Games for innovation and creativity building

Activity 1-WORLD’S WORST

Time-10:30am -11.15am

Duration-30 minutes for activity

15 minutes for debriefing

“THE WORLD'S WORST” involves participants acting out comical blunders of people in
different professions. this game is effective as a fun energizer. scenarios include the world's
worst facilitator, trainer, safety inspector, help-line operator, story teller, change agent,
workshop attendee, diversity trainer, and conflict mediators.

The power of this improv game as a training technique resides in the uncanny ability of the
human brain to zoom in on a variety of mistakes in any field. Once we identify such mistakes, it
is easy to figure out how to avoid them. This approach is equivalent to the powerful double-
reversal technique in creative problem solving.

Purpose
To identify effective behaviors associated with different on-the-job situations.

Parti cipants
4 - 5 volunteers from a larger group

Supplies
A doormat or a piece of carpet placed in front of the room. This serves as the “platform”.

Flow

Position the actors. Ask them to stand behind the platform, facing the audience.
Brief the actors. Identify an occupation that the actors are to portray. Explain that you will
briefly describe a job situation. Any actor who is ready to portray the blundering behavior of a
person in this situation should step on the platform and act it out. This portrayal should be brief
and comical. Actors don't have to take turns, but whoever feels ready to step on the platform
should do so. After all actors have portrayed this situation, you will call out another situation.
Actors will repeat the same procedure. You will continue the game until you have explored a
wide variety of situations.

Describe the first situation. Use a phrase or a short sentence. Remind the actors that anyone
who wants to act out the behavior of the world's worst job holder in this situation should step
on the platform.

Move on to the next situation. Describe this situation briefly. (I usually prepare a list of
situations, but end up with spontaneous ideas.) Wait for the actors to do their portrayals. Take
your turn, preferably somewhere in the middle of the sequence.

Continue the activity. Call out new and different situations. Try to cover a variety of normal and
unusual situations. For a change of pace, invite audience members (and the actors) to suggest
some situations.

Conclude the activity. Stop the drama when you feel that you have covered a sufficiently
diverse set of situations. Thank the actors and lead a round of applause

Debrief the activity. This critical component is what converts a fun activity into an instructional
exercise. Ask participants to brainstorm a list of Dos and Don'ts based on the earlier
portrayals. 

Activity 2-five ideas

Time-12.15pm-1.45 pm
Duration- 1hour 45 minutes

Teambuilding activities create high-performance teams whose members are extremely loyal to
each other and to their team. Sometimes, however, the emphasis in teamwork results in
reduced collaboration across teams. Similar problems occur when employees become so
focused on their departmental goals that they ignore or downplay the strategic goals for the
total organization.

FIVE IDEAS is an activity that encourages participants to go beyond what is good for their team
or their department and work on cooperatively achieving common goals.

Key concept-During the first round of this activity, participants from each division of an
organization identify what they need from the other divisions. During the second round,
participants are organized into heterogeneous groups with one member from each division.
These groups come up with collaborative ideas for reaching a common goal.

Purpose-To come up with ideas for inter-team and inter-departmental collaboration for
achieving common goals in an organization.

Participants-Two to 10 members representing each different department.

Our sample activity used for illustrative purposes below involves five members representing
these three departments: service, parts, and sales.

Supplies-

 Flip charts
 Felt-tipped pens
 Timer
 Whistle

Flow-Specify a common goal. At the beginning of the activity, announce a goal that requires
collaboration among the different divisions. Briefly discuss how the achievement of this goal
can be measured.

Organize participants into homogeneous groups. Assign everyone from the same department
to the same group. (However, if there are more than seven people from each department,
divide them into more than one group.)

Assign tasks to the homogeneous groups. Ask members of each group to brainstorms a list of
ideas in response to the question, “How can employees from the other departments help us
better achieve the common goal?” Encourage groups to come up with a long list and shrink it
down to the top five ideas. Announce a suitable time limit.

Get ready to conclude the first round of the activity. Five minutes before the end of the
allotted time, blow a whistle to get participants' attention. Ask each group to identify its top five
ideas for achieving the common goal. Ask individual participants to take notes about the final
list. Explain that every participant would need this information during the next phase of the
activity.

Reorganize participants into heterogeneous groups. Blow the whistle at the end of the allotted
time. Now, reorganize the participants into several groups that contain one member from each
of the previous (homogeneous) groups.

