Games Day - Stepping Stones

We have talked about several games up to this point. Today, we venture into the world of initiatives. What is the difference between the two? A game is something that is meant to break the ice (hence the name “icebreaker”), something that will get your group in the mood to have fun and get the initial barriers broken down. An initiative has some element of problem solving involved. It will take the group working together to solve that problem, and it will include some sort of discussion at the end of the activity. With that, here is a great, simple, low prop initiative to get you started.

STEPPING STONES
How you do it:
Stepping Stones is a great activity that can be framed in many ways. How you use it, as with all adventure activities, depends upon the creation and co-creation that occurs within the briefing of your group.

Get yourself some paper plates, spot markers, pieces of cushy Styrofoam; anything that will allow for two sets of toes to find a perch. Your stones should be approximately a foot square. Of course the smaller the stones the greater the challenge, as you will soon see. The other challenge variables are the number of stones you offer the group, and the distance you set for the group to travel. You’ll also to need to establish a beginning and an end of the journey. Pieces of Polypropylene always come in handy for boundary lines.
The goal is for the group to journey from one place to another using the Stepping Stones as safe spaces during the trip. Line them up at one end and give them one less stone than there are people. If a person steps off, teeters down, disembarks or in any way falls off of a stone, they must return to the starting point. Stones may only be moved in a forward direction, and physical contact by a digit, toe, elbow or any other human body part must be maintained. Violation of either the forward moving or contact rules results in the permanent (until the next round) loss of the stone in question. After the loss of the first stone, their value tends to increase immensely. The group finds success in getting everyone from point A to point B.

Stones can be labeled with norms, values, twelve steps, old bad habits, group and individual goals, almost anything you’d like in order to bring into focus important issues that you are exploring with your group. An interesting variation is to start two groups off from opposite directions, that is, coming toward each other, with a smaller number of stones for each group. Initially stone hoarding will occur until a light goes on within someone that sharing the stones is a much more effective way for both groups to be successful in.

The Future of Coaching

Last week I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel discussion about coaching youth sports. The presenter, Joe Ehrmann, has been working with youth for years as a coach, minister, and father. The following is a summary of what Joe and his wife, Paula, are doing in the world of coaching taken from their website:

Joe and Paula Ehrmann are co-founders of Building Men and Women for Others and together they desire to inform, inspire and initiate individual, organizational and societal change that will empower men and women to be their very best personally, professionally and relationally.

Joe’s unique experience as an NFL player, child advocate, community leader, pastor, professional speaker and high school coach is coupled with Paula’s career as a professional psychotherapist who has worked with hundreds of women, men, couples and families to create a powerful and effective, other-centered growth model.

Through their Steps to Personal, Communal and Social Transformation they have designed a multi-systemic approach to transform personal beliefs, community values and public practices.

What was different about Joe’s approach is that, unlike most speakers, he does not have a product to sell; he is just trying to get the word out. He truly believes in his message of building men for other, and his avenue of coaching to do that. He believes that coaches have a legendary place in American society. Joe said, “Think about when you were in school. Personally, I cannot name but a few of my teachers, but I can name every coach, good or bad, that I ever had.”

I started to think about that, and it is true. I can name every coach that I have come in contact with throughout my years of playing soccer. The coaches that I remember most are those that took the extra time to get to know each player. “Every child needs one adult in their life to prioritize them.” says Joe.

The approach to coaching that is practiced here has five tenants (Parade Magazine, August 29, 2004):

• Recognize the “three lies of false masculinity.” – Athletic ability, sexual conquest and economic success are not the best measures of manhood.

• Allow yourself to love and be loved – Build and value relationships.

• Accept responsibility, lead courageously, and enact justice on behalf of others – Practice the concepts of empathy, inclusion and integrity.

• Learn the importance of serving others – Base your thoughts and actions on, “What can I do for you?”

• Develop a cause beyond yourself – Try to leave the world a better place because you were there.

This is a great way to coach. It does not put the focus on winning, but on relationships with your players. Winning is often a by-product of this system:

“Unless pressed for specifics, Erhmann does not even mention that [his team] Gilman High School finished three of the last six seasons undefeated and No. 1 in Baltimore.” (Parade Magazine, August 29, 2004).

