may either be allowed on the course next to their partner, giving them an arm for support, or you may have the sighted guide stand outside the designated playing area. Once they have made it through the course have them switch roles and try again. You can quickly rearrange the course if you want. Remember, the density of the obstacles determines the difficulty level. Another variation is to set your course up in a circle formation and have partners stand across the circle from each other. This creates the added dimensions of focus, distractions, and nobody to hold on to! It also can be set up so that the team could work together to get across. When an object is touched, create a consequence such as taking a step or two back, start over, etc. Emphasize quality in the process!
SAFETY TIPS:
- Evaluate your group before laying out the course. Balance is a key factor here. Very overweight, older people, and those with injuries may have trouble balancing. Also, remember that balls can cause an ankle sprain. Caution people not to step on the balls and not to kick them into someone else's path.
- Caution the blindfolded people to be careful what they do with their hands. If they get excited, and tend to talk with their hands, they may hit someone else who is trying to cross the course at the same time.
- Facilitators should be roving throughout the group trying to listen to the conversations occurring.
PROCESSING POINTS:
Communication -- process points seem endless around the theme and challenge of communication.
Ask:
What was your beginning communication process like?
How did you calibrate communication as you went?
What would have helped or improved your communication?
What are similar challenges of communication in your workplace, day-to-day?
Support
Ask:
To what degree was support from your partner important to success and/or progress?
Descibe the support you received and how did it help?
Was the support physical, verbal, other? Describe.
In your work, what types of support lend themselves to effectiveness of the team? How are you achieving that?
Trust
Ask:
To what extent was trust a factor in the exercise?
How did you build trust with each other?
At work, is trust within your group important? Explain. Provide examples.
Positive reinforcement
Ask:
In addition to instruction and support, were you receiving any positive reinforcement as you went?
To what degree did that impact your performance?
Celebration
Ask:
How did it feel to successfully get to the other side of the course?
Were any of you celebrating and feeling good about the success?
At work, is it important to celebrate success? Describe and explain.
Give some example of when celebrating gave the team a needed boost.
Enjoy!
Larry
| May 2010 , The Envelope 
Welcome back for another team building activity. This particular challenge once again uses a rope to form a shape. When you are facilitating a team building day for a group, it can be an advantage to sometimes have several activities/challenges that utilize the same props. You can combine these similar activities back-to-back for ease and efficiency of facilitation, or you may choose to spread them out over the day so that you can provoke the team to think about using past experience and learning as they tackle new assignments and problems.
This activity, as an example, can use the sampe prop (the long rope) that you might have used for other activities we have described in past months on this blog:
- The Blind Polygon
- The Star
This is another great activity that can be done with a rope. Many activities such as Blind Polygon, require that participants be blindfolded. For this particular challenge, blindfolds are not necessary.
The challenge is for the group to create the above shape, which looks like the underside of an envelope with the flap open, with the rope. The rope can never retrace the same line. In other words, it is like one of those puzzles with a pencil and paper, where you must draw the shape without lifting your pencil or re-tracing a line.
Equipment: 50 ft. or greater, soft nylon rope.
Setup: Have the team line up along the rope, and all grasp the rope. Instruct the team about their objective. (I’ll usually show them an index card with the shape.) Tell them that they must each keep their same location on the rope. They can slide up and down the rope, but they cannot hand the rope back and forth to each other. In other words, the rope and the people must move to create the shape. Also advise them that they cannot retrace any line, or double the rope back on a line.
Some groups take quite a bit of time to solve this. Others get very innovative, such as drawing out a sketch on the ground, etc., to create a plan of action.
Debriefing:
Ask the team how they began.
Have them describe their planning efforts. Did they plan, or just proceed with trying ideas?
Did leadership emerge? If so, have the team discuss how this occurred, and the importance of it.
How was cooperation during the activity?
Did everyone share a vision about how to complete the task? How did they arrive at this shared understanding? Or, what would have helped them arrive at a shared understanding?
Did the team apply "lessons learned" from previous exercises? How important is it in the real work of the group, to be able to apply the collective learning and experience of the team to new problems and challenges that confront them?
| April 2010 - Birthday Lineup 
This is a simple exercise that reinforces important communication issues. It is a great ice breaker, too.
Instruct the team members that they are to remain silent during the exercise; i.e., no talking.
Their task is to line up by birth date, month and day. (There will usually be some laughing about birth years, but this isn’t part of the challenge.)
The group members will then start trying to communicate with each other regarding their own birth date. They’ll use fingers for counting, and a wide variety of gestures. Usually those with birthdays in January and December will quickly form two ends of the line. It may take a few minutes for them to work out the middle months and dates.
