Beach Ball Bop
Here’s a fun Energizer activity that anyone can try .
Beach Ball Bop gets participants moving around, working together, planning, communicating and adapting all in one fun and fast-paced game!
What You’ll Need:
- a flat, grassy area, big enough for the members of your group to move around. Size of space is dependent on the size of your group.
- an inflated beach ball.
Setup:
- Have everyone stand in a circle and introduce the rules of the game.
- After the game begins, participants can move about to work their plan.
Rules:
- Everyone in the group must participate.
- The group is trying to tap the beach ball as many consecutive times as possible without dropping the ball.
- No “double taps” – each person can only tap the ball one time before someone else hits the ball.
- The ball must stay above the waist.
- The ball must remain in motion.
- If the ball hits the ground, you must start over.
I use this fun activity as a warm-up before getting into more intense problem-solving and communication-focused team building initiatives. Beach Ball Bop introduces components of good teamwork, while remaining fairly relaxed and requiring little trust from the members of the group.
First Rule of Mountain Biking Mastery
After teaching mountain biking skills for the past 12 years, I’ve come to realize that every skill I teach stems from one underlying principle. Without this one key ingredient, very little can be achieved.
So, if you are getting ready to try mountain biking for the first time, here is my first rule of mountain biking mastery.
Number One Rule – Ride with Confidence
Whether you call it being cautious, nervous or afraid, the hesitation that inevitably follows can give new (and experienced) mountain bikers trouble. The first and last thing I tell new students when they get ready to hit the trails is the importance of being confident. Mountain biking is extremely dynamic. Tight turns, hill climbs, steep descents, rocks and logs – the varied terrain of a typical single-track course means you need to be ready for anything. Split second decisions followed by immediate action/reaction makes the difference between a good day and a bad day on the trail. Get it in your head that you are “a gnarly MTB ninja, who knows all and fears nothing.” Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter – if you believe it, you can become it – and at the very least you will ride with confidence.
Benefits of Riding with Confidence:
- When you are confident, you remove the trepidation that can cloud judgment. You anticipate the obstacle that is just around the bend, and you act/react more quickly.
- Confidence frees us up to ride faster, which makes the rocks less bumpy, creating a more comfortable riding experience.
- Confidence makes us more likely to try new things, overcome bigger obstacles, and ultimately improve our riding skill.
- Confidence makes mountain biking more fun!
If you ride with confidence, you WILL BE a better rider.
Remember – “You are a gnarly MTB ninja, who knows all and fears nothing!”
See you on the trail.
GO-Adventures Team Building and Adventure Instruction
We have gone through each of our team building options and tried to focus on and fine-tune the activities and programs that are most beneficial to our clients. We want to make sure that we are giving you the highest return on your investment as well as giving you a program that will fit your goals and your budget. Here are a few of the highlights:
The Adventure Team Challenge was created for teams whose goals are recreational team building with a small budget. The program works best with teams who already work well together or who are just coming together for the first time. If you are adding a few staff and you want to achieve instant buy-in without the need for deeper team development, then the Adventure Team Challenge is a great fit. Getting ready to begin a new school year, and want an energizer? The Adventure Team Challenge is the team building option that will fit the bill.
The PORTABLE Team Challenge brings the team building to your location or to a park or retreat center near you. The Portable Team Challenge is a facilitated team building experience – our expert facilitators will sequence activities that are not only fun and challenging, but relevant to your goals, needs and group dynamics. Following most activities, your facilitator will lead the team in a debrief that relates the lessons learned in the activity back to the ‘real world’ of work dynamics and interpersonal relationships.
The ROPES Challenge combines the facilitated team building of the Portable Team Challenge (getting-to-know-you activities, problem-solving initiatives and trust-building exercises) with the individual challenge of the high elements (challenging climbing, traversing or leaping activities that take place up to 40 feet in the air) to create a uniquely powerful team building experience. The accomplishment of the high element portion of the day is often the most memorable and individually satisfying component.
The NEXTeams Process begins where traditional team building programs end. Designed for teams whose goal is to get to the root of organizational dysfunction and build a foundation of trust that will foster commitment, innovation and higher performance, the NEXTeams Process bridges the gap between team building and ‘teams working’. NEXTeams is “The NEXT Step” in team development. Check out our other professional facilitation services at The NEXTeams Companies website: www.nexteams.com.
