The Best Experiential Activities for a Physically (Socially) Distanced Workplace
A socially or physically distanced workplace need not be a barrier to experiential learning. In fact, physical distancing is something as facilitators we’ll need to embrace and incorporate into our workshops. As workplaces start cranking up, it’s vital for teams to rebuild and find new and effective ways of communicating and working. They’ll need to establish the ‘new normal‘, and explore what adaptions are required to work effectively. And they’ll need test and hone these adaptions.
At MTa we’ve been through all our activities and picked the activities that:
a) can be done while maintaining physical distancing, and
b) will help and support your participants adapt and flourish in the ‘new normal’
In anticipation of gradual return to normality or for environments where wearing PPE is the norm, we’ve also flagged the activities that can be done while maintaining physical distancing but require participants to share components.
For some activities the only adaption you need to make is spacing chairs. For other activities you may need limit team size and for others you’ll need to give participants their own set of components. If you’d like help deciding which would be the best activity for you, or learn more about how to adapt a specific activity call or email.
We’re also busy putting some of our activities online. The Culprit is already available (get in touch) with more to follow soon.
MTa activities that can be completed while physically distanced
Key Themes | Activity | Kit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Accuracy in Communication | Getting it Right | Accuracy in communication: the cost of errors, the importance of clear and unambiguous instructions, verbal vs. pictoral vs. written instructions. | |
Accurate and Efficient Verbal Communication | Blind Statues | Group members have to create simple structures that will enable them to move an object as far as possible. The task involves a planning and an implementation phase. | |
Angles and Geometry Angles | Angles | Teams have to combine maths and technology to calculate angles and produce structures containing these angles. | |
Big Picture Communication | Back to Back | This task involves effective communication at two levels, within and between pairs. To be successful individuals must work effectively giving and receiving clear instructions, whilst the pairs must work together to produce a single product. | |
Capitalising on the Diversity of the Team | My Success | There are three parts to the activity. In each part individuals work within groups to achieve the highest score they can for themselves (not the group) by building stacks. The rules for scoring are different in each part of the activity. | |
Capitalising on Change | Words, Names & Numbers | MTa Coaching Skills - Complete experiential workshop in one package. Enable line managers to develop the skills and attitudes that will turn them into effective workplace coaches. | |
Compass Bearings and Geometry | Get Orientated | Teams have to create a structure that will point to specified points of the compass (you tell them which way is north). | |
Developing trust within teams | Everyone’s a Winner? | The decisions involved in completing the task are complex. Teams develop their strategy and select a leader, but each team’s strategy has to be implemented by individuals working alongside their competitors, not their colleagues. | |
Effective Communication between Team Members | Feet Of Clay | Participants work together to develop and execute a strategy to pass a marble as far as possible. | |
Effective Team Working | Group Necklace | Teams compete against each other to complete a task. It appears to be simple but teams that dive-in find out that planning and attention to detail pays dividends. | |
Setting Achievable Personal and Team Goals | Leading Pairs | The decisions involved in completing the task are complex. Pairs work to develop their strategies which have to be implemented by individuals whilst working alongside their competitors, not their colleagues. | |
Solving Problems in Teams | Jigsaw | The activity is in two parts. During the first five minutes, team members prepare for the task on their own; they then come together to pool their resources to complete a jigsaw. | |
Team Dynamics | The Culprit | MTa The Culprit - Help your staff give better feedback. A cleverly designed exercise in which all team members receive feedback on their personal styles and give feedback to others. | |
Team Problem Solving | Colourful Necklace | Teams are competing against each other to complete a task that appears simple (making a necklace that will encircle the whole group). However team members soon find it needs creative problem solving, care in planning and quality checks when executing the task. | |
Team Working | Threading Needles Carefully | Teams complete a simple team task, that demands they apply basic team working skills. | |
Understanding success: personal drivers and attitudes | Disc Roll | Competing teams score points by setting themselves and achieving targets. Teams monitor their progress against the competition and revise their plans to help them achieve their goals. |
Physically distanced activities with shared components
In these MTa activities participants can remain physically distanced but share components.
Key Themes | Activity | Kit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Building Trust and Relationships | My Views | Individuals score as many points as they can by taking part in a relatively simple task. However, as the task proceeds they have to disclose information about themselves. | |
Communication between remote team members | Minefield | Each team has members on either side of a minefield. Team members on both sides have to work together to complete a task but they have to remain on their own side throughout. There are several ways that the task can be accomplished, but mistakes are penalised. | |
Focusing on the Bottom Line | Getting Ahead | Competing teams make money by trading their components and selling products to the customer (you the facilitator). Each team has a similar store of raw materials, but different product ranges and therefore differing needs for raw materials. | |
Innovation and Change | Domino Theory | The task is quick, simple and fun, with each team's performance clear for all to see. Teams are given a chance to improve their performance. The challenge is to kerb enthusiasm for more action and to challenge basic assumptions, consider alternatives and decide how to improve. | |
Innovation, Collaboration and Cooperation | New Dimensions | MTa New Dimensions - 3 phase powerful & portable experiential tool to encourage inter-team cooperation and collaboration, promoting personal understanding, challenge individual thinking and raise discussion on important topics. | |
Leading Under Pressure | Leading the Team | The leaders of one or two teams are given a series of tasks that have to be completed by their teams, as well as a confidential task that must be done by them alone. The pay that team members and the leader receive is affected by the decisions the leader makes. | |
Managing and Leading Remote Teams | Led Jigsaw | During the first five minutes the team members work individually on their own section of a task. Subsequently everyone works together under the direction of the leader to complete a 'jigsaw' which has a correct solution. | |
Process Improvement and Lean Working | KanDo Lean | MTa KanDo Lean is an experiential table top activity for anyone in the office, factory or supply chain who needs to understand lean processing. | |
Team versus Individual Success | Digital Display | Everyone has a task, so looking after yourself first is tempting, and personal achievement satisfying, but what if your short-term success prevents others (and therefore the team) from completing the overall task? |
