Traffic Jams and Leadership Building
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
So this week we did a little stealth leadership training. The weapon of choice was a nifty little game called "Traffic Jam." Traffic Jam works like this: you set up two groups of four, and line up nine chairs. You seat each group at the end so it looks like this:
A B C D [empty] W X Y Z
Here are the rules. Each group has to move to the opposide side. Only one person can move at a time, and only to the next empty seat. You can only "jump over" someone coming in the opposite direction, and only jump one person. And no talking.
They did accomplish it, eventually. Then I laid some more rules on them:
You have to wind up in the same order you started, but on the opposite side. And you have to accomplish it in 24 moves. So really, they did not accomplish the desired result.
In other words, the result must be:
W X Y Z [empty] A B C D
After 50 moves, they still could not do it. So I told them that now they could talk. There was a lot of yelling and ordering going on, but after 50 moves they still didn't accomplish much.
So I told them that they could select a leader, and only that leader could speak. They got closer this time - a lot closer. But still, no joy.
Then I told them that I would be their leader, and I would direct them. Since I had the solution written down, it was easy - done in 24 moves exactly!
One kid asked me - what was the point? "I don't know." I said. "What happened?"
First, there were no clear directions - FAIL!!!
Then there were directions, but no communication - FAIL!!!
Then there was communication, but no organization. Just noise. - FAIL!!!
Then there was organization, but no plan. -- FAIL!!!
Finally, there was a leader with a vision, with authority, and with a plan - SUCCESS!!!
What can your leadership team learn from this example???
Posted byMichael J Mahoney at 7:54 AM
Labels: fun, leadership, ministry
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Wow Mike that is an awesome lesson! PTL