Inside Out

Shadow Theatre

This very clever use of light and body shape simply wouldn’t be possible if any one member of the troupe wasn’t intimately aware of exact where the others were at all times. The also must hold the vision for what they are trying to achieve in their heads and trust their choreographer as they have no way to see the outcome in real time.

Helicopter Rescue

The trust a winchman-paramedic must have in his pilot and winch operator is complete. A mistake by either is likely to be life threatening. The clear goal, saving life, means that everybody on board knows exactly what they are trying to achieve.

Diversity Dance Troupe

A spectacular display, made possible only by trust, practice and understanding of members strengths and weaknesses.

Apollo 13

This video only really introduces the problem that the teamwork was to solve. Working shifts night and day for four days, NASA flight controllers successfully brought home three astronauts after an explosion damaged their craft and diminished their oxygen supply. Described as “the most glorious failure in history”.

Ferrari Pit Stop (7.5 Seconds)

Everybody in this team knows their roles and carries them out flawlessly. Communication is as simple as possible, raised arm means “I’m done”

Barbarians vs All Blacks 1973

Described as the greatest try of all time. Constant re-evaluation of the situation by all team members to put themselves in the right place at the right time.

Silent Monks sing Handel’s Messiah

Creative and clever output, reliant totally on each member playing their part. Impressive performance by high school pupils.

Takes 20-30 minutes

Resources

A set of poker chips. 200 in four colours works fine, the less you have in more limited colours, the harder the task will be.

Instructions For Tutor

Give the group a box of poker chips. Tell them

“You have 20 minutes to create a means of transferring a message from one half of the group to the other using only the chips placed on the table.

No paper or pencils are permitted.

After 20 minutes I will split the group in two and half of you will be asked to leave the room. I will give the remaining participants a 20-30 letter message that may involve letters or numbers but no punctuation, which you must pass to the other group using only the poker chips”

Facilitate the creation of the code. This is where the bulk of the team dynamics and personal development takes place as the participants try to refine their aim, then develop the code and finally to ensure that everyoe understands the code.

Use whatever means you like to capture this discussion, we have successfully used video, notes, phrases used jotted on a blackboard and having observers taken from within the group.

When they have a code, split the group into two and send half out of the room. Give the other half a short (20-30 letter) message on a piece of paper and help them encode it.

The messages are best if they have several words, and aren’t too easy to guess once you have 2-3 of the words. We’ve used short Shakespeare quotes and the names of the building we are in.

Invite the other half back in to decode it and ensure that there is no  cheating.

Swap the two halves of the group over and try with a different message.

Using it elsewhere

We have used variants of this task in a number of places.

• On a beach with different coloured stones.
• In a forest using sticks.
• On a draughts (checkers) board using the pieces.
• In a park using “whatever you can find”.
• In a mountain campsite using “the contents of your rucksack”.

Doing it outside makes it a much more physical, tactile task and adds whole new areas of discussion such as role allocation “You go and collect black stones” or even “What shall we use?”.