We did some icebreakers during our workshop on Day 1.
For the first icebreaker, we introduced ourselves on a piece of paper, folded it into a paper plane and threw it across the hall. Afterwards, we chose 1 random paper plane on the floor and try to find its owner using the information written in it.
It was quite chaotic as everyone was standing around the narrow aisle trying to find their paper planes. My strategy was to unwrap the paper plane and showcase the information to everyone. Eventually, I found the owner of it, Rina.
It was an interesting icebreaker as some were shouting “who has mine?” and some were going from person to person looking at the information written on each paper plane.
We were able to see how some were more vocal in communicating to others whereas some were more reserved but moving systematically to find their paper plane.
For the 3rd activity, we did a “message relay” icebreaker. The “looker” would have to convey what they saw and tell the “listener” who would then describe what they heard to the “drawer” who would then draw whatever the “listener” said.
I was the “looker” and one thing I realized after the activity was that I did not describe it detail enough. For example the photo had 4 apartment blocks on the seesaw on the far left but when I described it to the “listener”, I just said “apartment blocks beside money bag”. This lack of detail made the listener convey just 1 information but that information was not accurate. The activity gave me an insight on how crucial communication is within a team as wrong information could have negative effects down the line.
For the last activity, we formed groups of 7 and tried to build the tallest tower using ice cream sticks and a roll of tape.
Our strategy was to split the job between us. 3 focused on the tower portion and the remaining 4 focused on the base of the tower. We taped the ice cream sticks from end to end for the tower and made a pyramid for a solid base.
It turned out quite well but there were hiccups during the process. Firstly, we had to share the single roll of tape and we did not have any scissors. But with Ryan’s strength, he was able to tear the tape to distribute it amongst the team. Secondly, time constraint. We only had a short amount of time, so the quality of the tower that we built was not great and we went over the time limit set. It was impossible to make it look good in a short amount of time but did our tower stand? It did.
By splitting our workload and utilizing the different strengths of our team, we were able to make the tallest tower that did not topple. It shows that even in a short amount of time, with good communication, we can achieve what we set out for if the instructions and idea that we have are clear.
Reference list:
Image:
Chorazy, E 2020, ‘COMM2733_2020_CLASS1_Workshop_Final-‘ PowerPoint slides, COMM2733, RMIT University, viewed 2 January 2020 https://rmit.instructure.com/courses/70338/files/10724065/download?wrap=1
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