Team building games at breakfast time

I was invited to a breakfast seminar this morning – starting at 8am – which was quite a challenge for someone who really does her best work between 4 – 6 in the evening. However my fellow delegates – and indeed the hosts – were very chirpy and I was soon  bowling along nicely with them.

The theme was change management with particular focus on the people in the middle of that change ( strange how they are so often forgotten!)

Unlike many people I don’t mind playing games if they illustrate a point well. Alan and Gordon of Changing Point  – www.changing-point.com –  the hosts had us split into 2 teams each team holding a length of rope  and asked us to tie knots in a rope without letting go of it. I have done this exercise before but it was fun doing it with this morning’s group.

The point?

Well the questions asked were

• how many teams were there within each team  – in our case we split into 2
• did we collaborate to get the final result – well when “my” end worked out how to do it we shared with the other end.
• did anyone feel left out? – the people in the middle of our rope said they did

Was there a right and wrong way to do it? I don’t know – I don’t think that was the point. But it did show us how by not pulling together using all the skills available and including everyone  can cause problems in time of change.

Simple but effective!