This is the kind of attitude that has been practiced by camp counselors and people in the Adventure field for years. Putting your focus on each participant or camper in your group. Making each camper feel like they matter to one person in the world. You can see the difference that it makes. The thing that people in the Adventure Field have in common with the people in the Coaching field is that they all have the potential to be a hero to someone. Check out http://heroworkshop.wordpress.com/. This is a great blog about the hero’s journey and what being a hero means.

What are they thinking?

I was recently asked, “How do you judge what your group is ready for?” It seems like a very basic question. Making the right decision about what your group is ready for can have a huge effect on your day. For example, if my group is having trouble with a trust lean, should their next activity be the climbing tower? I would say no. I use one tool in particular to make these decisions, and that is the stages of group interaction.

Bruce Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development:

Bruce Tuckman (1965) developed a 4-stage model of group development. It is important to remember that a group can be in any of these stages at any time. Also, individual members of the group could be in a different stage than the rest of the group.

1. Forming: This is the time when the group first meets or returns from an extended break. Generally, everyone is trying to establish the person that they are going to be in the group, as well as whom they will interact with and in what way.

2. Storming: As you can tell by the name, this stage is very chaotic. This is where alliances are formed, leadership is vied for, and group positions begin to be established.

3. Norming: The group begins to set rules for behavior (this is often the best time to create the full value contract). The group will also begin to operate within these norms that are being set.

4. Performing: While operating inside set norms, the group begins to accomplish the tasks. These tasks are either presented to the group from an external source or created internally.

Tuckman later added a fifth stage:
5. Adjourning: When a group adjourns, its members generally celebrate accomplishments, and forget about unpleasantness. This stage can look very similar to the forming stage.

What I have found is that continually assessing which of these four stages my group, and it’s individual members are in, help me plan a more effective day for the team.

For more information on Tuckman or the stages of group development, click here.

If anyone from Project Adventure is reading, could you please comment on the GRABBSS Assessment Model? Thank you.

Any other readers - Please comment on what has worked well when you assess your groups.

Games Day - Cross Town Connection

Today, we break the touch barrier. One of the biggest issues with any group is breaking that touch barrier. In the challenge course industry, it is necessary to come in contact with other group members for spotting, belay checks, debriefing, as well as assistance and comforting during and after an activity. So the challenge becomes, how we introduce a group to that touch. This activity is a great way to introduce a simple, non-threatening way to make that introduction.

Cross Town Connection –

How you do it: Have your group gather in a circle. Start by explaining that there are many different ways to meet new people. Tell your group that they will learn five ways to meet new people. They will learn a new way to meet, find one person in the circle that they will share that greeting with, practice it and return to their spot in the circle. You can use any greeting, here are five that work well:
1) Handshake – Very simple, participants interlock hands, and shake them.
2) High Five – Participants extend a hand up in the air, and slap their open palm against their partners.
3) Ankle Shake – Participant walk toward each other and start the same way you would start a “High Five,” the difference is that you do not slap hands, you miss, reach down to that person’s ankle and shake that.
4) Lumberjack – One person will put out their fist in a thumbs up manner, the next person will make a fist around that person’s thumb and extend their own thumb into the air. The first person will repeat this process and then the second person. This will interlock all four hands, at which point, participants will make a “sawing” motion back and forth.
5) Happy Salmon – Participants start out with a regular handshake motion. They will move their hand further up the arm to the forearm of their partner then slap (gently) their partner’s forearm.

Here is where the game gets fun. After each person has one partner for each type of greeting, the facilitator will call out the names of the handshakes at random. Each person must find their partner and exchange that greeting before the facilitator calls out the next greeting. This usually leads to mass chaos, a lot of laughing and people doing the Happy Salmon all day long.

The Connections We Make

Connections. We make them everyday. Talking to people at work, your family, people in the grocery store (east coast readers - this is normal if you live in the mid-west). All of these are connections that we make. Often times these connections do not lead anywhere, but every now and then, you get to follow and nurture those links over the course of many months and years, and it is amazing where they can lead.

When I was in college, I worked at a camp in northern Michigan during the summers. It was a religious camp where kids would come as a part of their requirements for confirmation. The way that the camp was set up, groups of campers would be randomly assigned to cabins. What this means is, even though some groups return many years in a row, it is highly unlikely that those campers will have the same counselor more than once.

