Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have found that running boosts the growth of new nerve cells improving learning and memory. Today, we’re going to look at how we can get our participants to use their legs in a similar fashion.
For some easy step by step instructions on how to run this quick energiser, read on!
Pole Runner
This energiser focuses on teamwork, communication, planning and thinking outside the box. You will need to have some lightweight rods, sticks or tubes available for this game. A light, 2m long PVC tube will be fine for each group.
Instructions
1. Ask everyone to divide into small teams of about 4.
2. Now show everyone the lightweight tubes you have. Tell them their aim is to move the tube from one side of the room to the other. Tell them you will give them some time to plan as a team how they will achieve this. Then teams can race each other to see who wins.
3. The rules are:
- Only their legs (and feet) can touch the pole.
- Everyone must be touching the pole at all times.
- If someone is not touching the pole, the team must move back to the beginning.
Training tip: If participants have their own Team Management Profiles, encourage them to talk about how they can use their work preferences and team roles in this activity.
5. After 6 minutes ask all the teams to form a line with their poles in position. When everyone is quiet, give them
a quick reminder of the rules (particularly the penalty if someone is not touching the pole). Then it’s Ready, Get Set, Go!
Training tip: There are many ways to accomplish this. Some teams may place the pole on the ground while everyone rolls it with the bottom of their feet towards the finish line. Teams may also choose to rest the pole on top of one of their feet (as illustrated) and run to the other side. Other teams may find some sticky tape in the room and tape the pole to their legs. Of course there are no limits to how it can be done!
6. You can run as many races as you like depending on how much time you have. If you choose to do more than one race, remember to ask teams to stop and reflect how they performed after each race and whether there is anything they want to do differently next time.
7. The lessons learned about teamwork, communication, planning and innovation are can be quite clear in this training game and usually does not require extensive debriefing. Asking the team to reflect on their own performance and what they learned as a result is always a nice end to the activity. And of course, translating these lessons into action is the next step.
That’s today’s workshop game! I hope you enjoy facilitating it in your own training sessions. Please feel free to add your thoughts and comments below.
See you for the final ‘whole body’ energiser tomorrow.
Sarah
|
|
|
