Page 271 - The Creative Training Idea Book Inspired Tips and Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning

lucas chap 07 11/20/02 12:29 PM Page 260
260 The Creative Training Idea Book
Nothing is interesting if you are not interested.
—Helen MacInness

TEAMWORK ACTIVITIES

Keeping the action moving in your sessions not only makes training time pass quickly,
but it also helps stimulate the brains of your learners. The end result is increased learning
and retention. There are many books and articles on the market explaining energizers;
the following are some of my favorites.

Team Lift

This activity can be used to grab attention, as you read about in Chapter 4, or as a group
activity.
You will need five people for a demonstration. Four should be relatively small (ap-
proximately 150 pounds and no taller than 5’8”) and one person larger (200 pounds
or more and 5’10” or taller).
Start by placing a chair in front of the room facing sideways from the audience.
Have the larger participant sit down. Position the other four participants so that two
are in front of the person facing him or her and one is on either side facing the partici-
pant. Explain to the five volunteers, so that the audience can also hear, that this is a
demonstration of how teamwork can allow people to do things that might not seem
possible, or that they might otherwise not accomplish. For the demonstration, show the
standing participants that they are to form a fist with both hands
and then extend their index fingers as if they were going to
point at someone. They are then going to connect the two
index fingers by bringing the tips of both index fingers
together. The people to either side will connect their
fingertips under the seated volunteer’s armpits while
the other two volunteers will connect their fingertips
under the knee of the seated volunteer. Tell them
that on your count of 3 each person will simply
keep his or her index fingers connected and, using
nothing else, lift the seated volunteer straight up.
Emphasize that with any successful team activity,
all must act in unison and in a fluid motion with-
out stopping.
Once they have lifted the participant, have them
gently place him or her back into the chair. Have par-
ticipants give a round of applause. You can then form
teams of five participants and let them practice the maneu-
ver if they’d like to.