Allow the group several minutes to complete the task. When they have it, tell them you are going to do a little quality check. Start from the January end of the line and have each person tell their month and day of birth. If there were any errors in their positions in the line, have them switch places. Ask them how they might have better communicated the message across the team.
Processing:
As with most teambuilding exercises, effective processing begins with what happened in the exercise.
Ask the group to describe in general this communication challenge.
- How did they begin?
- How did they calibrate their communication techniques?
- Were their specific challenges, and how were they solved?
Check to see if any frustrations were encountered.
- What was working well?
- How did you handle any struggles or stress?
In facilitating the discussion, turn the attention to actual workplace challenges.
Ask the group about all of the forms of communication they are involved with at work.
- Where and how do you communicate when you are not face-to-face? ( e.g. fax, email, v-mail, etc.)
- What challenges accompany your many forms of communication?
- How to you confirm that messages are received correctly at work?
Discuss the importance of being able to clearly send and receive information in a variety of ways.
Again, this is a very simple exercise. It requires no props or equipment. The activity can be completed in almost any setting.
It is surprising how much discovery about communication can occur within a group following such a simple exercise as Birthday Lineup. If you are aware of specific challenges your particular group has with communication. weave those elements into your facilitation/processing of the activity.
Enjoy!
Larry
| March 2010 - Noodle Relay 
This is another low-level initiative that can be done just about anywhere. This is a great activity to get a group moving. It does generate a real sense of competition. If you are not wanting the group to compete, you may not want this activity on your agenda. However, if you want to stimulate discussion about the pros and cons of competition, this will definitely set the stage by creating competition.
The props are simple. Use swimming pool noodles that have been cut to half-length. You need approximately as many half-noodles as you have team members.
Break the group into team of from five to ten members.
You have probably seen relays where the team members have to move/run together with a balloon sandwiched between every two members. This relay is similar. Rather than the balloon, you use the noodle. I like this for a couple of reasons:
- Members are a little farther apart, which is safer. There is less chance of people stepping on each others heals and tripping.
- Members are a little farther apart, which is more comfortable if you have both genders participating in the relay.
Set up the relay with the following rules/instructions:
- The first member goes to the pylon and returns
- The next leg involves the first member plus a second team member. They must go to the pylon and back while keeping a noodle held between their bodies lengthwise.
- No hands are allowed to keep the noodle in place.
- Each additional leg adds a member and a noodle so that you have a chain of members that are moving with noodles held between their bodies. (Again, no hands are allowed.)
Obviously, as the length of the chain of team members grows, so does the complexity.
This activity is a lot of fun, but is can also lead to some productive learning and discussion.
EQUIPMENT:
- Pylons or similar markers for you start and finish lines
- Half-length swimming pool noodles
SAFETY TIPS:
- Be concerned with groups trying to run to fast, creating a hazardous situatio
- You can control group speed with a couple of additional rules if necessary
- Walking fast is allowed. Running is not allowed.
- You may not lift your feet from the floor/ground. (This forces team members to slide their feet, preventing running.)
- Make sure your area is free of tripping hazards.
PROCESSING POINTS:
Teamwork is required
- How did you organize?
- How did teamwork evolve as you continued the exercise?
- How was teamwork important to success?
Competition, both positive and negative, is a great processing topic
- Describe the sense of competitiveness that occurred.
- When is competition important in our work?
- Does competition ever hurt our effort at work? Describe how
Learning skills together is a great processing possibility
- How did you learn together as a team?
- When, in your real work, is learning together important?
- How can you enhance learning within your team?
Cooperation and support for each other
- How were your levels of cooperation as you went?
- How do you build and nurtured cooperation and support in your team?
Communication and developing a successful process
- Describe your communication processes.
- How did success in communication help you to create a successful process in the relay?
- What kinds of communication challenges to you face as a team at work?
This is a fun, yet powerful activity. It can be done indoors or out.
Enjoy,
Larry
| February 2010 - Name That Team  Ice Breakers are simple activities that can be used to kick off any number of events or meetings (even parties). Here is one that is just-in-time for the upcoming Super Bowl.
Name That Team
You can have participants work at it individually, or in pairs or small groups to facilitate some teamwork. (Courtesy of Christopher Bissonnette in San Diego, CA. Thanks Christopher!)
Objective: Solve each phrase, determining the NFL team that it represents.