Assign tasks to the heterogeneous groups. Ask members of the group to brainstorm a list of
ideas in response to the question, “How can employees from different departments work with
each other to achieve our common goal?” Encourage participants to use their ideas from the
previous round in a flexible fashion. As before, encourage each group to begin with a long list
and whittle it down to the top five ideas..

Get ready to conclude the activity. Five minutes before the end of the assigned time, blow the
whistle and ask the groups to identify the top five ideas. Also ask each group to list the final set
of ideas on the flip chart and get ready to make a presentation.

Share the ideas. Select a group at random and ask its spokesperson to present the final set of
five ideas. Encourage members of the other groups to listen carefully. Repeat the procedure
until all groups have made their presentation.

Conduct individual action planning activity. Give an index card or a piece of paper to each
participant. Ask participants to write down five ideas in response to the question, “How can I
individually contribute to the achievement of the common goal?” Tell participants that they
could record earlier ideas from their groups, or ideas from other groups, or new ideas.
Announce a suitable time limit.

Adjustments-Want an alternative ending? Instead of concluding with the individual action-

planning round, reassemble participants into their original homogeneous groups. Now ask them
to brainstorm ideas in response to the question, “How can we support the other departments
in their attempts to reach the common goal?”
Activity 3-decode

Time- 2pm-2.30pm

Duration- 30 minutes

DECODE

The real name of this game is TAKE CHARGE, but if you use that name, you would give away the
secret learning point.

The commanding style of leadership gets a bad rap in these participatory days. However, when
there is an emergency and if you are the most competent person around, there's a lot to be
said for taking charge.

Key Concept
In this activity, participants are organized into teams and asked to solve a puzzle. Although the
rules do not prevent cooperation, team members assume that they are competing with the
other teams. The best strategy for winning is for all teams to cooperate with each other. This
strategy is secretly suggested to one of the participants at the beginning of the activity. The
main point of the activity is to see what the participant does with this important idea: Does she
take charge and persuade others to implement the idea or does she hesitate and run out of
time?

Purpose
Real objective, not to be shared with participants until after the debrief: To explore factors
that facilitate or inhibit a person from assuming a take-charge leadership style when it is
appropriate.

Secondary objective, shared with participants: To learn how to work effectively in teams.

Parti cipants
Any number, divided into teams of 4-7. Best game involves 15-30 participants.
Time
30 minutes (15 minutes for the activity and 15 minutes for debriefing)

Handouts
One copy of Instruction Sheet for each player

Single copy of Secret Instruction Sheet

One copy of the Cryptogram for each player

Single copy of the Answer Key for the facilitator

Supplies

 Index cards (or blank sheets of paper)

 Flip chart and felt-tipped pens (for use during debriefing)

 Timer

 Whistle

Flow Of The Game

Organize teams. Divide participants into teams of four to seven members each. Seat each team
around a table.

Brief participants. Ask how many participants have solved cryptogram puzzles before. Briefly
explain what a cryptogram is (using the information from the Instruction Sheet). Explain that in
this game, all teams will solve a cryptogram.

Explain time limits and the scoring system. If a team correctly and completely solves the
cryptogram within 2 minutes, it will earn 200 points. If it takes more than 2 minutes but less
than 3 minutes, the team will earn 50 points.
Explain instructional support. Before receiving the cryptogram, each participant will receive an
instruction sheet with hints on how to solve cryptograms. Participants can study this sheet for 2
minutes. They should not mark up the instruction sheet but they may take notes on an index
card (or a blank piece of paper). The instruction sheet will be taken back from participants after
2 minutes.

Explain consultant support. Anytime after receiving the cryptogram, a team can send one of its
members to ask for help from the facilitator. This facilitator will decode any one of the words in
the cryptogram selected by the team member.

Distribute the instruction sheet. Insert the secret instruction sheet in the middle of a pile of
regular instruction sheets. Place an appropriate number of instruction sheets, face down, at
each table. Make sure that the secret instruction sheet is included in one of the piles at a table.

Conduct the self-instruction activity. Set the timer for 2 minutes. Ask each participant to pick
up one of the instruction sheets and study it independently and silently. Distribute index cards
(or blank sheets of paper) to each participant for taking notes. After 2 minutes, blow the
whistle, announce the end of the self-instructional period, and ask participants to place their
instruction sheets in the middle of the table.

Distribute cryptograms. Place appropriate numbers of cryptograms, face down, at each table.

