Team Building Activities Using Marshmallows & Toothpicks : Improving Your Workplace
Summary
TLDRVivian Scott, author of 'Conflict Resolution at Work for Dummies' and co-creator of Anytime Seminars, shares her favorite team-building exercises using marshmallows and toothpicks. She categorizes them into three: 'Build Something Anything', where teams construct objects with a common goal; 'Give Them Something to Talk About', which involves incomplete instructions to spark conversation; and 'Put the Work on Them', where teams must create their own exercise. These activities foster creativity and collaboration.
Takeaways
- 📚 Vivian Scott is the author of 'Conflict Resolution at Work For Dummies' and co-creator of AnytimeSeminars.com.
- 🤔 Creating team-building exercises can be challenging for event planners.
- 🍭 Marshmallows and toothpicks are suggested as versatile and cost-effective props for team-building activities.
- 🏗️ The 'build something anything' category encourages teams to construct various structures, possibly with guidance from online instructions.
- 👥 Team composition should reflect the need for integration between different departments, such as sales and accounting.
- 🗣️ The 'give them something to talk about' category involves providing incomplete instructions to stimulate conversation and problem-solving within the group.
- 🚀 In this category, teams are tasked with building a vehicle that is comfortable and safe for two or more people, leaving the specifics open to interpretation.
- ⏱️ Setting a time frame for the exercise adds a sense of urgency and encourages efficient teamwork.
- 🤝 The 'put the work on them' category challenges teams to create their own team-building exercise using only marshmallows and toothpicks.
- 🎭 This last category requires the most creativity and teamwork as teams must devise and execute their own activities.
- 👀 As an observer, Vivian Scott suggests sitting back and watching the team dynamics unfold during these exercises.
Q & A
Who is Vivian Scott?
-Vivian Scott is the author of 'Conflict Resolution at Work for Dummies' and co-creator of AnytimeSeminars.com.
What is the main challenge Vivian Scott addresses in the script?
-The main challenge is coming up with new and effective team-building exercises that can be overwhelming even for advanced event planners.
What are the two favorite props Vivian Scott suggests for team-building exercises?
-Vivian Scott suggests using marshmallows and toothpicks as props for team-building exercises.
Why are marshmallows and toothpicks effective as team-building props?
-Marshmallows and toothpicks are effective because they are readily available, inexpensive, and can also serve as a snack during breaks.
What are the three categories of team-building exercises Vivian Scott discusses?
-The three categories are: 1) Build Something Anything, 2) Give Them Something to Talk About, and 3) Put the Work on Them.
How does the 'Build Something Anything' category work?
-In this category, teams are given instructions to build a structure, such as a dome, and the exercise is tailored to the group's dynamics and goals.
What is the purpose of the 'Give Them Something to Talk About' category?
-This category involves providing incomplete instructions to encourage conversation and problem-solving among team members.
Can you provide an example of an exercise from the 'Give Them Something to Talk About' category?
-An example is instructing teams to build a vehicle that can accommodate two or more people comfortably and safely, without providing further details.
How does the 'Put the Work on Them' category challenge creativity and teamwork?
-In this category, teams are given marshmallows and toothpicks and must come up with their own team-building exercise using these materials.
What is the role of the event planner in the 'Put the Work on Them' category?
-The event planner provides the materials and sets a time limit but allows the teams to independently create and execute their own exercise.
How can team-building exercises using marshmallows and toothpicks help resolve conflicts between departments like sales and accounting?
-By structuring the exercises to include members from different departments and setting group goals, these exercises can foster communication and collaboration, helping to resolve conflicts.
Outlines
🏗️ Team Building with Marshmallows and Toothpicks
Vivian Scott, author and co-creator of Anytime Seminars, introduces herself and discusses the use of marshmallows and toothpicks as team-building props. She categorizes team-building exercises into three types: 'Build Something Anything', where teams can use online instructions to construct various objects; 'Give Them Something to Talk About', which involves providing incomplete instructions to stimulate conversation; and 'Put the Work on Them', where teams are given the materials and must create their own exercise. The goal is to foster interaction and problem-solving among team members, particularly between departments like sales and accounting.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Team building exercise
💡Marshmallows and toothpicks
💡Build something category
💡Give them something to talk about category
💡Creativity
💡Teamwork
💡Problem-solving
💡Incomplete instructions
💡Prop-based activities
💡Collaborative creativity
Highlights
Author Vivian Scott introduces herself as the author of 'Conflict Resolution at Work For Dummies' and co-creator of anytimeseminars.com.
Vivian discusses the challenge of creating team-building exercises for advanced event planners.
Marshmallows and toothpicks are suggested as versatile and cost-effective team-building props.
Marshmallows and toothpicks can also serve as a snack during breaks.
Team-building exercises are categorized into three types based on the use of marshmallows and toothpicks.
The first category is 'Build Something Anything', where teams can build various structures following instructions found online.
Cheat sheets with instructions can be used to facilitate the building process.
The purpose of the team-building exercise should align with the dynamics of the group, such as improving relations between sales and accounting teams.
Rules should be defined to structure the team-building activity effectively.
The second category is 'Give Them Something to Talk About', which involves providing incomplete instructions to spark conversation.
An example is to instruct teams to build a vehicle that can accommodate two or more people comfortably and safely.
Teams are encouraged to use their imagination and decide on the type of vehicle to build.
The third category is 'Put the Work on Them', which requires the most creativity and teamwork.
In this category, only marshmallows and toothpicks are provided, and teams must create their own exercise.
The facilitator should sit back and observe as the teams come up with their own team-building activities.
Vivian Scott's authorship and co-creation of Anytime Seminars are highlighted as credentials for her expertise in team-building.
Transcripts
hi I'm Vivian Scott author of conflict
resolution atw work for dummies and
co-creator of anytime seminars.com
trying to come up with yet another team
building exercise can make even the most
uh Advanced event planner crazy um but
props can help and two of my favorite
props are marshmallows and
toothpicks they're readily available
they're inexpensive and you know let's
face it during a break they can also
substitute for a
snack I like to think of team building
exercises particularly around these uh
two items in three different categories
uh the first category is the build
something anything category um the
internet is full of um instructions that
you can
download uh to build uh you know Dome or
any kind of thing um go ahead and cheat
a little bit and download some
instructions and then think about um the
purpose of the team building wi within
your group so if sales and accounting
aren't necessarily getting along you're
going to want to go ahead and structure
uh the the team building exercise and
make sure that there are people from
sales and accounting in a group uh as
well as um you know defining some of
some of the other rules that will go
with this build something anything
category the second category is what I
call the give them something to talk
about category um provide some
instructions that maybe have a few
pieces missing that will elicit some
conversation with the group um for
instance you could say Okay each group
needs to build a vehicle that uh can
accommodate uh two or more people people
it's comfortable and it's safe and then
let the imaginations go wild um set a
time frame and then don't answer any
more questions have the people in the
group be able to work together to figure
out and Define are they building a
school bus or are they going to make a
rocket ship let them decide and have fun
with it the third category and this may
feel like cheating but it actually um
requires the most amount of creativity
and teamwork and that is the put the
work on them category and uh what you're
going to want to do is just put the
marshmallows and the toothpicks in the
middle of the table and sit them down
and let them know that they have a
certain amount of time to come up with a
team building exercise using those uh
those materials and those props and then
sit back and watch the fun happen I'm
Vivian Scott author of conflict
resolution at work for dummies and
co-creator of anytime seminars.com
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