Team Balance™

How does it work?
Participants work together, holding the labyrinth between them at waist height, in order to co-ordinate and control the movement of the ball(s) around the labyrinth, through a series of obstacles. As their skill improves, the tasks become increasingly complex, with budgets, penalties and time-limits.

What are the business benefits?
This is an excellent activity for helping a manager to get to know team skills and personal styles. It is perfect on a team-building programme, in that it demands each person to be aware of their own influence, role and responsibility. Individual characteristics quickly become clear: the risk takers as opposed to those who play safe, the patient and persistent as opposed to those quickly frustrated by failure. At the start of working with a new project team the activity offers quick insights into team and individual styles which can help in job allocation or in knowing how to motivate key players.
The exercise can be used repeatedly, in short sessions, to assess improvements. It can also be used in competition as there are measurable results, which  motivate teams to seek ways of improving their performance.

Give me an example of how it is used.
At RSVP Design we use Team Balance as a quick and lively way of illustrating team roles and personal preferences in action. Participants familiar with models such as the Belbin Team Role Inventory or MBTI soon see the differences being displayed and can explore the effects that individuals can have on both task and team success.
We also use Team Balance as a very quick way of getting participants to think and work through a ‘task achievement’ process, identifying the steps in the learning process they go through in order to move towards excellent performance.

“In the activity I tended to push too hard and to be too abrupt in my movements, causing unexpected results...I recognised that I do this at work, pushing my team and trying
too hard to influence what is going on. My team members have said to me in the past things like, ”Just let it happen...” Now I know what they mean and I’m trying to change the way I behave, and the pressure I put on other people, particularly under stress”.
(Participant on a Management Coaching Skills workshop)

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