How to Use Ice Breakers for Team Meetings to build Teamwork #2 Helium Stick

This is a Team Building activity that will help you demonstrate how important it is to work as a team.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• a thin rod (preferably about 10 ft long)
• 8-12 employees is ideal setting (6-14 would work as well)

1. Line up in two rows facing each other and then introduce the helium stick (the 10 inch rod)
2. Ask participants to point their index fingers and hold their arms out.
3. Lay the Helium Stick down on their fingers. Get the group to adjust their finger heights until the Helium Stick is horizontal and everyone's index fingers are touching the stick. The goal is to lower the helium stick to the ground as a group.
4. As you are lowering it down you can not grab the pole or pinch it. The pole must lay on your fingers. If any participants do this then we have to start the exercise or game again.
5. The stick does not contain helium. The secret (keep it to yourself) is that the collective upwards pressure created by everyone's fingers tends to be greater than the weight of the stick. As a result, the more a group tries, the more the stick tends to 'float' upwards.
6. Discuss what this exercise did for the group
   
   * What was the initial reaction of the group?
   * How well did the group cope with this challenge?
   * What skills did it take to be successful as a group?
   * What creative solutions were suggested and how were they received?
   * What would an outside observer have seen as the strengths and weaknesses of the group?
   * What did each group member learn about him/her self as an individual?
   * What other situations (e.g., at school, home or work) are like the Helium Stick?
7. Time
   Total time ~25 mins
   
   * ~5 minute briefing and set up
   * ~10-15 minutes of active problem-solving (until success)
   * ~10 minutes discussion

Tips & Warnings

• The facilitator can offer direct suggestions or suggest the group stops the task, discusses their strategy, and then has another go.
• Less often, a group may appear to be succeeding too fast. In response, be particularly vigilant about fingers not touching the pole. Also make sure participants lower the pole all the way onto the ground. You can add further difficulty by adding a large washer to each end of the stick and explain that the washers should not fall off during the exercise, otherwise it's a restart.
• Warning: Particularly in the early stages, the Helium Stick has a habit of mysteriously 'floating' up rather than coming down, causing much laughter. A bit of clever humoring can help - e.g., act surprised and ask what are they doing raising the Helium Stick instead of lowering it! For added drama, jump up and pull it down!
• Some groups or individuals (most often larger size groups) after 5 to 10 minutes of trying may be inclined to give up, believing it not to be possible or that it is too hard.
• Eventually the group needs to calm down, concentrate, and very slowly, patiently lower the Helium Stick - easier said than done.