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The ColourBlind Activity

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Here’s a great team challenge for illustrating the need for effective leadership, good planning, and a little patience.

ColourBlind

  • Have the group sit down and put on blindfolds.
  • Explain the objective and rules of the activity – answer any questions.
  • pass out items – I use 5 sets of 5 wooden toys, with 3 or 4 of them missing.ColourBlind - a Teamwork Exercise
  • Ask the group to pass each toy around the circle until every toy is handed out, and everyone has at least one toy.
  • Remind the team that their goal is to identify each set of toys, how many toys are in each set, and which toys are missing from the sets.
  • Chaos!
  • Let the team go on without making a plan for a few minutes – experience the frustration and the confusion of not having a leader or a plan.
  • If the team does not redirect their efforts towards selecting a leader and a plan, then give them a little prompt.
  • Watch as things begin to fall into place, and the team begins to work together.
  • Debrief – “What happened?” “Describe the process” “How is this like life?” etc.

For many groups, this activity erupts into a lengthy discussion about the challenges of working together, the need for strong leadership, and more.

Very powerful tool!

Here’s a picture from a recent ropes course program

Build Trust in 20 Minutes or Less

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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 Activity of the Month

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Here’s an Activity You Can Try…

From time to time we highlight a team building game or problem-solving initiative that has been particularly successful, popular, or just plain fun. These activities are easy to set up, take very little skill or experience, and require little or no specialized equipment. If you try an activity and you like it, let us know! And if you would like to learn what it takes to be a team building facilitator, check out our Training page on the website…

Good Luck!

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Silent Opera

This activity was ‘borrowed’ from another excellent online team building resource – www.teampedia.net – a ‘wiki’ that has been set up to collect great team building activities.

Objectives:
Communication, collaboration, team strategy

Group Size:
Small to Large

Materials:

  • 10 – 20 Objects (Cones, Balls, Hoola Hoops, etc.)
  • Blindfolds
  • Rope Boundary
  • Activity Description

Set Up:
Select one volunteer to be blindfolded (this person will be “the collector”) and one volunteer to give vocal instructions. The remaining members of the group are not allowed to speak. Set up the room and position participants according to the diagram below.

Directions:
This activity works on alternative methods of communication. Inform the group that the blindfolded member can speak, but will need to be told what to do in order to accomplish a given task. The person in the middle can only look at the large group but must tell the blindfolded member what to do. The large group will know the task and must communicate that to the middle person without speaking and without crossing the barrier represented by the rope. Lastly, inform the large group of the task (the more specific the task, the more challenging). Tasks may include: collect as many objects as possible or collect specific objects (by color, shape, type, etc.)

Variations:

  • multiple collectors

Debrief Questions:

  • What happened?
  • What was the biggest challenge and why?
  • What was it like to be – collector – speaker – actors?
  • How is this activity like – school – work – life?

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Silent Opera Diagram

Silent Opera Diagram