Development Exercises

All of the activities in the following section highlight various aspects of team dynamics. All of the activities have been designed not only to deliver their corresponding messages but also to encourage fun and team spirit through their participation.

Chemical Spillage

Learning Points

• Communication
• Motivation
• Planning
• Teamwork
• Leadership

You are in a storage depot and you notice a barrel of toxic waste is leaking. There is a safe storage container 10 feet away and you must transfer the remaining liquid into it quickly. The surrounding ground is contaminated – you have very limited equipment – and the clock is running.

Human Sheep

Learning Points

• Assertiveness
• Trust
• Motivation
• Teamwork

Team members are shackled together in pairs, blind-folded and then the shepherd (team captain) has to control them up a course through a series of gates and into the holding pen using a whistle, a duck-call and a hooter – but no voice commands!

Electric Fence

Learning Points

• Assertiveness
• Motivation
• Trust
• Planning
• Teamwork
• Leadership

You discover an enemy installation protected by an electric fence and a mined ditch. Inside the compound is a valuable piece of electronic equipment – you must recover it using 2 poles and some logs by building a complex cantilever device, but if you touch the fence it triggers a loud siren!

Stepping Stones

Learning Points

• Communication
• Motivation
• Trust
• Planning
• Teamwork
• Leadership

Your team is stranded in a swamp – you must raise help – there is a flagpole and flag available – you must take the pole to the island and raise the flag by way of a series of stepping stones – unfortunately some of the routes are dead ends – and others are booby trapped!

Puzzles

Learning points

• Assertiveness
• Handling Conflict
• Negotiation
• Teamwork

You are confronted by an array of puzzles – you must try to complete as many as possible in the time period given. Each puzzle must be completed in the order set before moving onto the next. Teams are scored on practical aptitude, planning, communication, motivation and of course problem solving!

Railway Crossing

Learning Points

• Motivation
• Trust
• Planning
• Teamwork
• Leadership

Your team comes to a steep gorge, which all of you must cross. There was once a railway line across the gorge; unfortunately all that remains are the two Electrified lines and a number of timbers all of which are too short to straddle the lines.

Breachers Buoy

Learning Points

• Communication
• Motivation
• Trust
• Handling Conflict
• Negotiation
• Planning
• Teamwork
• Leadership

Your team finds an armed nuclear bomb – the deactivation key is in the middle of a quarantine zone. You must recover the key by constructing a device using the allocated resources, – and disarm the bomb before it explodes!

4 X 4 Recovery

Learning points

• Communication
• Motivation
• Planning
• Teamwork

Whilst on Safari in difficult terrain your Landrover becomes bogged down. You have a winch, various length straps, and shackles, snatch block and ground anchors with which to recover your vehicle in the fastest time possible up a winding course.

Grenade Launcher

Learning Points

• Communication
• Motivation
• Planning
• Teamwork
• Leadership

Using the equipment provided, the teams have to construct an egg launcher. Not only do the teams have to fire the egg across a gorge, but they also have to catch it to earn maximum points!