Warp Speed

What: One of the best initiatives. Can be used indoors or out, works as well early or later in a training. Requires successive levels of thinking "outside of the box" for success. An excellent follow-up activity to Group Juggle.

Group Size: 8-20

Time: 30-60 Minutes

Props: one foam or fleece ball (a 9" round nerf ball works well and is readily available at most major retailers).

Instructions:

1. [If this is a follow-up to Group Juggle, skip to step 5]

2. Ask your group to form a circle. You will also form part of the circle with the throwables within easy reach.

3. Explain: "I'm going to start by tossing this ball to someone else in the circle. If you receive it, toss it to someone else in the circle not immediately on either side of you. That person will toss it to another person who has not yet received it and again not immediately on either side of him or her. Throwing continues until the last person tosses the ball back to me. Remember who you tossed to because we will try to recreate the pattern in the next phase. Any questions?"

4. Toss the ball to someone across from you. The cycle continues until the ball comes back to you. Repeat one more time so that everyone is clear who they toss the ball to and from whom they receive it. The ball must follow the same pattern both times.

5. Explain: "We are now going to see how quickly we can send this one ball from start to finish through the system.

   The only stipulation is that the ball must pass through the system in the same order that we have already established. [Remember these words: how you state this stipulation will define the boundaries for how this task can be accomplished.]

   I am going to step out of the system now, so the person that I tossed to will become both the beginning and the end person. Any questions?

   I will start time as soon as the ball leaves the first person, and I will stop time when it returns to him/her. You may begin when ready."

6. Time their first attempt. Applaud their attempt, whatever it is (one second per participant or longer is quite normal). And prompt them with "you can do better." Allow for planning, additional attempts and more planning.

7. At some point the group will ask you how fast this can be done or how fast you've seen it done or what the ultimate goal is. Answer for most groups of 20 people or less = less than one second.

8. Continue until the group attains the elusive "warp speed" or ceases to be actively engaged in trying to reach it. Process the activity.

Facilitator Notes:

1. Once the group learns of the goal that they are trying to reach, expect responses like "no way" and "are you kidding?" This will however alert them to the fact that the whole system needs to fundamentally change.

2. Fundamental changes that the group should progress through include movement (e.g., moving closer together, changing the position of the participants in the circle, moving out of a circle to a line or some other shape), changing how the ball moves through the system (e.g., from a toss to a hand off to a roll across hands or along the ground).

3. How creatively you allow the group to interpret its objective and the stipulation is a function of your assessment of the group and your learning goal. We have had groups ask if they just put the ball on the ground and then touch it in succession, does this satisfies the objective? [Does it? Pause here and reflect ...] Our response in this case is usually to ask the group to answer its own question. Does the ball actually pass through the system in the correct order? Most groups usually choose to continue to seek another solution, and we applaud their "thinking outside of the box" even if it didn't exactly provide the solution - it shows movement in the right direction.