1.
The group leader should present participants with this fake problem: The hour
was going to be spent doing a problem solving exercise, but as the group
leader- you don’t know any and you don’t want to do one that the participants
have already heard or tried previously. The goal- or problem- then, is to have
each group of participants come up with a new problem solving exercise that
they’ve invented themselves. Groups should be no larger than four or five
people and at the end of the hour, each group must come up and present their
new problem solving exercise. Aside from being a problem solving exercise in
and of itself, this exercise also promotes creativity, communication, trust,
and time management, among other things.
2.
This messy, yet classic and engaging problem solving exercise requires
splitting the room into two large groups with the task of building an egg
package that can sustain an eight foot drop. A variety of tools and other
materials should be provided to the teams. After the packages have been built,
each team must also present a 30-second advert for their package, highlighting
why it’s unique and how it works. At the conclusion of the presentations, each
group will have to drop their egg using their package to see if it really
works. Aside from teaching the groups to work together and communicate, it also
brings them together with the common goal of both winning the egg drop and
successfully creating an egg package.
3.
This problem solving exercise requires the wordless, picture book entitled,
“Zoom” by Istvan Banyai. This book features 30 sequential pictures that work
together to form a narrative. The book should be fairly easy to find, as it’s
been published in over 18 countries. The pictures can even be laminated to
prolong their usage. Hand out one picture to each participant, making sure a
continuous sequence is being used. Explain to the participants that they can
only look at their own pictures and must keep their picture hidden from other
participants. Time should be given for the participants to study their pictures
because each picture will contain important information that will help the
participants solve the problem of putting them into order. The ultimate goal is
for the group to place the pictures in sequential order without looking at one
another’s pictures. The participants can talk to each other and discuss what is
featured in their picture. This exercise brings coworkers together and gets
them communicating with the common goal of solving a problem, but it also
allows for leaders to emerge and take control of the task.
4.
This problem solving exercise requires little more than a couple of sets of
children’s building blocks. The instructor will build a small sculpture with
some of the building blocks and hide it from the group. The participants should
then be divided into small teams of four. Each team should be given enough
building material so that they can duplicate the structure you’ve already
created. The instructor should then place their sculpture in an area that is an
equal distance from all the groups. One member from each team can come up at
the same time to look at the sculpture for ten seconds and try to memorize it
before returning to their team. After they return to their teams, they have
twenty-five seconds to instruct their teams about how to build an exact replica
of the instructor’s sculpture. After one minute of trying to recreate the
sculpture, another member from each team can come up for a “sneak a peek”
before returning to their team and trying to recreate the sculpture. The game
should be continued in this pattern until one of the team’s successfully
duplicates the original sculpture. This game will teach participants how to
problem solve in a group and communicate effectively.
5.
This problem solving exercise requires that the leader choose a well known
picture or cartoon that is full of detail. The picture needs to be cut into as
many equal squares as there are participants in the exercise. Each participant
should be given a piece of the “puzzle” and instructed to create an exact copy
of their piece of the puzzle five times bigger than its original size. They are
posed with the problem of not knowing why or how their own work affects the
larger picture. The leader can pass out pencils, markers, paper, and rulers in
order to make the process simpler and run more smoothly. When all the
participants have completed their enlargements, ask them to assemble their
pieces into a giant copy of the original picture on a table. This problem
solving exercise will teach participants how to work in a team and it
demonstrates divisionalized ‘departmental’ working, which is the understanding
that each person working on their own part contributes to an overall group
result.
6.
The classification game can be a quick icebreaker or a more complex activity.
For the purposes of this example, we will treat this exercise as a quick
icebreaker. Before splitting the room into teams of four, explain the concept
of “pigeon-holing someone,” which means classifying someone as something or
stereotyping someone. It should be made clear that this type of classification
is subjective and unhelpfully judgmental. Instruct the participants to
introduce themselves to those in their team and quickly discuss some of their
likes, dislikes, etc. After the introductions, reveal to the teams that it will
be their job to discover how they should classify themselves- as a team- into
two or three subgroups by using criteria that contains no negative,
prejudicial, or discriminatory judgments. Examples of these subgroups can
include night owls and morning people, pineapple pizza lovers and sushi lovers,
etc. This exercise encourages coworkers to get to know each other better and
enables them to collectively consider the nature of all individuals within the team.
7.
This icebreaker not only gets coworkers talking to each other, but it also gets
them working with one another. It’s quite simple: the leader gets to decide the
situation the question will pertain to. Example situations include babysitting,
leading the company, or being married. After pairing participants into teams,
the leader will pose this question: If you could ask just one question to
discover a person’s suitability for (insert topic here), what would your
question be? Say the leader chose to go with a marriage situation. That means
each person in a two-person team would come up with one question that would
help them discover whether or not their partner was suitable to be married to
them. If the topic was babysitting, each team member would have to come up with
just one question whose answer would help them determine whether or not the
person was suitable to babysit their child. This icebreaking exercise can also
get mixed up by issuing one situation for the entire group or allocating a
different situation to each team member or pair to work on. Depending on the
situation chosen, the exercise can be very fun, but it can also demonstrate
that crucial questions should be developed properly.
8.
Begin by asking all participants to empty their pockets, purses, and wallets of
any coins they may have and place them on the table in front of them. If
someone doesn’t have any coins or only has very few, others in the room can
share their coins with them. Instruct each person to create their own personal
logo using the coins in front of them in just one minute. Other materials they
may have on them, such as pens, notebooks, wallets, etc. can also be used in
creation of the logo. If there is a particularly large group, people can be
broken up into teams of 3-6 people and instructed to create a logo that
represents them as a team or the whole room can gather to use the coins to
create a logo for the organization/group/department/etc. Each solitary
participant can explain their logo to the group or if the room was split into
groups, the leader can have each group discuss what led to the team logo and
what it says about them. Not only does this exercise promote self and mutual
awareness, but it also enables participants to get to know each other on a more
personal level.
9.
This is an excellent icebreaker exercise that’s perfect for small and large
groups alike. Begin by asking each participant to close their eyes for one
minute and consider the best moments of their lives. This can include moments
they’ve had alone, they’ve shared with family or friends; these moments can
pertain to professional successes, personal revelations, or exciting life
adventures. After the participants have had a moment to run through highlights
of their lives, inform them that their search for highlights is about to be
narrowed. Keeping their eyes closed, ask each participant to take a moment to
decide what 30 seconds of their life they would want to relive if they only had
thirty seconds left in their life. The first part of the exercise enables
participants to reflect back on their lives, while the second part (which we’ll
discuss in a moment) enables them to get to know their coworkers on a more
intimate level. The second portion of the game is the “review” section. The
leader of the exercise will ask each and every participant what their 30
seconds entailed and why they chose it, which will allow participants to get a
feel for each other’s passions, loves, and personalities
10.
Start out by having every team member secretly write down two truths about
themselves and one lie on a small piece of paper – Do not reveal to anyone what
you wrote down! Once each person has completed this step, allow 10-15 minutes
for open conversation – much like a cocktail party – where everyone quizzes
each other on their three questions. The idea is to convince others that your
lie is actually a truth, while on the other hand, you try to guess other
people’s truths/lies by asking them questions. Don’t reveal your truths or lie
to anyone – even if the majority of the office already has it figured out!
After the conversational period, gather in a circle and one by one repeat each
one of your three statements and have the group vote on which one they think is
the lie. You can play this game competitively and award points for each lie you
guess or for stumping other players on your own lie. This game helps to
encourage better communication in the office, as well as it lets you get to
know your coworkers better.
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