Why Do Any of This?

Groups, if they are going to perform together, need to practice together. That is obvious. The Army and Marines get it and call it ‘boot camp.’ Theater and dance groups get it and they call it ‘rehearsal.’ Sports teams get it and they call it ‘practice.’ Business groups don’t get it and for the most part don’t do anything. Typically business groups have low group performance. Do we see a pattern here?

So that is where the stupid games come in. They start to look like they are not so stupid. They let groups take a look at their own behavior in order to discover how they can improve their performance. The notion is simple: a group solves problems the way it does because the people are the same. A group’s ‘group dynamics’ are the group’s dynamics. This is true whether it is in the stupid game or back at the ‘ranch.’

The major difference is if the group back at the ranch does not perform well there are consequences internally and with customers. If the group does not perform well at the stupid game, it is a big-time opportunity to learn. There are no consequences in the stupid game except learning, having fun and laughing at yourself.

So what do groups learn? Here are the some of the lessons I have seen groups of people learn over and over again. Again, there is a game called The Tent Pole. Using just their index fingers, the group is to lower the tent pole down to the ground. At no time are you to lose contact with the pole. The fingers are all under the tent pole trying to maintain contact. The pole goes up instead of down. People scream and yell at each other. Blame is heaped on some poor scoundrel. It’s all great fun.

One of the things that people typically say as an excuse for their lack of performance is that no one was appointed the leader and that is why chaos occurred. That is often the obvious and agreed upon excuse. But is that true? In reality, people are deaf to what is really missing which is listening. No one is listening when this exercise starts.

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