Team Building Exercises
A can of highly toxic popcorn has contaminated a circle approximately 8 feet in diameter. The toxic area extends to the ceiling. If the poisonous popcorn is not transferred to a safe container for decontamination, the toxic popcorn will contaminate and destroy the population of the entire nearly village of Aynho. The popcorn is estimated to have a safe life of exactly 30 minutes before it explodes. Obviously, there is insufficient time to contact authorities and evacuate the village. Therefore, the lives of hundreds of people are in your hands. Inside the circle you will find two cans. One (unsafe) container is marked red and is about half full of the toxic popcorn. The other (safe) container is available for decontamination.
Learning Objectives
This exercise focuses on team members planning together. It involves participation from all members, however, natural leaders may come to the fore and lead the exercise. Again, this is a problem-solving task and team members by trial and error will have to find the solution. It results in a realisation that planning is needed before some tasks can be tackled and that by taking everyone’s opinion into consideration a solution can be found quickly.
Yours is one of two firms that have been short-listed for a secret construction project for the European Space Agency. The multi-billion pound contract will go to the company that can demonstrate the most effective communication skills, accuracy and hands-on building ability. Your jobs hang in the balance. You need this contract!
Learning Objectives
This exercise highlights the importance of effective and clear communication. An architect has to describe a structure to a messenger (who cannot see the structure), the messenger has to relay the information on to the builders who have to replicate the structure. It is a useful exercise as it highlights how effectively individuals are at managing information and communication in their own jobs. It can also highlight personality types when used in conjunction with the Myers Briggs indicator as people process information differently and when working within a team this must be taken into account so that communication is processed effectively. Therefore this exercise concentrates on team members being considerate and aware that their fellow colleagues may not process information in the same way that they do. It highlights the importance of checking that communication within the work place has been understood.
Your group is trapped in a tunnel that contains a deadly, giant spider. You have managed to find a tunnel that leads out, but the way is blocked by the spider’s web. You must get through the web without touching any of the strands, which would alert the spider to your presence.
Learning Objectives
A team task, where team members have to get safely through the web. Focuses on planning and co-operation, team members need to work out the safest route. Once one member is through they help the remaining team members through the web. Support, consideration and trust are highlighted within this exercise.
The team’s task is to create a “marble run” using the equipment provided and their aim is to get the marble to run for 25 seconds. Excellent problem solving, team co-operation, highlights planning skills, strategizing and project management.
Choose from over 3O different Team Building Exercises
A Day in the Country offers a huge variety of indoor and outdoor team building exercises that can focus on specific organisational issues or can just be incorporated into a fun day of activities and bonding. We also offer the flexibility for companies to bring their own exercises and facilitators at our venue. Please contact us direct to discuss your requirements.
On the left are examples of four outdoor Team Building Exercises, and below is a selection of some indoor Team Building Exercises.
The Project: We know that great teams make great things happen. But the constant challenge of meeting or even exceeding objectives is very demanding for everyone involved. “How should we treat each other?”, “What’s important for each of us in team work?”, “Who’s taking the lead?”: These are just a few questions amongst many that need to be answered. The answers are the key to producing effective and synergetic teamwork.
How It’s Done. The trainer places 8 wooden blocks upright on the floor. Each team member picks up one of the ropes that are connected to a crane. The task is to use the crane to build a tower by placing the blocks on top of each other. The participants are not allowed to touch the blocks with their hands or any other part of their bodies. The task appears simple but with each block cut at a different angle and the need for all participants to work together, building the tower starts to get tricky! This task can only be solved by precise planning, good communication, along with well organized teamwork.
Learning objectives:
Leadership training: identifying interdependencies in systems, dealing with risk, giving feedback.
Team building: communicating effectively, cooperating, being an active listener, maintaining the balance.
Project management: simulating strategic planning, working under time pressure.
The Project: The idea for this construction comes from the universal genius Leonardo Da Vinci. Around 1480, he designed a transportable bridge that could be erected without tools.
Important goals in team development are creating stability within the group and the ability to bridge gaps and overcome obstacles.
So, let your group face this challenge! Leonardo’s Bridge will result in visible success that will promote team spirit.
How It’s Done. The delegates’ task is to construct a self-supporting bridge of 4 metres size, using only the 28 sticks provided. It is not allowed to use any other tools. After first brainstorming in smaller subgroups, all delegates start constructing the bridge. The key factors for success are coordination within the group, creativity and sharing of knowledge. The result will be a self-supporting construction, which can serve as a metaphor for internal and external team stability.
Another issue that can be addressed is how teams grow closer, for instance, in an intercultural environment. The delegates start constructing the bridge, beginning at two ends. The bridge brings them closer together. In the end, the two parts of the bridge become one. The key factors for success are coordination, cooperation and adjustment (as regards the method of construction) between the two subgroups.
Learning objectives:
Team Building: communication interchange, dealing with shortages, coordination, team interaction, facilitating.
Project Management: Dealing with sparse resources, sharing know-how, finding creative solutions.
Intercultural Communication: adjustment, accepting views and ideas of others.
The Project: Explicit and implicit rules are an expression of every culture. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the culture of a country, a company or of a department in a company: rules regulate how we live with each other. Getting to grips with ‘foreign’ rules is the main issue at the heart of this learning project.
How It’s Done: It begins very simply. On each table, the delegates warm up to the game by practicing how to play with specially developed dice and also get to grips with the rules of the game. After a while, they are no longer allowed to speak and the game starts. After a brief period, some of the delegates change tables. But what they don’t know is that each table has different rules on how to play the game! Unable to speak, they have to come to terms with the strange situation, i.e., either learn the new rules or ‘import’ their own. This “culture” shock is a real eye-opener. The delegates tangibly experience what it feels like to be in a new environment and what is needed to find your way around.
Learning objectives:
Intercultural Communication: dealing with new people, understanding ‘foreign’ cultures, explicit and implicit rules.
Team Development: developing common rules (such as when merging two departments or forming a new team), start of the school year, setting rules.
Dealing With New Conditions: developing new strategies, orientation in a new situation under difficult circumstances.
The Project: This activity focuses on the importance of respecting the individual needs of all members in a team. When working with StringBall, each member can only contribute effectively to accomplishing the task if all others support them by means of effective communication.
How It’s Done: The majority of delegates put on blindfolds (the difficulty level increased with the number of delegates wearing blindfolds). The blind are given the task of carrying a ball balanced on a metal ring from one pedestal to another. However, they are not allowed to directly touch the Ring! Instead, the transport it using a number of ropes attached to the ring. The ropes must be held at the ends and not shortened. The ‘Seeing’ direct the entire process by coordinating the movement of the ‘blind’. All communication is through speaking, no touching is allowed. Dropping the ball during transport is sanctioned in a way the trainer and group see fit. By setting up the two pedestals independently, you can adjust the difficulty level according to the group’s capability.
Learning objectives:
Team Building: interacting, trusting, cooperating, dealing with stress, giving feedback.
Communication training: active listening, awareness of body language, sender/receiver issues.
Project management: dealing with information shortages, visualizing project phases, determining the roles of project managers.
Leadership training: identifying individual needs, adapting leadership style, motivating, communicating effectively and explicitly, facilitating.
