Here's an interesting game that produces humorous results. Hidden behind the humor, however, is subtle provocation that forces participants to think deeply to justify some of the basic principles and assumptions related to the training topic.
Participants write “Why?” questions related to the training topic. Then each participant writes a response to someone else's “Why?” questions. The questions and answers get mixed up, producing incongruous results.
Personal Kanban is a tool for organizing your work to be more efficient and productive. It is based on agile methods and principles.
This is a practical, dynamic and versatile method for groups to explore ideas and questions together. Something like a physical questionnaire; participants respond to questions by walking around the space and placing themselves on an imaginary line. This provides a starting point for reflection and discussion and brings teams together.
The goal of this game is to map out the motivations and interactions among actors in a system. The actors, in this case, may be as small-scale as individuals who need to work together to accomplish a task, or as large-scale as organizations brought together for a long-term purpose. A give-and-take matrix is a useful diagnostic tool, and helps players explore how value flows through the group.
Systems thinking is a way of approaching problems that asks how various elements within a system — which could be an ecosystem, an organization, or something more dispersed such as a supply chain — influence one another. Rather than reacting to individual problems that arise, a systems thinker will ask about relationships to other activities within the system, look for patterns over time, and seek root causes.
A persuasive activity where participants "give" each other terrible presents.
Encourage creative thinking and getting to know each other better with a short round of 'time travel' questions to each of your participants.
Name Juggling is another variation of a try-to-learn-everyone's-name but the game guarantees high energy level as well as some strategic thinking.
The purpose of this simple exercise is to demonstrate three key principles useful for creativity and idea generation: quantity is a condition for quality; building on the ideas of others; the ideas we come up with are usually all the same. The format is simple, with small groups standing and drawing apples. At the end of the exercise, the whole group reflects and draws out learnings and reflections.
In this exercise, participants take an existing design, process, or idea and change one foundational aspect that makes it “impossible” in function or feasibility. For example: “How do we build a house…in a day?”
Welcome to My World gives players an opportunity to better understand other players’ roles and responsibilities and how one sees others.
This fast and physical group gets participants moving and working together in a way that generates energy and promotes collaboration. One at a time, members of the group become parts of the “machine”, each one making a distinct physical motion and a sound, until the whole group is working together in motion, as one human machine.