Begin the puzzle solving activity. Set the timer for 2 minutes and ask teams to begin decoding
the cryptogram. Remind participants that you will decode any one of the words for the benefit
of each team.

Monitor the session. Observe the behavior of the “leader” (the person who received the Secret
Instruction Sheet). When team members come for decoding a word, consult the answer key and
give the correct word.
Conclude the session. If any team has completely and correctly decoded the message before 2
minutes, tell them they have earned 200 points. At the end of 2 minutes, announce the time
and set the timer for another minute. At the end of 3 minutes, announce the end of the
session. If the teams have not yet solved the cryptogram, read the correct solution.

Reveal the secret. Explain that one of the participants received secret instructions about the
best strategy for winning the game. Explain that this technique simulated specialized
competency on the part of the participant and gave her a leadership role.

Debrief participants. To gain maximum insights from the activity and to relate it to the
instructional objective, conduct a debriefing session. Use selected questions from the following
list to get a discussion going:

 The special instructions given to a randomly selected participant gave her additional
knowledge. Does this guarantee that she will be automatically accepted as a leader?
What additional skills and characteristics are required for being an effective leader?

 How did the selected person communicate the strategy to her teammates and to the
entire group? If you were the leader, how would you have done this differently?

 How did the selected person persuade others to follow the cooperative strategy? If you
were the leader, how would you have done this differently?

 How did the selected person interact with other participants? If you were the leader,
how would you have interacted with others?
What will be distributed to the participants-

handout 1

Instruction Sheet

You are probably familiar with codes and cryptograms from your childhood days. In a
cryptogram, each letter in the message is replaced by another letter of the alphabet. For
example,

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

may become this cryptogram:

YZF FOZ JUKZH CZJVQ!

In the cryptogram Y replaces L, Z replaces E, F replaces T, and so on. Notice that the same letter
substitutions are used throughout this cryptogram: Every E in the sentence is replaced by a Z,
and every T is replaced by an F.

Here's Some Informati on To Help You Solve Cryptograms:

Letter Frequency

 The most commonly used letters of the English language are e, t, a, i, o, n, s, h, and r.

 The letters that are most commonly found at the beginning of words are t, a, o, d,
and w.

 The letters that are most commonly found at the end of words are e, s, d, and t.

Word Frequency
  One-letter words are either a or I.

 The most common two-letter words

are to, of, in, it, is, as, at, be, we, he, so, on, an, or, do, if, up, by, and my.

 The most common three-letter words

are the, and, are, for, not, but, had, has, was, all, any, one, man, out, you, his, her,
and can.

 The most common four-letter words

are that, with, have, this, will, your, from, they, want, been, good, much, some, and very.

Handout 2

Instruction Sheet

The other participants are learning how to solve cryptograms. But you are specially selected to
receive some secret instructions.

Forget the mechanics of solving a cryptogram.

Here's the best strategy for winning the game:

 Teams should cooperate with each other.

 Each team should ask the facilitator to decode a different word.

 Teams should share the decoded words with each other.

 They should help each other to decode the entire message.

 All teams can win as long as they decode the message within the time limit.
When the game begins, share this strategy with everyone.

Convince them to use this strategy

Handout 3

Cryptogram

ISV'B JZZXYH BPJB BPH SVQE UJE

---'- ------ ---- --- ---- ---

BS UCV CZ BS FSYTHBH. ZSYHBCYHZ

-- --- -- -- -------. ---------

BPH AHZB UJE BS UCV CZ BS

--- ---- --- -- --- -- --

FSSTHWJBH UCBP SBPHWZ.

--------- ---- ------.

[Table of Contents]

Handout 4

Answer Sheet

ISV'B JZZXYH BPJB BPH SVQE UJE

DON'T ASSUME THAT THE ONLY WAY

BS UCV CZ BS FSYTHBH. ZSYHBCYHZ

TO WIN IS TO COMPETE. SOMETIMES

BPH AHZB UJE BS UCV CZ BS

THE BEST WAY TO WIN IS TO

FSSTHWJBH UCBP SBPHWZ.

COOPERATE WITH OTHERS.

Activity 4- 2minute drill

Time- 4.15-4.45pm

Duration-30 minutes

2-MINUTE DRILL

Textra Games combine the effective organization of well-written documents with the

motivational impact of training games. Participants read a handout, booklet, reprint, or a
chapter in a book and play a game that uses peer pressure and peer support to encourage the
recall and transfer of what they read.

