We use TV game show style programs to show our guests more about how they think so they may become safer, more productive, better communicators and team members at business meetings, conferences, conventions as well as in schools and at social events (e.g., birthdays, FUNdraisers and reunions). They may also become more sensitive to the needs of their customers, co-workers, leaders, direct reports and suppliers. In this article I will present some of our activities and what we hope to accomplish with them. Of course, I would appreciate it if you were to invite us to lead a program, but if you prefer feel free to lead these activities (at your own risk) within your organization. Enjoy!!!
Multitasking
One of our most important objectives is to discourage people from multitasking. While so many people indicate its importance in job descriptions, in fact multitasking may make people less productive. In most cases when people talk about multitasking, they really are not doing multiple things at the same time. Instead, they are switching between doing multiple individual tasks. For starters, the switching itself is an added task to make people less productive. Next, when we are not concentrating on a task something can happen that we miss that can have serious consequences. We should, for example, not be talking on a mobile phone while driving. When we are thinking about what to say, we are not concentrating on our driving. Thus, we may cause a collision or be part of a collision that we could have avoided. Similarly, we may miss an important detail in the conversation when something happens on the road. We have two activities that we use to illustrate how multitasking leads to non-productivity:
Multitasking A: Have your guests stand on one foot with their eyes closed while reciting the alphabet backwards. Performance will be worse doing both activities at the same time vs. doing them one at the time.
Multitasking B: Have your guests sit on a chair with both legs on the ground. Now have them start to draw clockwise circles with their right foot. While drawing these circles have them raise their right hand in the air and draw a big “6”. Note that the foot will change directions.
Don’t Go Too Fast
People are usually not very good at attending to details. We quickly extract an overall summary of the scene we are viewing and ignore the details. If we work fast, we will never process the details. That is one reason why we find so many typographical errors in printed materials and why we may recall the wrong information.
Don’t Go Too Fast A: Show your guests the letter E in the figure on the right for just a second or so. Remove the figure from view and ask them to draw the figure. You will probably end up with several different drawings, none of which are the same as the original figure. You can then discuss the merits of slowing down and rechecking work.
Don’t Go Too Fast B: Ask your guests to spell SPOT really fast five times. Right after they finish ask them “What do you do at a green light?” They will probably say STOP, but the actual answer is Go.
Give them a second chance. Ask them to spell ROAST really fast five times. Right after they finish ask them “What do you put into a toaster?” They will probably say TOAST, but the actual answer is bread, English muffins, bagels or something similar, not toast.
For a third chance ask them to spell SILK really fast five times. Right after they finish ask them “What do cows drink?” They will probably say MILK, but the right answer is water if anything.
You Are Not Listening
Oftentimes, we fail to read, remember and/or follow directions. Sometimes, in a discussion or debate instead of listening to and thinking about our co-workers presenting their point of view which may be very different than our own, we spend the time preparing our next argument. Obviously, I would like to see us pause and listen before preparing to argue.
You Are Not Listening A: Read the following to your guests. April’s mom had 4 daughters. May was born in May. June was born in June. Julie was born in July. Immediately after you read the above ask your guests Who was born in August? They are likely to answer August, Augusto or a similar name variation. The correct answer is April, which you read to them in the first two words of your opening sentence, April’s mom.
You Are Not Listening B: Please look at the attached chart and follow the directions. A substantial number of people will say the words rather than naming the colors in the bottom box. Completing this correctly requires going very slowly and carefully. We are performing two tasks at once here (naming colors and words) and cannot turn one off. While it may seem like we would name colors more easily, in fact we read words more easily when we are good readers. Since we can only say one word at once, the word which first comes to mind is the word, not the print color. This causes the error in good readers.
Ask Good Questions
Sometimes we need to ask good questions to be able to solve a problem when other people may know the answers, but we do not. This may require pausing and thinking about what we know and what we do not know considering answers we received to previous questions before asking each question. We may not do this and end up asking the same question multiple times or less than optimal questions making problem solving taking longer than it needs to.
Find The Present
We usually do this activity when celebrating someone’s birthday. We first blindfold the birthday honoree. Then we tell them we have hidden a present for them in the room. (We hide the present in what we think is the least likely place for it to be and the most difficult to find. Sometimes we put a box of packaging peanuts in front of them, as a decoy, though the present is not in the box.) Their job is to tell us what it is and where it is as quickly as possible while remaining securely blindfolded. They may walk around. They may ask everyone else in the room Yes/No questions. At the conclusion of the activity, we discuss the quality of questions asked, how they could have been better, etc.
The Sign Game
This is another FUN birthday activity. Ask all guests (except the honoree) to bring a sign printed on heavy 8.5 by 11 or A4 paper (unfolded) to the event in an envelope. Alternatively, have a computer and printer or paper and markers at your event and/or some pre-printed signs. Blindfold the honoree and have one of the guests hand them the first sign. Make a photo of them holding the sign and of the sign maker/presenter. The honoree’s activity is to say who made/presented the sign and what it says. Asking the entire audience good questions will help to complete the activity. Discuss strategies used to ask the questions at the conclusion of the activity.
Is It Realistic?
Sometimes we set goals that are totally unrealistic for ourselves and/or our teams. For example, most new year’s resolutions are abandoned early in the new year. This leads to frustration, lack of respect from the team, etc. So, it pays to test out ideas, ask the team for help, have not only a vision but a plan to achieve goals before committing to them. Assuming the goal seems simple and committing to is may not work.
Catch The Falling Dollar
Have one of your guests stand up and hold their hand parallel to the ground. Have them spread fingers 2 and 3. Tell them to catch the dollar (or two dollar) bill you will drop between their fingers but closing them after you let go. Most of the time they will not catch the dollar. This seems very easy, but is not physically possible to do more than occasionally. Gravity is simply faster than we are at sensing, perceiving, decision making, responding and communicating information.
Teamwork
Sometimes, you just cannot do it alone. You need to work through others, offering your suggestions, but letting them make theirs and leaving final decisions to their best judgement when they have a better view of the situation than you do. We like the following activity which requires a lot of teamwork, communication and creativity.
Carrying The Beanies
Assuming all of your guests are about the same size, ask each how many beanies they can carry without dropping any while shaking hands with many other people. Choose the person with the highest number to carry the beanies. (If people are different sizes, then make a judgment as to who made the biggest commitment based upon their size.) Tell them they can ask for help as desired. Now comes the surprise, blindfold the person who will carry the beanies!!! See how creative the team is and how successful they are at loading the beanies and completing the mission. (We had someone initially say they could do the task themselves… no way…)
Concluding Remarks
I hope that you will have FUN with these activities without losing sight of the important lessons behind each one. I would suggest that you conclude your program by reviewing each of the activities and the important lessons behind each one. If you need more directions on any of the activities or would like me to bring these, plus lots more activities to your business, FUNdraiser, social event or your children’s school please reach out. My email is [email protected] and my phone is 401.272.4664.
This is a contributed blog post by Ronald G. Shapiro, PhD. Ron is a speaker and consultant in career development, leadership development and human factors/ergonomics. His work experience includes 23 years at IBM in human factors/ergonomics, human resources/corporate learning and management and college/university teaching. He has both a doctoral and master’s degree in psychology from the Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree (also in psychology) from the University of Rochester. Ron is active in professional organizations for psychologists and business professionals.
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I would like to thank Dr. Margarita Cossuto for a helpful review of this article. Margarita Cossuto, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow in clinical psychology at a private practice in Connecticut.