Team Building Activities
Back to Back Communication
Directions
- Split the whole group into teams of two
- Have each pair adjust their chairs and sit back to back
- Issue a copy of the diagram in the figure below to one of each pair of participants
- The person holding the diagram is tasked to explain the shape to his/her partner and the listener must not see the diagram and should draw it based on his partner’s description and directions
- After 10 minutes call the activity to a stop and ask each pair to compare the outcome and how close is the listener’s drawing to the original diagram
Discussion points and variations:
- You can run the activity more than once and on the first time do not allow the listeners to ask any question but on the second time to allow questions and clarification to be asked by the listener then compare the outcome on both cases and stress the importance of asking questions to confirm understanding and ensure the accuracy of communication
- What did you learn about communication from this activity?
- How difficult was it for the drawer when you were not allowed to ask questions?
- How can this be helpful during your everyday communications on the job?
- What communication strategies can you develop to improve communication in your day to day activities and as a nurse?
Flip the Towel
Beach Towel Flip
This is one of several fun and meaningful Team Building activities that we used at the 2014 Georgia Teen Institute. Though this was called “Beach Towel Flip” to coincide with our theme this summer, it can be used year-round (and you don’t even need a beach towel!).
Time Needed: 20-30 minutes
Group Size: Any, split into groups of 6-8
Materials: Beach towel
Directions:
Lay beach towel flat on floor.
Ask everyone except for one person to stand on the beach towel. Once they are all on, tell them that their challenge is to flip the beach towel over…WITHOUT touching the ground underneath, around them or ANYTHING other than the towel and each other. The person not on the towel is the quality control officer. The quality control officer’s role is to ensure that no one steps off the towel, falls, or gets hurt.
Debrief Questions:
- Was your team successful?
- What was the biggest contributor to your team’s success?
- What strategies did you access to support each other in turning over the beach towel?
- What were your thoughts and feelings about being so close to each other?
- How was your communication affected by your physical closeness?
- How was your decision making affected by your physical closeness and the task at hand?
- How does physical closeness affect your interactions with patients and colleagues in the workplace?
- How did it feel having a quality control officer supervising your actions?
- How does this relate to performing skills in the workplace?
ZOOM
This activity is based on the picture books “Zoom” and “Re-Zoom” by Istvan Banyai which consist of 30 sequential “pictures within pictures”. The team is tasked with putting together a story from a set of sequential images. Each person is given an image but is not permitted to show it to anyone else. Together, the team has to figure out the correct sequence. The activity focuses on effective communication and problem-solving skills.
Resoures:
Purchase the picture books “Zoom” and “Re-Zoom” by Istvan Banyai.
Group Size: 8 to 30. You can use the variations provided for smaller groups.
Total Time: 30 minutes
- 5 minutes to brief and setup
- 15 minutes for the activity
- 10 minutes to review and debrief
Running the Activity
- Explain the activity: The group has to piece together a story from the set of the images that is handed out. Each participant is given an image but is not permitted to show it to anyone else. Without looking at each other’s images, the group must put the images in sequence.
- Hand out one image to each participant. Encourage them to study the details of the image so this will help them put together the full story.
- Once they are ready, they can begin the activity.
- When the group believes that they have the images put into the correct sequence, the images should be laid on the table/floor in order face down.
- Turn the images over so that they can see if they got it right.
- If there are any mistakes, let participants correct the order and then go through the correct sequence so that they understand the full story.
Rules
- Participants are not allowed to show anyone else their image
- Participants are able to describe their image or demonstrate through actions
- Once the sequence of images has been agreed on by the group, they should be laid down on the table/floor in sequence.
Suggested questions to ask:
What difficulties did your team experience?
What communication methods did your team use?
What did your team do well when you discussed the sequence of images?
Is there anything that frustrated you?
Did everyone agree with the sequence? If not, did you have to compromise?
How well did you work as a team? Is there anything you could have done better?
Did others in the team listen to your opinion? Did everyone have their input?
Did anyone emerge as a leader? How did having a leader help?
What is the one thing you can take away from the task?
Retrieved from: http://www.ventureteambuilding.co.uk/zoom-team-building-exercise/
