Hi Rajat:
Your simplicity is your goodness. Yes i did watch this movie. But do not remember the dialouge, seems that you would have watched this movie many times... (My favorite Tom Curise movie is Three wise men and The last samurai)
Rajat, had a question for you, Can you share with us how "Creativity & Lateral Thinking - a topic " became passion and area of interest to you?
Regards
Radhika
From India, Madras
1Your simplicity is your goodness. Yes i did watch this movie. But do not remember the dialouge, seems that you would have watched this movie many times... (My favorite Tom Curise movie is Three wise men and The last samurai)
Rajat, had a question for you, Can you share with us how "Creativity & Lateral Thinking - a topic " became passion and area of interest to you?
Regards
Radhika
From India, Madras
Hi Radhika,
A good question..i have been fortunate that i had privilege of working with Senior Management Team esp in my early stages of career and what i essentially realised that these Sr Management Team members had displayed high sense of competency for creativity & lateral thinking while dealing with complexities & problem areas..well this is something which is not taught or atleast spoken about during our academic years..i sometimes wonder how our academic co-ordinators have been blind to this topic/area?!..they all have learnt on the job by virtue of having a good boss or by their own interests..also i keep asking questions & probing their thought process..last week during the flight to Mumbai from Delhi..met a person who has composed the music for Hum Tum..and enquired about his source of creativity n so on..
In 2004 i attended the workshop on Creativity at IIM - Ahmedabad which opened my eyes to endless options and the potential it had for the organizations & individuals. Thereafter studied the subject during my short sabbatical from the Industry and made modules ; conducted the workshops at B-schools..initially my efforts were scoffed at and many B-schools were skeptical of this workshop..i remember during my meetings with the one of the top B-school's director - mentioned that why i did do the Management course from Symbiosis and should enroll myself in his institute!!
In India, Creativity & Lateral thinking is yet to catch up in a structured manner in B-schools though efforts have been made by IIM - Bangalore by inviting artists to showcase their talent and encouraging the students to draw.. but not yet have taken the steps like US Schools do..they have a structured Creativity program over a period of 6 - 8 months where he has to earn grades by clearing the exams & showcasing his creativity & lateral thinking talents which is measured before the commencement of the program and compared to the scores after the program. Well i guess it would take some time for Indian B-schools to catch up..
If you want to know more about the same please check the section on Lateral Thinking under Organization Development Forum.
Cheers,
Rajat
From India, Pune
A good question..i have been fortunate that i had privilege of working with Senior Management Team esp in my early stages of career and what i essentially realised that these Sr Management Team members had displayed high sense of competency for creativity & lateral thinking while dealing with complexities & problem areas..well this is something which is not taught or atleast spoken about during our academic years..i sometimes wonder how our academic co-ordinators have been blind to this topic/area?!..they all have learnt on the job by virtue of having a good boss or by their own interests..also i keep asking questions & probing their thought process..last week during the flight to Mumbai from Delhi..met a person who has composed the music for Hum Tum..and enquired about his source of creativity n so on..
In 2004 i attended the workshop on Creativity at IIM - Ahmedabad which opened my eyes to endless options and the potential it had for the organizations & individuals. Thereafter studied the subject during my short sabbatical from the Industry and made modules ; conducted the workshops at B-schools..initially my efforts were scoffed at and many B-schools were skeptical of this workshop..i remember during my meetings with the one of the top B-school's director - mentioned that why i did do the Management course from Symbiosis and should enroll myself in his institute!!
In India, Creativity & Lateral thinking is yet to catch up in a structured manner in B-schools though efforts have been made by IIM - Bangalore by inviting artists to showcase their talent and encouraging the students to draw.. but not yet have taken the steps like US Schools do..they have a structured Creativity program over a period of 6 - 8 months where he has to earn grades by clearing the exams & showcasing his creativity & lateral thinking talents which is measured before the commencement of the program and compared to the scores after the program. Well i guess it would take some time for Indian B-schools to catch up..
If you want to know more about the same please check the section on Lateral Thinking under Organization Development Forum.
Cheers,
Rajat
From India, Pune
I recently bought some books off amazon to use for fodder for ideas. Here are the titles,
301 ways to have fun at work - Dave Hemsath & Leslie Yerkes
1001 ways to energize employees - Bob Nelson
1001 to reward employees - Bob Nelson
Get Weird: 101 innovative way to make your company a great place to work - John Putzier
Like I said these can be used as fodder to generate ideas. I leave them out on my desk and employees frequently come up and look through them, two also asked to take them back to their desks.
I'm not trying to plug Amazon or anything, just thought that some materials might be useful, also I've used some game ideas from the following websites
- http://www.partygamecentral.com/ and http://www.party411.com/gameguide.html
Good Luck!