There was one group from Ann Arbor that I got in my cabin for all three summers that I was working at this camp. I would think, there is no way that I will get them again, and sure enough, there are their names on my list of campers. By the second year, I had started referring to them as “my boys.” (Thank you Chuck Klosterman). A bit possessive, I understand, but also necessary (if you cannot see how this was necessary, please read any of the one-million volumes of Chicken soup for the soul).

The third summer, when I got “my boys” again, I was excited. We went through the week and were able to build on themes that we had started when theses guys were in sixth grade. It was great. I got to watch them grow over the course of three years and now they were ready for high school. I almost felt like a parent. I never expected to see them again after that summer.

I had graduated from college and had begun my internship in Massachusetts. I was not going to be working at the camp that summer so I assumed that ‘my boys” were destined to become a fond memory. About a week after having this thought, I got a call from their youth director. She told me that they were planning a trip to Belize to do some mission work, and one of the chaperones had already paid, but was unable to go. She asked if I would like to go with them. I, of course, quickly agreed.

I got to know “my boys” even better during that two weeks working side by side with them. They were in high school now and were able to talk on a level that was more like talking to friends than campers. We began discussing the things in their lives on a more “real” level than we had done before. I got to connect with them in a different way than we had ever been able to in the past.

About a year later, after keeping in contact with “my boys” through my space and other such technological marvels, I heard that one of them, who was now a junior in high school, was having some problems. He felt out of control of his life and had started to turn to drugs in order to deal with that lack of control. Once I found out about this, I called him and asked if he wanted to go get some coffee. He reluctantly agreed, because he knew what the coffee talk was going to be about.

Over the course of many cups of almost straight caffeine, we were able to talk about his life, his feeling of having no control, and some positive ways of dealing with that that did not involve drugs. We agreed that the next step was to sit down with his parents and have a very similar conversation to the one that he and I had. This student is still struggling, but he has now opened up lines with his parents and is starting to get some clarity on his path in life.

Try not to underestimate the connections that you make in your life. You never know where that path is going to lead many years down the road. True, there is a chance that noting will come of it, but there is an equal chance that you will end up being a friend, a safety net, a role model, or a life ring. Make a connection today and see where if goes tomorrow.

Challenge By Choice

This week I would like to stick to the basics. Now that we have some understanding of the Experiential Learning Cycle, I would like to talk about the Idea of Challenge By Choice (also know as Choose Your Challenge). No matter what name you call it, the principles are the same.

Challenge By Choice offers a participant:

• A chance to try potentially difficult and/or frightening challenges in an atmosphere of support and caring.

• The opportunity to “back off” when performance pressures or self-doubt become too strong, knowing that an opportunity for a further attempt will always be available.

• A chance to try difficult tasks, recognizing that the attempt is more significant than performance results.

• Respect for their individual ideas and choice.

Challenge By Choice asks that participants challenge themselves and participate fully in the experience. Recognizing that any activity or goal may pose a different level and type of challenge for each group member and that authentic personal challenge comes from within. Challenge By Choice creates an environment where participants are asked to search for opportunities to stretch and grow during an experience. The determination of what kind of participation represents an optimal learning opportunity is the responsibility of each group member. All are asked to add value to the group experience by finding a way to contribute to the group’s overall efforts while also seeking to find value in the experience for themselves.

Challenge By Choice Circles

Image from Project Adventure: Adventure Programming Manual

Accepting Challenge By Choice encourages all to respect thoughtful choices. Its use provides a supportive and caring atmosphere in which students can stretch themselves. It recognizes the need for individuals and the group to accept responsibility for decisions. It creates opportunities for learning about how to set goals that are in neither comfort zone nor panic zone, but in that slightly uncomfortable stretch zone where the greatest opportunities for growth and learning lie.

While the specific language may change to match the unique needs of a group or learning environment, the philosophy of Challenge By Choice remains the same throughout all Adventure Center Programs.

Games Day - Human Camera

I have done this activity with a few different groups. I has worked out with most of them, but I find that it works best with the more creative groups. The best human camera that I have done was when I did this activity with a group of theater students. Their results were very funny and insightful. Enjoy.

