Last time I posted the first exercise I took in my team building session. This is the second one.

Set up numbered paper plates in the following pattern on the floor or take a printout of this pattern and pass it to each team.

The rules of this exercise are:

1. The exercise is completed when all plates are touched in numerical order.
2. If any plate is touched out of order, then the participants must begin again at one.
3. Only one plate can be touched at a time.
4. Coaching from the team is encouraged.
5. The exercise will be timed.

Solutions:

1. Pattern: After a few times through the exercise, this pattern will begin to develop.

9	41	33	29	1		10	42	34	30	2
49	17	13	21	53		50	18	14	22	54
5	25	37	45	57		6	26	38	46	58
12	44	36	32	4		11	43	35	31	3
52	20	16	24	56		51	19	15	23	55
8	28	40	48	60		7	27	39	47	59

2. Rearrange Plates: Creative teams may decide to rearrange the plate into an easier order. As the facilitator, you must tell them to restart the exercise every time they touch a plate out of order. Teams really thinking outside the box will ignore this distraction and continue putting plates in an easier order.

3. Other solutions your team may invent.

Yesterday I just gave a small presentation on team building. It was more of an hour workshop then a session. I am just posting the presentation now, however I’ll post the task/exercises I took for the teams in my session, so keep checking out.

Please read the tortoise story in this presentation, its really nice one.