301 ways to have fun at work - Dave Hemsath & Leslie Yerkes
1001 ways to energize employees - Bob Nelson
1001 to reward employees - Bob Nelson
Get Weird: 101 innovative way to make your company a great place to work - John Putzier
Like I said these can be used as fodder to generate ideas. I leave them out on my desk and employees frequently come up and look through them, two also asked to take them back to their desks.
I'm not trying to plug Amazon or anything, just thought that some materials might be useful, also I've used some game ideas from the following websites
- http://www.partygamecentral.com/ and http://www.party411.com/gameguide.html
Good Luck!
Hi there,
It was interesting to read that "team building" is almost always related to playing games. I work with top management teams for team-building, and we focus clearly on issues that need to be addressed to get the team together. Playing games would not necessarily solve the problems that team members have of the team and in relation to the rest of the organization.
I work with teams 15 days prior to a 3-day team-building summit. I do an assessment of issues that need to come out on the table, and based on the resulting data, along with a selected Planning Team, design an agenda for exercises at an offsite retreat where the team would stay overnight. True organization development and transformation would only come about by following an agenda that is sure to bring about such a result. Playing games could actually divide a team if some members' skills are not apt for it.
Good luck with your team.
Mubeena Mohd, M.A.
Professional Profile
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
It was interesting to read that "team building" is almost always related to playing games. I work with top management teams for team-building, and we focus clearly on issues that need to be addressed to get the team together. Playing games would not necessarily solve the problems that team members have of the team and in relation to the rest of the organization.
I work with teams 15 days prior to a 3-day team-building summit. I do an assessment of issues that need to come out on the table, and based on the resulting data, along with a selected Planning Team, design an agenda for exercises at an offsite retreat where the team would stay overnight. True organization development and transformation would only come about by following an agenda that is sure to bring about such a result. Playing games could actually divide a team if some members' skills are not apt for it.
Good luck with your team.
Mubeena Mohd, M.A.
Professional Profile
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
I completely agree with you Mabeena, without knowing the competence levels, issues which need to be resolved etc.. pertaining to the Team with whom the games are to be played, the program should not be planned.
Maximum information possible should be collected from the participants, HR Department, Objectives, Learnings, Expectations from the program etc.. and then shape should be given to the Team Building activities, if the activities are to be really successful.
regards,
Hanu
www.innovativetraining4u.com
From India, Gurgaon
Maximum information possible should be collected from the participants, HR Department, Objectives, Learnings, Expectations from the program etc.. and then shape should be given to the Team Building activities, if the activities are to be really successful.
regards,
Hanu
www.innovativetraining4u.com
From India, Gurgaon
Dear Rajat,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
This activity on team building was wonderful during my sessions. Thanks to you !!
I also want to request you to share some team building games when we have to conduct outbound trainings and can not go for trekking, rock climbing etc.
Further Thanks in anticipation.
Regards
Tejvinder Kaur
Objective
For people to contribute their individual talents and skills to the group.
Group Size
10 or more (more is better!)
Materials
Paper
Pens or pencils
Description
Divide the group into teams of five to fifteen members each (the bigger the teams the better). Give each group paper and pen or pencil and give them five minutes to come up with five challenges for the other groups to attempt to successfully accomplish.
The group creating the challenge must be able to demonstrate that they can do it before another team is challenged. The challenges may be physical (build a pyramid, one person can carry five people, everyone stands on his/her head, etc.) Or the challenge may be anything else (our group has the most birthdays in one month, our group can sing any TV theme song you name, etc.). The challenge must not be obviously impossible for the other groups to accomplish (our group has the person with the longest hair).
Once the challenges are written down, each group gives out one challenge at a time and demonstrates it, then the other groups get a chance to try to accomplish this task in a given amount of time. you may give points to teams who can "take the challenge" successfully.
Discussion Prompts
1. Was it easy for your group to find things that everyone could successfully do? Why or why not?
2. Did you have to rely on the talents of the group members?
3. Did any team feel like it was hard to find talents within your group? If so, why?
4. How much do you rely on the talents of others or of yourself when you are in a group?
5. Do you always let your talents be known? Why or why not?
Cheers,
Rajat[/quote]
From India, New Delhi
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
This activity on team building was wonderful during my sessions. Thanks to you !!
I also want to request you to share some team building games when we have to conduct outbound trainings and can not go for trekking, rock climbing etc.
Further Thanks in anticipation.
Regards
Tejvinder Kaur
Objective
For people to contribute their individual talents and skills to the group.
Group Size
10 or more (more is better!)