ROPES Course Fun with 7-Eleven
I facilitated a team building ropes course with a group of distributors from 7-Eleven yesterday, and the program was great fun. I never tire of seeing people bonding over a shared experiential training program. Building cohesion, fostering trust, and simply getting to know one another in a novel environment can be so rewarding – sure beats meeting for drinks after work! (although that always seems to be the follow-up event – go figure!)
Here is a short video of a few of the activities – enjoy!
Build Trust in 20 Minutes or Less
As a teambuilding facilitator, I am constantly asking my clients, “what are your goals and expectations for your teambuilding experience.” Almost without fail, the answer is “increased trust between the members of our team.”
Building a foundation of trust has lasting benefit, long beyond the teambuilding experience. Trust leads to cohesion, cohesion leads to an environment where team members are willing to take a chance with their ideas and suggestions. Those fresh ideas often lead to innovation, and an environment that supports innovation is more likely to breed success. It all begins with trust.
Here’s an activity that doesn’t require much in the way of expert facilitation. I run it with nearly every group whose main focus is building trust. The activity is almost always received positively, and often leads to a rapid gain in vulnerability-based trust.
My Favorite Scar -
Find a quiet place for a discussion. Frame the activity as a trust activity, and one that should be taken relatively seriously. Ask your group to select and share a story about one of the following topics:
- Your favorite scar – where is it and how it happened
- A funny childhood story
- The coolest thing that ever happened to you
- The scariest thing that ever happened to you
- Something people would be surprised to learn about you
This is not meant to be a therapy session, but the activity does give the group an opportunity to share stories that they might not normally share with their fellow team members.
I always hold a short debrief, often asking quite simply, “what is the value of an activity like this?” and then follow with a quick, fun, moving activity. For many of my corporate groups, this simple trust activity has been one of the highlights of the day.
Hope it works for you!
Team Building DIY on The National Mall
Another great team builder with the staff from Charles G. Koch Foundation!
We were called down to the National Mall to run a rotational team building program for 80 staff from the CGK Foundation. The main goal of the program was to create a sense of unity among the interns and staff of this international organization through the use of a rotational-style of recreational team building event.
The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation was established in 1980 by Charles G. Koch. The mission of the Foundation is “to advance social progress and well-being through the development, application, and dissemination of the Science of Liberty.”
The Pipeline Challenge
We ran a Portable Team Challenge for the Women’s Soccer team at University of Maryland Baltimore Campus (UMBC) yesterday, and the program was a great success. The goals for the program were to bring the entire team together at the beginning of their season, and give the ladies a chance to build the trust and commitment they would need to be a successful sports team. Naturally, a group of high-functioning athletes were a tough group to challenge physically, but we made up for it with the problem-solving and trust building initiatives. The blindfolded tent-building activity gave the teams a bit of trouble, as it gave everyone a handicap – either lack of sight or lack of speech.
The culminating challenge of the day was “The Pipeline Initiative” in which the group was split into three teams that had to share resources and ideas to create a 35 foot aqueduct of PVC pipes, joints and gutters. The teams built a structure that suspended the aqueduct high enough off the ground that a marble could roll down the entire length of the apparatus without stopping.
Here is a short video of the project – enjoy!
If you’d like to learn how to run your own Pipeline Challenge, check out our description of the activity on Teampedia.net
How To Select a Teambuilding Provider
With so many new ‘ropes course’ programs cropping up, the challenge of selecting a teambuilding provider has gotten tougher than ever. It is important to distinguish between vendors who provide a recreational program and those whose goal is facilitating lasting change in your organization. Here are a few things to consider when selecting a provider and preparing for your teambuilding event.
- Recreational vs. Team Development – is your goal to make this a one-off, fun day out of the office, or are you looking to facilitate lasting change and commitment between the members of your team. Both goals can be valuable, but each requires a different level of facilitation, time investment and follow-up. Get clear on what your expectations are before you begin contacting team building service providers. This will help ensure that you are not being swayed into purchasing something that is not inline with your goals.
- Time Investment – if you only have 2 or 3 hours to commit for your team, then your goal should be a recreational teambuilder. Lasting change takes practice and 2 hours of focus is like cracking the window – you can get a little fresh air but not nearly as much as if you open the door (or knock down the walls!). The more time you can invest, the more likely you will be to see lasting change within your team.
