The group loop activity guide

teachmeteamwork.com 3 Awesome eBook Bundle Group Loop Activity Guide Top 5 “High Torque” Team Building Games For Developing Trust & Communication Introduction to Leading Adventure-Based Experiential Team Building Games The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 1 Group Loop Activity Guide 27 Fun Group Activities to enhance community, teamwork, leadership and creative problem-solving Tom Heck Teamwork Coach 
 teachmeteamwork.com The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 2 Table of Contents Page Name of Activity 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 3 A Leadership Note 4 Safety 8 Message from the Author Activity No. 13 1 Ain’t No Fllies On Me 18 2 All Aboard 22 3 All Touch No Touch 24 4 Amoeba Electric Fence 28 5 Amoeba Walk 30 6 Balance Tug 33 7 Bus Stop 36 8 Consensus Loops 40 9 Crossover 43 10 Figure 8 Pass 46 11 Geometry 50 12 Hidden Numbers 54 13 House 57 14 Hole In Space 60 15 Human Clock 63 16 Knot Now 65 17 Nab the Knot 68 18 Photo Finish 71 19 Push 73 20 Race Car 76 21 Reach 80 22 Subway 83 23 Traffic Jam 88 24 Trust Circle 91 25 Trust Lift 95 26 Trust Walk 98 27 Turnstile The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 3 Introduction How To Work With This Activity Guide This activity guide is sold as an e-book (the version you are now reading) and as a multi-media CD, which contains video clips of the activities (the CD can be purchased at www.teachmeteamwork.com). Each new activity starts on a new page which has a “lead” photo and under this photo is a button identified as “View Video Clip” - - on the multi-media CD version of this activity guide, clicking this button will cause the video to appear but on this e-book version (the version you are now reading) the button does nothing. You can print this entire activity guide or just the sections you need. A Leadership Note Lead all of the activities found in this activity guide in such a manner that the participants understand they have choice as to whether they participate or not. Encourage each person to communicate their comfort level with the activity and to join in at the level they choose (full, partial, none) rather than be coerced into participation. These activities are wonderful and they can help create a positive shift for your group. And yet, the most important thing to remember is this: what you will end up teaching your group is WHO YOU ARE. For example, if an un-centered person whose primary operating emotion is fear (rather than love) leads the coolest most innovative team building game, it won’t make any difference because the primary message communicated to the group will be: “I am a fearful person”. The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 4 To be truly effective at leading and facilitating teams and coaching individual team members, you must develop who YOU are because who you are will be the first message you send to your group (and there’s no way of avoiding this). You must dedicate yourself to personal development. The path to becoming an effective leader can be accelerated by enrolling in my 12- month coaching program. Through my step-by-step program you will develop who you are from the inside out. You will get clear on who you are and what you stand for and where you are going with your life. Over time, you will notice people will respond to you differently. You will learn to attract beneficial people and circumstances into your life. People all around you will begin to view you in a new light. You will become a leader with integrity and strength. Sound interesting? Click here to learn more. The Activity As Metaphor The activities described here can be done just for fun without going into a discussion about what was learned. However, it’s my hope that you will use the activities to create opportunities for dialogue. Suggestions for starting a conversation (a “debrief”) are offered in each description. The key to learning through experiential teambuilding exercises is the combination of activity PLUS discussion. Safety Challenge and adventure activities can present elements of physical and emotional risk. The information presented in this activity guide is for your reference, and you are ultimately responsible for judging the suitability of an activity and safely supervising the activity. The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 5 The publisher of this document assumes no responsibility or liability for the use of the information presented in this guide. This includes errors due to misprinting or omission of detail. No single source of adventure based experiential education can substitute for practical experience and education. While this activity guide serves as an introduction to the use of adventure based experiential learning, it is only an introduction. Studying the material in this activity guide is no substitute for professional training. Understand this: I can’t tell you how to run a “safe” program because it’s not possible to run a safe program. Safe infers that there is an absence of risk. It’s impossible to remove all risk from adventure learning activities (the type of activities you read about in this activity guide). Adventure learning activities are adventuresome BECAUSE of the presence of risk. Eliminating all of the risk from the activities would render the activities useless. Your job then is to make safety one of your priorities while managing the risk. There are many benefits to the individual, the group and the program when safety is emphasized. These include: • Trust is developed • Learning is enhanced • Likelihood of full participation increases The following list provides examples of strategies for the management of risk in adventure learning programs. 1. Participants are encouraged to participate at the level they are comfortable with. Coercion is not part of the program. The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 6 2. Participants are given a safety briefing before the program. 