Each of these games is a template for an experience we can develop with you, as creators and facilitators. The degree of customisation required can vary according to your outcomes and resources. Contact us for a conversation on how we can help.
Crisis
Think thrillers – and any good thriller involves working against the clock. Each team member gets briefing material beforehand, and there’s the option of presenting different people with different data to give extra impetus for teamwork.
The challenge itself can be fundamentally realistic, and weaving in elements of the unlikely-but-feasible will keep people on their toes. Over 50 minutes, players will have to find answers to change the nature of the situation they’re facing: every individual will need to contribute to the solution. Subgroups can be a feature of this style of play to introduce a competitive element. After a break, a 30-minute debriefing concludes the facilitated session.
Impact: Aligns with team goals and business objectives
Skills development: Decision-making and problem-solving, time management, communication, cause and effect, resilience
Escape Room
Tasked with breaking out from a difficult situation, participants work together to achieve freedom within 90 minutes through a situation that takes its inspiration from a mix of stories known in your organisation, mixed in with some Hollywood style high stakes and tension.
Everyone gets to play a part, and one distinct feature is team members being asked to nominate colleagues for particular puzzles and challenges. The tone is light, the team skills and lateral thinking required are a stretch.
Impact: Team building, alignment with team goals and personalised to the team
Skills development: Verbal communication, problem-solving, creativity
Maze
One person on the team is given the task of drawing a maze. Some players have one of the features such as statues and plants encountered in it. Others have an indication of the layout. They can only communicate to the person drawing through speaking. No gestures or handy diagrams.
Only by listening patiently and revising the map repeatedly as the logic of different versions is discovered to be flawed can the maze be charted with accuracy. The game calls for mutual understanding, patience, and communication skills – all of which are put under pressure as the 90-minute deadline gets closer.
Impact: Team impact is high as this is an activity where verbal communication and co-operation are at the heart of the solution.
Skills development: Strong communication skills, problem-solving
Storyshaping
Before the game, players are given a set of individual cards from a deck. Each provides material relevant to a story all are participants in, which has the capacity to change that story. The content could be directly business-related or exist in a fictional context.
Players take it in turns to share what’s on their card, and other participants decide on the upside and downside of the potential it presents. In doing so, they will experience the excitement and tensions inherent in working together in pursuit of a shared objective that they perceive differently. A facilitator tracks and records the emerging story, and hosts a 30- minute team chat after players have had a break from the 40-minute game.
Impact: This activity yields co-created team solutions for work going forward. Follow-up work can be aligned with the exercise to embed the impact of the activity longer term. It will reveal much about the individuals and how they work virtually. And, it may open up struggles too.
Skills development: Remote working, communication flexibility, resilience, action planning, ownership and letting go
Space Mission
Over one or more sessions – or episodes – the team are a stranded spaceship crew, faced with survival challenges and the extra challenge of meeting mission goals. The facilitator leads them through different scenarios as the story progresses.
Part of the challenge is resource management. Is it best to use fuel to get to a nearby planet which is fairly inhospitable, or risk going to warp speed knowing there are better destinations but no certainty of reaching them? Props include maps of the constellations, video sequences, and news from Earth.
Impact: As the game is best over a number of sessions, this could encourage greater engagement from the team and have a greater teambuilding impact tailored to your situation
Skills development: Strong communication skills, time management, cause and effect, resilience, decision-making and problem-solving
‘In the Know’
Designed to help team members think through issues from a broader perspective, participants are presented with questions about different aspects and functions of their organisation. It’s a way to map out current understandings, developing them further individually and collectively, to help make better decisions.
Tailored to your situation and needs, multiple sessions can identify common blindspots and generate blueprints for new ways to communicate, collaborate, and get things done in the light of specific real-world challenges. Card decks and video clips are among the bespoke tools used.
Impact: The game is designed as a vehicle to develop understanding and create action points
Skills development: Strong communication skills, problem-solving, action planning
If you would like to talk about how we can build a team-building activity with personalised content and learning objectives, get in touch.