Here is a fast-paced textra game for reviewing training content from product-knowledge
booklets or technical reference manuals.

Parti cipants
6 to 25. Best game is for 12 to 25 participants, organized into groups of four or five.
Time
30 minutes.

Supplies
Reading Materials. These are handouts, brochures, booklets, reprints, or manuals that contain
the training content.

Question Cards. Each card contains a short-answer about the training content. You need 20-
100 different questions, each with a different number. Prepare a duplicate deck of Question
Cards for each group of players.

Answer Sheet. Type the question numbers and the correct answers for each question. Prepare
a copy of this sheet for each group of players.

Game Instructions. Prepare one copy of the handout, How To Play 2-MINUTE DRILL for each

participant.

Timer

Whistle

Flow
Distribute copies of reading materials. Explain that you will conduct a review game with
questions related to the content and encourage participants to study the materials carefully.
Depending on their length and complexity, you may distribute the materials several days before
the training session as self-study assignment or set up 15 minutes of study time just before the
play of the game.

Demonstrate the play of the game. Distribute copies of How To Play 2-MINUTE DRILL to each
participant. Explain that this handout contains instructions for both the player and the Game
Master. Pause while participants read the instructions. Then, ask for three volunteers to come
to the front of the room. Explain that you will be the Game Master for the first round and
demonstrate the play of the game. Invite players to follow along by referring to the instruction
sheet as they watch the game in action. At the end of the 2-minute demonstration, point out
that every member of a group will have a turn to be the Game Master.

Organize groups. Divide participants into two to five groups, each with three to five players. It
does not matter if some teams have an extra participant. Explain that the players in each group
compete with each other.

Distribute cards. In each group, select a player to be the first Game Master. Give a question
deck to each Game Master.

Begin the first round. Start the timer and blow the whistle. Ask Game Masters to conduct the
game with their group.

Conclude the first round. At the end of 2 minutes, blow the whistle again and ask players to
stop. Instruct each player to count the number of Question Cards that were correctly answered.
This is the player's score for the first round.

Conduct the second round. Ask the Game Masters to collect the cards, shuffle them, and give
them to the new Game Master (the person seated to the left of the previous Game Master).
Conduct the game as before.

Repeat the procedure. Continue playing additional rounds of the game until every member of
each group has had a turn at being the Game Master.

Conclude the game. After the final round, identify the player (or players) with the highest total
score in each group. Congratulate these players as the winners.
Handout

How To Play 2-Minute Drill

Object of the game. To rapidly and accurately answer as many of the questions as possible
during 2-minute rounds of play.

Instructi ons to Players

Receive a card. When the facilitator blows the whistle, the Game Master will give you a
question card.

Answer the question. As soon as possible, yell out the card number and the answer. If you
don't know the answer, make an educated guess.

Replace the Question Card. Wait for the Game Master to repeat your card number and tell
whether your answer is correct or not. If the Game Master says that your answer is correct,
place the Question Card in front of you. If the Game Master says your answer is incorrect, give
the card back to Game Master. In either case, get another Question Card from the Game
Master.

Continue playing. Repeat the process, trying to give as many correct answers as possible within
the 2-minute period. When the Game Master stops the round, count the number of cards that
you correctly answered. This is your score for the round.

Play the next round. The game will be repeated for several 2-minute rounds. Use the same
procedure during each round, except during the round when you are the Game Master.

Instructi ons to Game Masters

Get ready. Get a deck of Question Cards from the facilitator. Also get a copy of the Answer
Sheet.

Begin the round. Wait for the facilitator to blow the whistle. Immediately give each player a
Question Card.
Listen for answers. In a little while, players will begin yelling out card numbers and answers.
Since they will not be taking turns, this will be a chaotic activity.

Give feedback to players. Check your Answer Sheet for the card number that you heard first. If
the player's answer is correct, say “Correct!” and give the player a new card. The player will
place the correctly answered card in front of her. If the player's answer is incorrect, give the
correct answer, and take the Question Card back from the player. Place the incorrectly
answered card at the bottom of the deck and give another Question Card to the player.

Do several things at the same time. Keep track of the numbers and answers yelled out by
players. Call out the next number that you heard and give appropriate feedback. Repeat the
process.

Conclude the round. Keep repeating the process until the facilitator blows the whistle again.
Ask each player to count the correctly answered cards to determine the score for this round.
Collect all the cards, place them at the bottom of the deck, and give the deck to the next Game
Master. Also give the new Game Master the Answer Sheet.