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Characteristics of a Good Team
Are there Situations where Teamwork can be Counterproductive?
Free Team Building Games / Icebreakers

Any teambuilding program or activity should be focused on strengthening one or more of these characteristics. This is a good checklist to determine whether or not a program will have value and lasting effects for your group.

Are There Situations in which Teamwork can be Detrimental?

YES! If the group is not primarily interdependent, then teamwork can be detrimental to the effectiveness of the group. For instance, teambuilding programs for salespeople will usually be counterproductive. Salespeople are typically independent and self-motivating. Therefore, teambuilding activities will be seen by the group as a waste of time. More effective training for group who is not interdependent would be communication training, leadership training, or other forms of personal development.

If the group is interdependent, but doesn't realize that the actions of the individual affect the group, then teambuilding activities will also meet with resistance. This may occur in an organization where departments are autonomous. Department heads may begin to see themselves in competition with other department heads for resources including budgets, capital, and personnel. Before implementing teambuilding activities with this type of group, spend some time helping the group realize how interdependent they really are. Our Executive Coaching and Performance Standards Workshop are great ways to do this.

Free Games / Icebreakers

Tennis Balls: Divide the participants up into small groups of about eight to ten people and have them arrange themselves in a circle. Give a tennis ball to one person and explain the rules of the game:

1. Each group is in competition with the other groups in the room. The group who can complete the most "circuits" in a given time will be the winner.
2. A completed circuit occurs when every person in the group has touched the tennis ball.
3. Only one person in the group can touch the tennis ball at one time (therefore the ball must be tossed rather than passed.)
4. If the ball ever touches the floor, then production must stop for one-minute.

Have the teams complete a few circuits to get comfortable and begin creating patterns that make them more efficient. The facilitator may want to stop the groups and get feedback as to how they are becoming more efficient and help them understand that this is a natural progression in business as well. Have the groups continue to complete circuits, but as time progresses, the facilitator will add additional rules to make the process more difficult.

• A Co-Worker calls in Sick--Remove one of the group participants and tell the group that the participant called in sick. After they complete a few circuits, remind them that just because someone calls in sick, doesn't mean that that person's work doesn't need to be completed. (They will probably have just continued to complete the circuit just as they had before the person left.) Remind them that each of their last few circuits have had one fewer touches than before, so they do not count. Someone will have to pick up the slack for the absent person. After a new pattern is established, have the person come back.
• Double Production--Throw a second ball into the mix and tell the group that our client wants us to double production. Only one ball can be held by any one person at a time. You can add a third or even fourth ball later.
• Diversity--New federal legislation states that we need to include more minorities and women in our production line, so every other person who touches the ball must be either a woman or a minority.

Use your imagination to come up with other rules and be sure to have a prize for the winning team. At the end of the game, ask the group how did the game relate to things they face in the business world.

Paper Plates: Set up numbered paper plates in the following pattern on the floor.

1	49	33	29	13	2	50	34	30	14
41	17	49	21	45	42	18	50	22	46
9	25	37	53	5	10	26	38	54	6
3	51	35	31	15	4	52	36	32	16
43	19	51	23	47	44	20	52	24	48
11	27	39	55	7	12	28	40	56	8

The rules of this exercise are:

1. The exercise is completed when all plates are touched in numerical order.
2. If any plate is touched out of order, then the participants must begin again at one.
3. Only one plate can be touched at a time.
4. Coaching from the team is encouraged.
5. The exercise will be timed.

The facilitator's main job is to encourage participants to think outside of the box and look for patterns, but don't give the solution away. Ask questions such as "Is there any way to cut your time in half?" "Is there any way to be more efficient?" Challenge the group by giving them a time to beat. Make every new time limit quite a bit shorter than the last. The group will usually live up to the challenge. Eventually get them to a point where they can complete the entire exercise in less than 60-seconds.

Solutions:

1. Pattern: After a few times through the exercise, this pattern will begin to develop.

1 49 33 29 13 41 17 49 21 45 9 25 37 53 5	2 50 34 30 14 42 18 50 22 46 10 26 38 54 6
3 51 35 31 15 43 19 51 23 47 11 27 39 55 7	4 52 36 32 16 44 20 52 24 48 12 28 40 56 8

2. Rearrange Plates: Creative teams may decide to rearrange the plate into an easier order. As the facilitator, you must tell them to restart the exercise every time they touch a plate out of order. Teams really thinking outside the box will ignore this distraction and continue putting plates in an easier order.

3. Other solutions your team may invent.

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