|
C
Squares ® are
an effective mind-mapping means of team building and teaching negotiation
and important
soft skills like emotional intelligence. The Complete Training Kit has
many applications. One purpose of this team building exercise is improving employee performances. Another is
using teamwork and group process to improve academic performance, competitive
advantage and ability in sports by providing an experiential edge. C Squares
®
illuminate those repetitive patterns
of unproductive behavior that result in dis-functional mental maps.
C Squares®
are
also unique among team building activities for
by improving
employee performances they provide professionals and practitioners
alike with hands-on proof of successful normative
behavioral change. C Squares®
are the sensible choice among team building exercises. Time is a
limited resource where a teams success is marked by communication and
emotionally intelligent choices. Employ this team building game every time
the need
for supervision, improving employee performances and recurrent
training coincides.
These manipulative learning tools are indestructible,
user friendly and affordably priced.
They
ought to be the next team building activity you include in your
training package. Those human tragedies captured in all too familiar
headlines containing accounts of environments rapidly
changed or work places stressed to the breaking point, can be averted
by acts of compassionate ‘creativity’. Environments
are made more, not less safe, when people living or working in them are brought
through collaboration to
see, feel and experience how we need one another.
A
WINNING CHOICE
How it works:
Each participant receives a number of pieces of like colored poly-foam
shapes. The goal of each person is achieved once they've assembled a square
six-by-six-inches directly in front of them. All the pieces have to
be used. Initially, no participant completes a square using only what they
have. They must exchange pieces with other team members to obtain
what they need to build uniform squares. Single players cannot achieve
the mission until all other members have completed squares in front of
them. There are many flawed ways of proceeding but only one way to accomplish
the overall mission and ensure that every participant reaches their personal goal.
Players may
give
pieces to other players but they
may
not take pieces or in any way signal a team member that they want
something from them. It happens frequently in groups that one person
will complete a square while the rest remain unable to do so. The participant
with the completed square now has a choice, whether or not to break up
their square and to redistribute pieces. Typically, groups that do best
at this activity remain unattached to individual squares, focusing instead
on the success of the mission and helping others complete their tasks even
before completing their own.
PURPOSE:
To raise awareness of the importance of communication in solving problems.
MATERIALS:
Five squares of equal size made of various geometric shapes. The pieces
of the squares are placed in white gift boxes rounded by red ribbon. Each
participant is given a tent card
which they place on the work surface before them. One side has rules,
the other directions. Observers, facilitators, or team members
may point to specific reminders on the card during the activity since a
no-talking rule will be in effect.
PROCEDURES:
Have participants form groups of five with an observer and seat each group
around a table or flat surface. Provide each member with a small
white gift box. Explain the game this way: "Your task is to
make five complete squares of the same size. No one will have achieved
the mission of this objective until all members have that completed square
directly in front of them." There are but three rules: 1. You may not communicate
with each other (verbally or non-verbally), 2. You
may
not take pieces from each other, 3. You may, however, give
pieces directly to other team members.
Do not instruct
participants to cooperate. They will soon discover that the only
way they can succeed is by cooperating with each other. Once participants
are familiar with the rules, let them begin. You may choose afterward to
pose
questions to the whole group. Some examples: How did your group
begin the problem-solving task? How and at what point did your perspective
change? How did you feel when you couldn’t complete all the squares?
How and when did you
feel the shift occur in the groups' energy?
How did the roles of group members contrast during the activity? How do
you feel about
what you did during the activity? How would C
Squares ® be helpful to you in some other familiar setting? |
