Provide an Experience for Successful Change Management
Change is so scary, people often tend to avoid it. They go through training of change management ridden with doubts. It is not easy to provide experiences of successful change management in a short period of time, as most training games cannot be too challenging. This is not always true though. Here's an experiential learning game which poses quite a challenge. It is called 'keep the ball up'. The aim of the game is to throw the ball in the air and the group has to collaborate to keep the ball in the air for a 100 throws.
Steps
- Ask the trainees to stand together in a tightly knit group.
- Pass them a throw ball.
- Tell the group that it is expected to throw the ball in the air and keep it up for a 100 counts to win the game.
- If the ball is allowed to drop on the ground before reaching the count of hundred, then the game should be started anew beginning the count from 1.
- Once the group has succeeded (usually in fifteen minutes)debrief the game.
- Bring to the notice of the group the strategies they used to succeed - discovery of a few experts who are able to control the ball and keep it in the air; as soon as the ball strays, the group directs it back to the experts; discovery of some experts who are also leaders and who bounce the ball towards as many of the group as possible so that they will also be involved.
- Draw parallels with the process of change management.
Tips
- Play this game just before lunch/break time to increase the challenge. Include the clause "you get to eat only if you keep the ball up for 100 counts".
- Outdoors suits this game excellently.
Warnings
- Warn the trainees to refrain from throwing the ball too high in the air as it could hurt the fingers of people trying to bounce it back.
- It could also hurt the faces of people whose reflexes are slow.
Things You'll Need
- You will need: A volleyball or a throw ball, or a good sized ball
- You'll need to be in a high ceiling room in about 500 sq. ft. of space, if you are playing indoors
- A group of fourteen to fifteen people or more