How You Do It:
While this activity’s use is only limited by ones imagination, it is a dandy one for establishing group Values. The group is divided into pairs, with one partner initially acting as the camera, the other as the photographer. The photographer guides the camera, who has his eyes closed (like the closed lens on a shutter) to a picture she would like to take. After carefully focusing the camera (lining him up at the right distance and angle to the subject of the picture, the photograph is taken. This is accomplished by the person acting as camera briefly opening and then closing his eyes, like a shutter snapping. The partners then switch roles for another photo. After each photograph is taken the photographer explains the significance of the picture to her partner. This information is then reported out by the “camera” during the activity debrief. The photographer may offer clarifying comments, as warranted. The briefing for this particular group went like this:

“ Over the last two years as you have continued your journey toward full communion with the church, there have been values that you’ve held that have sustained you in times of doubt, when your faith was challenged by events in the lives of your family and friends. I’d like you take a moment and think about those challenges, and when you’ve got one, guide your camera to something out here that captures the experience for you. The challenge needs to be connected to one word that sums it up. For example, you might have been made fun of for your beliefs by other kids you know. The word, courage” or “conviction” comes to mind when I think of an experience like that. Can any of you come up with an example? (a brief conversation ensures). Once the photographer has taken the picture tell your partner what it meant to you, then change places. Remember, you will be sharing out your partner’s photo to the group, so take the time to be clear on what they wanted you to see.

O.K. then, we have already reviewed some of the safety concerns. Remember photographers; you are guiding a sightless person. We need to make sure they feel safe. Does any one want a blindfold? (some take you up on the offer). Remember, cameras, if you feel unsafe you have an obligation to tell your partner, and you can always open your eyes for a quick peek! We’ll meet back here in about 10 minutes to look at our photos.”

Why We do What We Do

Every now and then we get a big reminder about why we do what we do. I mean, of course, why we choose a career path that will pay a maximum of $40,000 per year once you reach the upper echelons of the industry. Why we take a job that we will be working in upwards of 60 hours a week for the “prestige” of it all. Why we decide that we want to work in a field where you give every bit of yourself to make a group of people you have know for ten minutes better. It is always uncanny to me that we get these reminders at the times that we need them the most.

This past summer was my first being completely in charge of a Summer Camp. The whole experience was filled with its share of adversity. From having 150 campers (enough to fill our first three weeks) cancel due to budget cuts in the sending agency, to having two of our staff leave after staff training and never come back. Needless to say, between my Camp Director, Erik, and myself, there was a fair amount of cursing the fates under our breath (and sometimes right out loud).

We were still able to run a relatively successful summer of camp for the campers that we did have. We deal exclusively with at-risk and financially disadvantaged youth. The kids who are typically sent home from other camps are our bread and butter. We are able to offer these students something that other camps cannot. Specialized training of our counselors, Adventure Therapy, and smaller groups sizes allow us to manage problems that arise in a more constructive way than most camps. Never was this more apparent than our last week of the 2007 season.

We had a camper, Jamie (not her actual name), come to us from out of state. Jamie was staying with her aunt for the summer and that family was sending their two kids to camp. Jamie’s aunt contacted us to find out if she could send this Jamie as well as her kids, but indicated that neither her nor Jamie’s family could afford the cost of the camp. We allowed Jamie to come on scholarship so that she could spend the week with her cousins.

Through the course of this week, Jamie gave us more than her share of problems. She was verbally abusive, closed off, and angry for most of the week. At one point she began cutting. It was nothing serious, just using a nail and not even breaking the skin, but it was enough to cause alarm. One of the other campers noticed this and alerted the counselor, who then brought it to the attention of Erik and myself. Jamie denied that anything like that had ever happened. In the course of talking with the other kids in her cabin, we came to believe that the story was accurate, and that Jamie had talked about committing suicide.

Our camp is located on the grounds of an agency called Crossroads for Youth. This is a residential treatment facility for At-Risk youth. Crossroads employs a team of therapists to work with their clients during their stay. Thanks to this situation, we were able to allow Jamie to have a one on one confidential meeting with a therapist. After this meeting, Jamie indicated that she was feeling so much better and would like to continue her week at camp. She said, “I just needed someone to talk to.”

We called Jamie’s mother and aunt to let them know what was happening, and they were able to get advice on how to handle the situation from our therapist. This was one of those clear reminders about why we do what we do.