3. All participants sign a “Participant Agreement, Release and Acknowledgment of Risk” form (for adults) or a “Participant Agreement, Indemnification and Acknowledgment of Risk for Minors” (for minors). These documents can be created with the help of a competent attorney. 4. Participants should be led in stretching and warm up activities at the beginning of a program. 5. Staff must be trained in risk management, CPR and first aid. 6. Inspect all props prior to and after use. 7. The location/site must be free of dangers or hazards. 8. When activities call for lifting, participants must be taught proper spotting techniques (see below). Staff must always support and protect the head of a participant who is being lifted or lowered. 9. Programs must develop a safety policy. 10. A first aid kit and telephone must be easily available. The Importance of Spotting Some of the activities presented in this activity guide require participants to lift each other off the ground. This can be dangerous both for the lifters and the person being lifted. For this reason, you as the leader must be able to convey the importance of proper spotting. Spotting is the art of protecting a team member’s head and upper body from the impact of a fall. Spotting does not mean you catch a person when they fall. It does mean you create a cushion, effectively slowing down their fall. Effective spotting requires all participants pay close attention to what’s going on. If the group or any member of the group is not ready to participate in an activity that requires The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 7 spotting, choose another activity that doesn’t require spotting. To be effective spotters, participants must have a high degree of trust. If participants have been into horseplay or are using language (or other forms of communication) that takes away from the feeling of trust, than you must reconsider any activity that involves spotting. Spotting is a difficult task to teach because the potential spotter usually doesn’t recognize their importance until they actually have to support a falling body. The following are pointers for teaching spotting: 1. Explain the concept and meaning of spotting. 2. Practice spotting with participants before they actually need to use the skill in an activity. 3. Promote the attitude that teasing and joking about not catching someone has no place in your program. 4. The activities described in this activity guide involving lifting require a minimum number of 2 spotters and depending on the skill and ability level of your particular group, more spotters will be necessary. 5. Supervise spotters closely. 6. The leader must model spotting. 7. A good spotter shares the responsibility of spotting equally. It is easier and safer to work as a team when spotting. 8. Spotters should stand in a balanced position, holding hands up in a “ready position”. The spotter’s focus must be on the participant. 9. Spotters must cushion a fall, not catch and hold, and should move with the direction of force. The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 8 A Message From the Author I was thirty minutes into an eight-hour drive, just settling into the rhythm of a long trip. Headed to a conference center in North Carolina, I was to assist in leading a four-day team building games workshop. I turned on the radio to listen to music. Instead of music, I heard something that would change the course of my life’s work. Planes were flying into the World Trade Center. The towers were crashing to the ground. Thousands of people were dead. The day was September 11, 2001. After connecting with my wife, I decided to continue with my plans to deliver the workshop. There were already 60 people marooned at the conference center as they had arrived by plane and now the airports were closed. So on this fated day, I found myself in a position to instruct individuals from all over the nation to teach team and leadership skills through team building games. It seemed so pertinent, so needed, and I had the strong sense that I was making a difference. At the same time, I realized there was a bigger game to play. I felt compelled to do more - - to raise the level of team consciousness worldwide. I struggled with this because it would mean more time on the road, away from my family. I was already traveling too much, missing out on my childrens’ younger years (I was in Texas when my son took his first steps). Tom Heck Teamwork Coach The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 9 As I drove, the struggle continued . . . how could I reach people worldwide AND be a great parent and husband? The first thing that came to me was to write a book. This thought eventually led to a unique solution: I’ll build a website where people from all over the world can learn how to lead team building games. I launched teachmeteamwork.com in December 2002. As of October 2004, I have members to the site from 69 countries and am averaging 50 new subscribers per day to my free team building games e-newsletter. You can find the site here: www.teachmeteamwork.com Teachmeteamwork.com is the next best thing to attending a live team building games workshop. There are, at present, over 100 activities which are fully described; each one includes video clips so you can see the team building game in action. You’ll also find over 40 audio interviews with leaders in the field of teamwork and leadership, color photos, pdf downloads, live teleclasses, one-on-one coaching and more. The site continues to expand and we deliver e-newsletters 3 times per month, which highlight new activities, team theory, interviews with experts in the field and more. I now help trainers, educators and teachers of all types learn how to lead transformative team building activities and become stronger, more effective leaders themselves. And I do this from my home! I still deliver live workshops (I love to work with groups); the difference now is that live workshops are not my only channel for delivering my message. Through my website, I reach thousands of people on a daily