Movements of a Hypnotic Nature

Highly recommend! Participants get the feel and touch of emergent design, iterations, teamwork and operating from high-level requirements. Demonstrate the roots of Scrum through cross-functional and self-organizing teams. I have co-trained this exercise a couple of times with Dhaval Panchal. It originates from Brent Barton. Complete instructions here

Marshmallow Challenge

The Marshmallow Challenge is a poweful exercise in fostering collaboration, it also reveals how we make many false assumptions. It originated with Dennis Boyle, Health and Wellness Partner at IDEO. Peter Skillman and Tom Wujec then presented TED talks about it. Instructions

Crossed or Un-Crossed?

A quick and easy way to gather everyone’s attention. All you need is a pair of scissors. http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activity/scissors-or-crossed-uncrossed-game.html

What Relates to You?

Prepare 4 sets of 3 posters containing a large single word (see list below) and place them in 3 spots in the room with a cover sheet on top. Each flip chart will have one of the words from each set in the same order. Army, Navy, Air Force Beach, Mountain, City Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry Dog, Cat, Other Gather everyone […]

Onboarding New Team Members

Not a game exactly but a great exercise in introducing and integrating new team members. Credit: George Dinwiddie – Onboarding New Team Members

Big Ball O’Questions

Open a meeting using a beach ball covered with 50 to 100 questions written in permanent ink. Have everyone stand in a circle and toss the ball to each other. When the ball is caught the question closest to the left thumb is the one to read aloud and answer. Note: White beach balls work best otherwise avoid […]

Ball Toss Name Game (Introductions)

Play this with a group who do not know each other, make the introductions memorable and get your meeting off to a more interesting start. Form the group into a circle. Use a ball or any object which can be easily thrown and caught between participants. The concept is very simple, before you gently toss the […]

Ro Sham Bo Rockstar

A high energy variation on Rock, Paper, Scissors. The link takes you to a student game page but this is awesome for the workplace too. Ro Sham Bo Rockstar

1, 2, 3

Ask everyone to find a partner, preferably somebody new or somebody they do not normally work with. Have them face each other. Close enough to be just inside each others comfort zone. Explain this game is played in rounds. Each round begins on your command and lasts for approximately 30 seconds. Round One. Each pair […]