Build a tower, build a team

There is a great movement happening with team building.....

When completing a task as a team a great deal of time is given to orienting oneself to the task and identifying common variables.  Then a great deal of the time is given to creating roles and responsibilities of team members included in the task.  What was fascinating to me was the competition that goes into an activity called the marshmallow challenge. (details at:http://marshmallowchallenge.com/Welcome.html ) What was fascinating is the effectiveness to which kindergartenrs performaned as related to the average business students.  WOW!

I don't want to give away the results of the below video but I'll quickly talk about what I learned.  First of all an effective team has a facilitator, so quickly determine who will do that.  Secondly, try out things and don't be afraid to fail.  Third, change reinforcing patterns (systems theory) and quickly listen for feedback and working towards a common goal.  The final thing I learned was the impact high stakes has on students or in this case competitors performance.  The higher the stakes, the lower the performance.  WOW!

Enjoy!