Month: November 2015

Conflict Resolution Activity: Avoid the Blame Game

A quick conflict resolution activity

We are often quick to point the finger when there are group problems. You can’t build effective teams while being surrounded by people who blame others for their failures, whether at work or at home, can leave you prone to do the same.

Interestingly, odds are the reason those people pass the buck isn’t to evade responsibility, but to protect their own self-image. The truth is a lot of time and energy is wasted on finding a guilty party!

Have your group form a circle with everyone standing
Start by you pointing to someone in the circle. Continue pointing!
That person now points to someone else and continues pointing
Keep going until everyone is pointing at someone else, and the last person then points at you!
Stop pointing and shift your attention to the person you are pointing at. That person becomes your person of interest!
Explain that the objective is to watch your POI very, very closely to imitate his or her every action.
Now ask your group to stand perfectly still. With nobody moving unless their POI does. If your POI moves (blinks, coughs twitches etc.), he or she is to copy that exact movement and then be still again.
Begin the game and play for 3-5 minutes.

When you’re finished ask these questions:

We were supposed to stand still, what happened? (Expect some blaming of who moved first to occur.)
Who knows who started the movement? (Let some accusations occur. It will become evident that it is nearly impossible to pinpoint who really started each movement.)
How much does it matter who started it, once it started?
How much energy do we put into looking for scapegoats?
How are we to blame for perpetuating particular mannerisms that inevitably become team norms? What examples do we have here at work?
What can this imply for us when we’re back on the job?

Group Activities to Spark Creativity

Spark your team’s creativity and resourcefulness with this fun icebreaker!

Many think that creativity is an inborn trait rather than something that can be learned and developed. This may be so, but without a conducive environment for creativity to be expressed, how can we expect to see ideas arising from employees? The performance of today’s brands is becoming increasingly dependent on its ability to be creative.

Stimulating this character trait is one of the major focuses of any company. And while there isn’t one singled out formula to accomplish these means, there are still actions an organization can take to transform its culture into one of free-thinking and innovation.

PAPER ENTERPRISE!

Time:

5–6 minutes

Purpose:

To spark ideas, creativity, and resourcefulness

Participants:

Small groups
This can be done with one group or multiple groups at the same time.

Materials needed:

Sheets of paper

Instructions:

Give a piece of paper to each group of five to ten participants.
One person at a time stands and demonstrates a use of that piece of paper

Rules:

The person demonstrating cannot speak
Must stand while demonstrating
The demonstration must be original

DESIRED OUTCOME

Participants experience a myriad of ways to use a piece of paper and translate this to the multitude of ways to solve problems, use resources, motivate a team, and so on!

Effective problem solving does take some time and attention more of the latter than the former. But less time and attention than is required by a problem not well solved. What it really takes is a willingness to slow down. A problem is like a curve in the road. Take it right and you’ll find yourself in good shape for the straightaway that follows. Take it too fast and you may not be in as good shape.

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