Go!

Objectives

To create an opportunity to talk about team accountability and communication and paying attention to what's not happening (as opposed to what is happening) by having the group move fluidly as one person leaves a place and another enters their spot.

Group Size

• Small
• [[Category:Medium| Medium]

Materials

None

Set Up

Have the group stand in a circle about arms length apart, while the instructor stands in the middle (or with one less place in the circle than people in the group if the instructor does not want to play).

Directions

This is a very difficult game to explain, but I've found that the debrief is very useful in teams where people blame others for their groups failures.Explain to the group that when the game starts you are not allowed to speak at all except to say the word "Go." With the instructor (or odd person out) starting by standing in between 2 of the equally spaced participants. Tell the group that you are making eye contact (ONLY) to get the attention of someone across the circle with the intent of getting them to say "Go" so you may leave your space. When one person says go (only after making eye contact) the instructor can start at a slow pace walking towards the person who told them to go. While the instructor is walking towards the person (we'll call them Person A), Person A must make eye contact with those across the circle with the intent of having one of them tell them to "Go."When this someone tells Person A to go (we'll call this new participant, Person B), Person A can leave their space and head towards Person B. If timed correctly Person A should be moving out of their spot in time for the Instructor take their spot. This continues when Person B searches for someone to say go and then moves (only when told to) and Person A can take their spot.

Enforce these rules:

1. Nothing can be said besides the word "Go." 2. You may not leave your spot unless someone has told you to go, after you've told someone to go. 3. You may only say "Go" if you've made eye contact with the person who needs your help.

In the event that a person tries to enter a spot before the spot holder has time to get someone to tell them to go, the game ends and is quickly debriefed in regards to accountability and strategy. Keep trying until the group fully understands how it works and they can move fluidly for a while. Then do a full debrief.

Debrief

The debrief for this game can come as soon as the group fails for the first time (when a person tries to enter a spot before the person in the spot is told to go).

Accountability: Ask the group about fault. Who's fault is it that the group failed? Is it the person walking, that was told to go? Was it the person who couldn't get anyone to tell them to go? Is it the whole group for not making eye contact and telling the person who is stuck with someone heading towards them to go? It's no one or everyones fault. There is no single blame. Explain that as a team they succeed and fail together and everyone has something they can add to the group for it to be successful.

Strategy: How is strategy important in this game? What happened when you walked towards someone that was too close to you? How did you fix this?

Communication: Ask the group about the difficulty of getting a person's attention across the circle. If they could not talk (besides the word "go") how were they able to do their jobs?

Seeing what's not happening: Explain how complicated it is to not focus on the person walking and to focus on the person that needs assistance that is stuck in their spot. In this they must focus on what is not happening and leave what is happening alone as it does not involve them.