Blind Building: Team Development Activity

Names: Nahomy Salinas, Nickole Paul, Brian King, Emily Mortensen, Abigayle Turner.

Scenario:

For our team development activity, we are administering an After-School Child Care
Program. In this activity, we will help our hired staff understand the importance of clear
communication. When there is a break in communication, information gets lost and a
final product does not match the end goal.

Goals

● Through this activity, we want our teams to work together to build a tower
from legos according to a model that we provide in which only one member
can see.
● We want to help the teams build effective communication even when some of
them can’t see the end result. We will see whether or not teams can
effectively communicate clear and direct building instructions to match the
model given.
● Throughout this activity, we want each member of the team to be fully
involved and engaged, providing the rest of the team with the service of their
role.
● After this activity, one of our goals is to give each team member a sense of
confidence in their abilities as leaders and communicators.

Clear Roles

● Looker: ​Approach and take a look at the hidden built tower for one minute at a
time and tell the teller what the builder should build next and how it needs to be
built (E.g., orange then green turned to the right, rounded piece on top, etc.)
● Teller: To tell the builder what needs to be built next according to exact
instructions to what the looker has told them.
● Builder(s): Construct the tower as accurately as you can be based on what the
teller has told you.

Activity

This team activity is a game of telephone, and in order for a team to match the
model tower correctly, members need to hear and give instructions correctly.

● For each round of this activity, our administration will secretly build a tower
from Lego blocks that cannot be seen by anyone, but the Looker. The
Looker will approach the area where we have the tower hidden and figure
 out how to instruct the Teller (you may approach the tower multiple times to
get more step-by-step information). Then Teller will repeat what the Looker
said to the Builder(s). Subsequently, the Builder(s) will construct their team’s
tower according to how they were told by the Teller.

Measuring Effectiveness

● How will you know if your activity fulfilled its goals?

○ If the builders were able to successfully build the model.
○ If there was feedback given to the teller and it helped the overall
communication improve.
○ If the participants feel more confident in their communication skills and
their relationships with their peers.
● What questions should be asked to participants?
○ Did this activity make you feel more or less confident about your
communications skills?
○ What were some of the challenges you encountered during this activity?
○ What have you learned from this activity that you will be able to apply in
your jobs?
○ What did you learn about the way your peers communicate? Are there any
differences to consider?