Pope’s men __________ Range Riders __________
Lilliput Adversaries __________ Winged Patriots __________
Rash Results __________ Winter Sleepers __________
King of Beasts __________ The Moving Crew __________
Six Rulers __________ Mountain Dwellers __________
One Dollar per Corn Cob __________ Royal Birds __________
Heaven’s League __________ Seven Squared __________
Halloween Feline __________ Debits __________
Derby Hopefuls __________ Barbie’s Swimwear __________
Minute Men __________ Frequent Flyers __________
Poe’s Bird __________ Derrick Climbers __________
Iron Workers __________ Wild Steed __________
Tribe Elders __________ Exterminators __________
Visa Experts __________
Third Letter Bird of Prey __________
Her Royal Majesty’s Motor Car __________
Asian Mountain Predator __________
Name That Team, (answers)
This activity can be a fun ice breaker for a variety of types of meetings and functions. You can have participants work at it individually, or in pairs or small groups to facilitate some teamwork. (Courtesy of Christopher Bissonnette in San Diego, CA. Thanks Christopher!)
Objective: Solve each phrase, determining the NFL team that it represents.
Pope’s men Cardinals Range Riders Cowboys
Lilliput Adversaries Giants Winged Patriots Eagles
Rash Results Redskins Winter Sleepers Bears
King of Beasts Lions The Moving Crew Packers
Six Rulers Vikings Mountain Dwellers Rams
One Dollar per Corn Cob Buccaneers Royal Birds Falcons
Heaven’s League Saints Seven Squared 49’ers
Halloween Feline Panthers Debits Bills
Derby Hopefuls Colts Barbie’s Swimwear Dolphins
Minute Men Patriots Frequent Flyers Jets
Poe’s Bird Ravens Derrick Climbers Oilers
Iron Workers Steelers Wild Steed Broncos
Tribe Elders Chiefs Exterminators Raiders
Visa Experts Chargers
Third Letter Bird of Prey Seahawks
Her Royal Majesty’s Motor Car Jaguars
Asian Mountain Predator Bengals
Enjoy!
Larry
| January 2010 -- The Human Knot 
Six to ten people can participate in each group. Eight is a great number. The level of difficulty goes up considerably as group size increases. We often will do the exercise with six in each circle, then follow it with eight in each circle. This allows you to facilitate regarding how complexity on a team tends to increase with group size.
Have the members of each group form a loose circle, more or less shoulder to shoulder. Have each person raise their right hand. Instruct them to reach across and grab one person's hand. Make sure not to grab the person's hand on either side of you.
Next, have them reach their left hand up in the air and again grab one person's hand. They should not grab the person on either side, or the same person they already have.
Now they will be in a big knot! Explain that the challenge is to untangle into one circle, with no crossed arms, without letting go of hands. (Sometimes you may end up with two interlocking circles or two separate circles.) Remind them to be careful when stepping over arms, especially for contact between knees and noses. Then, step back and watch them work.
If after awhile little progress has been made, offer to give them one re-grip. Often times this clears up the problem and they continue with renewed enthusiasm. Pay attention to the attitude of the group and use your judgment when giving re-grips. When the team accomplishes the task, celebration abounds!
Safety Tips:
- Lead the group in some stretches for the upper body before this initiative.
- Do not allow "inter-digitation" (when fingers are intertwined)- Be extra careful when someone is stepping over the arms of other people. A knee can easily crunch a nose.
- The facilitator should follow the movement, spotting when anyone is moving and anticipating the team's moves.
- Allow anyone to change their grip if they are uncomfortable, but not to gain an advantage.
Processing Points
- Problem solving skills
- Ask how they tackled the problem.
- How did the problem solving evolve as they tried different ideas?
- Are there real-life problems where you must experiment and try many potential solutions? Examples?
- Team celebration
- Ask the group about how it felt when they met with success.
- Do they take time to celebrate real work accomplishments in their day-to-day workplace?
- "Accomplishing what looked like the impossible"
- When you face a challenge or problem that at first seems "impossible," what is important for team success?
- What are some examples of this in your group's experience together? Explain.
- Leadership
- Ask them to describe how leadership took shape in the group for this exercise.
- What worked well in regards to leadership? Explain.
- What seemed to hinder progress? Explain.
- Team size, and how complexity can increase as group size goes up.
- If you do this exercise as suggested, beginning with group size of six, then following with an interation including more people, ask the team members to describe the differences in complexity as the size of the group increased.
- When working with larger teams, or multiple teams, what are keys to success?
This is a powerful activity. It can be done indoors or out. It requires no equipment, which gives facilitators a lot of flexibility regarding where and when they can lead this exercise with a group.
Enjoy,
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