Materials
Paper
Pens or pencils
Description
Divide the group into teams of five to fifteen members each (the bigger the teams the better). Give each group paper and pen or pencil and give them five minutes to come up with five challenges for the other groups to attempt to successfully accomplish.
The group creating the challenge must be able to demonstrate that they can do it before another team is challenged. The challenges may be physical (build a pyramid, one person can carry five people, everyone stands on his/her head, etc.) Or the challenge may be anything else (our group has the most birthdays in one month, our group can sing any TV theme song you name, etc.). The challenge must not be obviously impossible for the other groups to accomplish (our group has the person with the longest hair).
Once the challenges are written down, each group gives out one challenge at a time and demonstrates it, then the other groups get a chance to try to accomplish this task in a given amount of time. you may give points to teams who can "take the challenge" successfully.
Discussion Prompts
1. Was it easy for your group to find things that everyone could successfully do? Why or why not?
2. Did you have to rely on the talents of the group members?
3. Did any team feel like it was hard to find talents within your group? If so, why?
4. How much do you rely on the talents of others or of yourself when you are in a group?
5. Do you always let your talents be known? Why or why not?
Cheers,
Rajat[/quote]
From India, New Delhi
Hi Tejvinder Kaur,
Thank you for your comments.
Incase if you go out and cannot have rock climbing & water rafting etc..though these are good exercises.
One can attempt this as how much one knows about the other person…it’s called six degrees of separation.
Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is no more than six "steps" away from each person on Earth.
Make sure everyone meets each other for 5 minutes..in which they have to gather information on common and shared interests like common school studied, names of kids, spouses if they r similar, or same companies worked earlier, common bosses in ex-co..etc.
If they are 10 people..this will last for I hr and stop the session
After one hr..each will give a talk as what common atleast 6 things they found with each person.
Regards,
Rajat Joshi
From India, Pune
Thank you for your comments.
Incase if you go out and cannot have rock climbing & water rafting etc..though these are good exercises.
One can attempt this as how much one knows about the other person…it’s called six degrees of separation.
Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is no more than six "steps" away from each person on Earth.
Make sure everyone meets each other for 5 minutes..in which they have to gather information on common and shared interests like common school studied, names of kids, spouses if they r similar, or same companies worked earlier, common bosses in ex-co..etc.
If they are 10 people..this will last for I hr and stop the session
After one hr..each will give a talk as what common atleast 6 things they found with each person.
Regards,
Rajat Joshi
From India, Pune
Dear all,
Yesterday we had a training session on team building and herein the exercise was conducted.
Three teams were formed comprising of 6 membes each and they are asked to select the team leader and the three team leaders were asked to go out of the hall.
Meanwhile treasure/landmarks are created in the hall wherein stuff are kept like plates, glasses, keys etc,..atleast 7 such places are prepared and also prepare the obstacles are prepared like chairs and tables etc.
First leader is called into the hall and is blindfolded and is guided by his team member to search for these items.
One which finishes earlier in time wins the game and assessment is made by each team in terms the lessons learnt and their own strengths and weakness.
Regards,
Rajat
From India, Pune
Yesterday we had a training session on team building and herein the exercise was conducted.
Three teams were formed comprising of 6 membes each and they are asked to select the team leader and the three team leaders were asked to go out of the hall.
Meanwhile treasure/landmarks are created in the hall wherein stuff are kept like plates, glasses, keys etc,..atleast 7 such places are prepared and also prepare the obstacles are prepared like chairs and tables etc.
First leader is called into the hall and is blindfolded and is guided by his team member to search for these items.
One which finishes earlier in time wins the game and assessment is made by each team in terms the lessons learnt and their own strengths and weakness.
Regards,
Rajat
From India, Pune
Great games,
I like the human chain game too...
you get people in groups of 5-8, ask them to out their right hands in, then hold a random hand, then to place their left hands in, again, ask them to hold a random left hand... this will cause a hand CHAIN! the point of the game is for teams to get a big circle out of the chain by twisting/bending/jumping/what ever they think is beneficial to untie the chain!
Its a fun game that was brought to me by a fellow consultant whilst preparing for a team building exercise.
Highly recommended :-)
From United Kingdom, London
I like the human chain game too...
you get people in groups of 5-8, ask them to out their right hands in, then hold a random hand, then to place their left hands in, again, ask them to hold a random left hand... this will cause a hand CHAIN! the point of the game is for teams to get a big circle out of the chain by twisting/bending/jumping/what ever they think is beneficial to untie the chain!
Its a fun game that was brought to me by a fellow consultant whilst preparing for a team building exercise.
Highly recommended :-)
From United Kingdom, London
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