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Building the Tower (simple version)

610 bytes added, 23:47, 17 January 2008
complete overhaul
* Construction Paper or cardboard
* and you must have some tape (masking tape works best)
* a bag of candy or another similar prize (with enough for everyone)
===Set Up=== Before the activity, you should have a sense of how many groups you are going need to participants into, and you should make a packet of supplies for each group. You should aim for at least 3 groups with about 4 people in each group.If you have less than 12 people, this is probably not the right activity for you. The key here is to divide the supplies unevenly, but put them in a closed bag or box, so that participants can't see how uneven the that each group is getting a different set of supplies are. Each group should have a a lot of one supply and some of each of the others.
For example:
Packet #1-
*1 roll of Masking Tape
*10 Paper Cups
Packet #3
*a really small piece of Masking Tape
*10 Paper Cups
*35 Popsicle Sticks
*1 sheets of construction paper
 
===Set Up===
The setup requires pre-building a tower and dividing the materials into each packet. There is no model for the pre-built tower - it can look like anything you want - the more complicated it is the harder it will be for the groups to replicate.
===Directions===
Big Picturepicture:Participants will The participants work in small groups to build towers that look like a prethe tallest free-built standing towerthey can with the supplies given. Each group will be missing some  Begin by randomly dividing participants into small groups and organizing the groups in different areas of the room. Pass out one bag of supplies necessary to build their towereach group.  You should then introduce them to the activity by simply saying "This is an activity to work on communication and collaboration, but between and the groups they will have enough goal is work together to build 3 towers identical to the pre-built tallest free standing tower if they decide to collaborate and share you can with the suppliesyou have each been given. The " There will be a prize for the winners. You should be careful to introduce it without giving too much context. Again the key here is that each group will have a different set of supplies but the facilitators should make sure this is not immediately obvious, and once it becomes more obvious, the facilitators should neither discourage or encourage collaborationand sharing. The vast majority of participants when divided up in groups , will assume they they should be purposely set competing against each the other through groups but you should not specifically say it is a competition (and therefore they will be less likely to collaborate). Use appropriate additional You will address this in the debrief questions based on the groups choice to collaborate or not to collaboratecompete.
Procedure: 15 min
Begin by randomly dividing participants into small groups and organizing the groups in different areas of the room. You should have the pre-built tower (hidden from view) e.g outside the room, or in a corner where not everyone can see it.
Introduce the activity by saying: “Your goal is to build a tower that matches the pre built tower.”
Ask for one volunteer from each group to be their group’s representative, and explain that only the representative will be allowed to see the pre-built tower.
Announce that a prize will be awarded for the group that builds the tower that most closely replicates the pre-built tower.
While one facilitator is showing the representatives the pre-built model, another facilitator should be distributing the supply packets to the group. The representatives should only have a short time (~30 seconds to see the model) and no one but the representative should be allowed to see the model.
Answer any questions at this point, and then announce that the representatives will return to the groups, and once they return, the facilitators will not answer any questions.
[The facilitators should not answer any questions so that the groups are forced to figure out how to build their tower on their own. If the groups figure out they need to collaborate, the facilitators should neither encourage or discourage them (this will come up in the debrief).]
Send the representatives back to their groups and announce Announce that each group has 10 minutes they have 20 min to build the tower.5 minutes into the building, ask for the representatives to come to the center of the room and report to the other representatives one thing they are doing well and one challenge they are having. Then let them see the model again for a short time (~30 secondsbuilding begin.
[AgainSome groups will spend time strategizing, the facilitators should not answer any questionsothers will just dive right in. Some may start to notice, they don't have much tape, encourage or discourage collaboration! ]that the other groups have more popsicle sticks.
After 10 a few minutes of building, you have a representative from each group present their tower few choices.  * You can ask for representatives to come to the center of the room and report to the other representatives one thing they are doing well and one challenge they are having. * You can have everyone form a circle and walk around and see other people's progress so far Again, the facilitators should not answer any questions, encourage or discourage collaboration!  It is important to try to deflect... so if they ask, "How come they have so much more tape?" you might say "Sorry, I can't really answer any questions at this point, but it looks like you are making good progress."  As they start to see that other groupshave different supplies, some will respond by questioning, some will try to beg, barter, or steal supplies, and some will just resign themselves to the fact that its not fair, and they will continue to focus on working with what they have.
Report Back: 10 min
Give some candy to everyone who participated, and debrief!
===Debrief===
 
Because of the unequal distribution of supplies, in order to build the tallest tower possible, the groups really have to all merge and share supplies. But becuase you divided them into groups, and that implies competition to most people, very few participants will try to suggest that the groups collaborate or share supplies. Even if someone in the group suggests it, it is not likely that everyone will agree to it.
The facilitators should ask the following questions of the entire group.
* Raise your hand if your group you helped built a tower!* Did you achieve the tower in the picture? Why or why notWhat worked well?
* What challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them?
* How did competition add from or detract from what Did you were trying to achieve?* What will you take away from this activity?* How does building build the tallest tower in this activity compare to your daily workyou could?* How does this activity relate to being part of the larger company Why or organization, or group?* How can we encourage collaboration and healthy competition among team memberswhy not?
Additional Debrief(add Add the following questions if the groups did not collaborate)or share supplies:* Why did Did you not assume that you were only supposed to collaborate?* Was it a conscious choice or did it not occur to youwith those in your small group?* What would have been possible if you had decided to share resourceswith the whole group? * Would you have had a taller tower?* Why didn't you?
(add Add the following questions if the groups collaborated)collaborate:
* How did you come to the decision to collaborate?
* What became possible once you made the decision to share resources?
* What was challenging?
 
And then to make this really impactful, you need to tie it back to collaboration and communication on your specific team or group:
* How does building the tower in this activity compare to your daily work? or the way our group is organized?
* How does this activity relate to being part of the larger company, organization, or group?
* How can we encourage collaboration, communication, and sharing among the whole group?