Change the Type - Barriers

What's new in a keyboard? Everyone is familiar with the regular keyboard, but do they know the Dvorak keyboard ? Hand out pictures of this keyboard to small groups. Have them examine the keyboard and make comments within the group. Then hand out pictures of the standard Qwerty keyboard.

Assign half the group the job of describing the benefits of changing to the Dvorak keyboard.
Assign the other half the job of coming up with reasons why people don't want to make the change.

How I Would Use This
The list of why people don't want to make the change could act as a model for how hard it is for us to try something new.

Energize Your Group - Taco Time

This is a lively way to get things going.
Put a sticky label on people's backs as they come into the room. Each label will have one of the ingredients of a taco on it. (you could use other foods if you want) For example: some people would have meat, others cheese or shell.

Each person has to figure out what it says on his or her back by simply asking questions that can have a yes or no answer.

When everyone has an idea of what they are, explain how a taco is built.
Shell, meat, cheese, lettuce, peppers, tomato, salsa, sour cream (or what have you)
Then cry out the words TACO TIME and everyone scrambles to get in the right order for a taco.
Expect chaos.

Team Thinking Game

Here is a simple game that gets teams working together.

Answer the questions below and use all the brainpower in your small team to come to the right answer:
What do you call:

The pointy, curved end of the handle of a chef's knife?
a) tang
b) slub
c) neb

The rounded, top portion of a key
a) tooth
b) gum
c) bow

The small, curved end of a suit hanger that looks like a C
a) turnback
b) switchback
c) peacock's eye

The abrasive surface on a matchbook
a) drag strip
b) igniter
c) friction strip

The little metal band around a pencil, below the eraser
a) ferrule
b) squeezer
c) circumflex


Apart from seeing how many the teams can figure out, I challenge each team to come up with a different name that they think is even better.

Okay here are the answers
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neb
bow
turnback
friction strip
ferrule

Secrets of Setting Up Collaboration in Teams

A fun activity that focuses on the power of collaboration.

How many world leaders can you identify?

You can use slides or hold up pictures if the group is small.

Show the world leaders one by one and have each person write down their names if they know them. Ask how many most people most people wrote down.

Ask the group to pair up and see how many world leaders the pair could identify.

Finally put the group into small groups of 4 or 5 and try again. See how many world leaders they could identify in the end.

Your list might include:

Martin Luther King
Ghandi
Queen Elizabeth
Khomeini
Chairman Mao

and so on.
They don't all have to be current leaders.