basis. The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 10 As interest and enthusiasm for teamwork has grown, I’ve expanded my services. I now offer a 12-month program that helps the team and the team leader learn and develop specific strategies, tactics and tools that accelerate the performance of the team. I’m very excited by this work as it takes the concept of team to a new level – a much higher- functioning and effective level. Through this program, I train, coach and mentor teams and team leaders in 10 key areas to successfully make the shift into a high performance team. What happens when they take the steps to this level? Team members report that they complete tasks with less work, have more fun, make more money, experience less stress, are more creative and produce superior results. Would you like to know more? I’d love to talk with you. Call me for a free 17-minute consultation. Tom Heck Teamwork Coach Founder and Chief Creative Officer www.teachmeteamwork.com Phone (828) 665-0303 October 2004 The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 11 Introductory Information A Group Loop is a 1” wide piece of nylon tubular webbing that is 15 feet long. The webbing comes in a wide range of colors (I like lots of colors). The webbing can be purchased from a number of different sources including outdoor supply stores that sell rock climbing equipment. Some of the activities described in this activity guide use the webbing as a line (untied), while others require you tie the webbing into a circle or loop (thus the “Group Loop”!). When tying the webbing to form a loop, it’s best to use a water knot. This knot is very strong (very safe) and yet it can be untied easily even after it has been under a heavy load (rock climbers use this knot frequently). To tie a water knot, first tie an overhand knot at one end of the webbing. Be sure the webbing lies flat within the knot (see Figure 1). The other end of the webbing follows the original knot in reverse. Again, be sure both ends of webbing lie flat within the knot. Figure 1, Tying a Water Knot If you consider this first knot the “teacher knot” (or model), the other end of the webbing can be used as the “student” that follows their instructor’s teachings. Each end of the webbing should extend past the knot by about 2 inches (see Figure 2). The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 12 Figure 2, Water Knot Group Size The activities described in this guide are meant for groups of 7 to 12 people. If you have more people, consider dividing the group into teams of 7 to 12, each with their own Group Loop. Several of the activities can be done with as few as 2 people. The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 13 Activity # 1 Ain’t No Flies on Me! Group Size 20 – 50 (and more!) Age Range: High School – adult Intensity: Mental=1, Physical=1 Time: 5-10 minutes without debrief Space: Minimal – Medium -- Lots Set Up Time: 60 seconds Props: Line on the ground Objective Get the person across from you on your side of the line. View Video Clip The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 14 Set Up / Preparation 1. Create a line on the ground using the Group Loop. The line needs to be as long as the group is wide (see below). 2. Divide the group in half with the groups standing on opposite sides of the line. Each group is two large paces away from the line. 3. Everyone must get a partner – the person directly across the line from him or her. If you have an odd number of people, have three people working together. Rules 1. Because of the nature of this activity, there aren’t any rules per se. Instead I will offer the following description: 2. You (the leader) stand at the end of line (side) A and tell this group to repeat what you are about to say: “There ain’t no flies on me! (they repeat while pointing at themselves). Then, with a bit more emphasis, “There AIN’T no flies on me!” (they repeat while pointing at themselves). “There might be flies on YOU!” (they repeat while pointing at their partner on the other side of the line). “But there ain’t no flies on me!” (they repeat while pointing at themselves). Then you say to this group (this side) “Good job! Now take one big step forward!” (this side steps forward toward the line as a group). 3. I then walk over to the other side – line B – and proceed to repeat the same process with this group (i.e. “There ain’t no flies on me”). But before I start, I look at them and say “You aren’t going to take that are you?” (I’m purposefully egging them on just a little). Just like line A, I have line B take one big step forward after they have completed saying all of the “Ain’t no flies” phrases. 4. I then return to repeat the entire process with Line A. Before starting, I attempt to egg on line A one more time by saying something like “OK. This is your last time. Don’t take that from them!” When they are done, I have line A The Group Loop Activity Guide by Tom Heck  Copyright 2004 by Tom Heck. All Rights Reserved. Team Building Games, Activities & Ideas at www.teachmeteamwork.com 15 take their final big step up to the line. At this point everyone in line A is standing with their toes to the line. 5. I then return to line B for the final time and go through the “Ain’t no flies on me” sequence again. Before starting, I attempt to egg on line B one more time by saying something like “OK. This is your last chance. Don’t take that from them!” 6. FINALLY – When both line A and line B are facing each other toe-to-toe at the line I quickly announce to the group the following: “Your next set of directions are as follows…as quickly as you can, get the person across from you on your side of the line! Go!” What usually ensues 9 times out of 10 is a tug-o-war pulling session between partners. I let the mayhem (the pulling) go on for about 5 seconds; if you let it go on too long, someone might get hurt. Safety Warning 1. Follow general safety procedures. 2. Have participants remove rings, watches and bracelets before this activity because people will inevitably start pu