- Facilitation Style and Experience – there are plenty of ‘team building’ companies that provide a ropes course experience, and the level of facilitator skill is one of the biggest factors in whether you should consider this a recreational or team development program. Proper sequencing, framing the activity and following up with a debrief that relates the experience back to ‘real life’ is the minimum that you should expect from a company that is selling ‘team development.’ Anything less is definitely a recreational experience.
- Budget – this is a tough one. You don’t always get what you pay for. Some companies charge very little for excellent programming, and other companies charge outrageous prices for mediocre programming. A good rule of thumb is to set your goals first, then contact a few vendors and find out what is offered. Make sure your goals will be met by whichever vendor you are contracting, and THEN discuss the price. If your goals are being met, then the price is worth it!
- Shop Local – there are a number of ‘national’ providers that offer team building in multiple states and countries. The reality is that most of these companies partner with local vendors or contract local facilitators to provide the actual programming. Naturally, this type of relationship with local providers has a price, and the big national company charges a price on top of that – which means you are essentially paying more for the same service you would receive if you went with the smaller local company. Sometimes it pays to dig a little deeper when searching for team building service providers.
- Preconceptions – so many clients come out to the ropes course with a preconceived notion of what the team building experience will be. Some participants bring wonderful memories of a ropes course activity that they enjoyed (“Do you have a zip line? I LOVE the zip line!”), while others might have a negative view of team building based on a poorly run program (“What a waste of time. Let’s skip the team building and head straight to the bar!”). Be sure to let participants know that this will be a unique experience, and what the goals are for the day, so that they are mentally prepared for what they will experience when they arrive.“You will get more out of the day if you are prepared to be open to the ropes course experience, and you leave your preconceived notions at the door.”
When it comes to ‘Return On Investment’, team building can be one of the most important yet relatively small investments that a company can make. If done right, team building endeavors can improve employee retention, increase company morale, increase innovation, and ultimately have a positive effect on the ‘bottom line.’ When planning for your event, knowing your goals and expected outcomes helps ensure that you are getting what you pay for.
‘Tell Me’ – A Rotational ‘Getting to Know You’ Activity
A Rotational ‘Getting to Know You’ Activity
Here’s an easy teambuilder that can be run by anyone, and gets the group working on foundational trust with very little lead-in.
‘Tell Me’
The idea of this exercise is for two ‘partners’ to share with one another answers from a list of questions. Once the two partners have shared with each other, the ‘number 1′s’ rotate to the next person on their right.
- split the group into partners, and have them choose who will be “number 1″ and “number 2″.
- ask the number 1′s to form a circle facing away from the center of the circle.
- ask the number 2′s to form a circle around the number 1′s and facing towards their partner.
- during this exercise, the inner circle (number 1′s) will rotate clockwise, while the outer circle (number 2′s) remains in their fixed position.
Once you have asked around 15 questions, take a few minutes to ‘debrief’ the activity. Here are a few appropriate debriefing questions:
- What was the most surprising thing you learned about someone in the group?
- What did you have in common with someone in the group?
- What is the benefit of doing an activity such as this?
- Was this challenging for anyone? If so, why?
- What was the funniest joke you heard from someone in the group?
- What other questions do you think would work for this activity?
- What does an activity like this have to do with improving the cohesion of the group?
I’ve run this activity with 4th graders up to adults, and the outcome is almost always the same – increased cohesion among the members of the group with minimal effort.
________________________________________________________________________________
List of Questions:
- What is your favorite scar? Tell the story behind an injury that you sustained.
- Describe your ultimate vacation – either one you’ve taken, or one you dream of taking.
- Describe a dream that you remember – either from last night or from your past.
- Describe your last meal – what would you eat if you could only have one more meal – and why?
- Describe your first or oldest memory.
- If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
- Describe your least favorite thing to do, and why you hate it.
- Describe a moment when you felt like a winner. What happened, and how did you do it?
- Tell your favorite short and repeatable joke.
- Describe something you fear, why you fear it, and how you cope with that fear.
________________________________________________________________________________
Any other questions you can add to the list?
Good Luck – and if you have any feedback, variations, or criticisms, leave a comment!
Stuck Inside? Socialize!
-
