GET TO KNOW COLLECTIVELY - Cereal Box

Pre-work

You will need a blank box for this exercise (ex : archive box and wrap it in plain paper).

NOTE: If pressed for time you can always get teams to draw their box on a flip chart or card but the visual impact of having a proper team box is better.

Prepare : Felt pens, scissors, catalogues, any creative material

Intro

Explain what you see when you look at breakfast cereals in a supermarket: a catchy name, what the special ingredients are, the health value it gives you and so on

Explain you will use the cereal box as a parallel for the team to think about their identity.

Print or reproduce the box on a flip chart

Make sure people are clear that they are not talking about their breakfast but about their team: to agree on their core identity, their values and key behaviours which represent their identity. (NOTE for TT: Values are key as they will be used in the next sequence)

Explain the equipment available and that the product can be a creative box... that looks great on a supermarket shelf!!

Creative Time

Give the team time to produce their box by answering the questions on the slide as they go. (Slides here or attached file). And then reflect the answer on the creative box with the material provided.

You can split a team into subgroups depending on the size of the team. In the end the output of the activity is one agreed box reflecting their shared identity. 

Two ways to achieve this:

A) Each sugroup works on one side of the box: 1 sub works on the front, another on the back, two others on one side each. They shall produce a A4 sheet to stick on the box

NOTE: they can exchange during this creative time with other subgroups to ease the buy-in

Then each sub group presents their creation. 

B) Sub groups each create a box on paper (flipchart with a drawing of 3D cereals box) 

Then each subgroup shares their box and we play "bingo" to identify the common elements to report on the final box. 

in the end so that the output of the activity is one agreed identity : emphasize what is common, what is different and either, discuss now, or park in the car park, or explain the next sequence will allow discussing these.

Review

Typical review questions:

• the values you have written are what you aspire to or what you really live?
• what are you most proud of in your box?
• which question created the most debate because you did not agree on the answer?
  
• what do all groups agree on? what is different?
• why is it important for a team to have clear values, clear behaviours, a clear identity?
• are there some other ingredients missing in the boxes?

Timing :

Work in sub-groups to build the box (questions + creative time) : 30mns

Presentation of the boxes : 3 mns each (up to 10 mns in total if 3 sub-groups)

Review questions and discussion about commonalities and differences : 15 mns