We were able to offer help to a camper that was struggling with a lot of issues in her life. Did we magically change everything and now she is fine? The short answer is no. What we were able to do is plant a seed. We were able to let her know that there are people who will listen, and people who care. We were able to show her that there are ways of working on your problems without hurting yourself. Most important, we were able to get Jamie’s family involved in that healing process. I like to believe that we have some influence on the lives around us. That Friday, as Jamie left and promised us that she would ask for the help she needed, I really saw that influence in action.

The Experiential Learning Cycle

I want to take some time at the beginning of this blog’s life to talk about the basics of the Adventure Learning Industry. Over the years I have had the opportunity to learn from some of the best facilitators in the field. There have been times when I thought that I knew all that I could know, only to sit back and watch someone like Paul Radcliff facilitate a group and realize that I barely have a grip on the basics. Please note that while these basics are universal to the industry, I first learned of them through trainings at Project Adventure. Some of the language used to describe these basics is taken from those PA Trainings.

Those basics are the most important part of life as a facilitator. If you can learn to fall back on the basics, you can work with almost any group. The first one of these that I want to discuss is the concept of the Experiential Learning Cycle.

Learning happens most effectively in a four-step process called the Experiential Learning Cycle.

Image from Project Adventure: Adventure Programming Manual

EXPERIENCE – Action

• Activity provides opportunity for participants to work together and to experience a broad range of interactions and behaviors
• All activities are doable and have solutions
• Activities generate a higher level of participation and involvement

REFLECTION – “What?”

• Discussion after activity to understand what happened
• Analysis of the team, actions taken, behaviors of team members, and actions and interactions that did not occur
• Focus on: effectiveness of a team process as well as task accomplishment, individual contributions

GENERALIZATION – “So What?”

• Participants expand on reflection to examine consequences of what happened and the impacts upon both the team and individuals
• Participants determine what worked well and what opportunities exist for improvement and change

APPLICATION – “Now What?”

• Participants consider how an activity reflects issues beyond the experience – focus on achieving a higher level of performance in future situations.
• Participants analyze and identify behaviors and skills to improve their team and themselves.

Experiential Learning provides concrete experience where results – both task and processes – can be identified and explored. By analyzing the details of what happens, participants can learn more form the programmatic experiences. While the experiences are the catalyst of this cycle, the three-phase reflection process provides the real value. It is during this discussion and analysis where people can explore the meaning of the experience and make connections to their own lives.

Games Day - Mass Pass

The following is one of the core activities at the Adventure Center. I first learned of this initiative at Project Adventure in Beverly, Massachusetts. I find that it can be adapted to work well with everyone from at-risk youth to corporate groups. Simply by adapting the language and metaphors you use, this activity will be meaningful to many different groups of people. Enjoy!

 

MASS PASS

Props: 2 Buckets, Assorted Tossables, Large Boundary Rope

Set Up:

• Create a fairly large square (or polygon - the more sides the more interesting the challenge), 15 to 25 feet per side if a square. It is helpful, but not completely necessary, for the boundary markers to completely enclose the square. If the area is bigger than the boundary markers available, it is important that all the corners be clearly marked and easily identified.

• In one corner of the square place the resource container, and at the other opposite corner place the customer container. Place all of the objects inside the resource container (i.e. the “start” for the activity).

• A typical set up is to have a variety of tossable objects with various levels of difficulty. Each object is worth a different point total if delivered to the receiver container. An example of how to assign points might be:

• Small Foam Ball: 5 points each

• Bean Bag Animal: 10 points each

•Rubber Ring: 15 points each

• Rubber Chicken: 25 points each

• For a group of 15, ten to fifteen objects would be appropriate.

• The goal for the team is to increase their score over three successive rounds, and to maximize their score in the last round.

• The team is given a total of 45 minutes to complete the task. The time is structured; the first 25 minutes is planning and practice. After the planning session, the clock begins for the first round. Each of the three rounds has a fixed time limit to score the highest total. Depending on the size of the group, a 60-90 seconds per round is typically enough time. Between rounds, there is an additional 5-minute planning session.

Rules:

1. All objects must start inside the resource container at the beginning of every round. Each object must be handled individually.
2. Time for each round starts when the first object is removed from the container.
3. All sides of the square (or polygon) must be occupied by at least one participant.
4. Once a person has chosen a side, s/he may not switch sides within a round.
5. Each participant must touch the object after it leaves the resource bin and before it lands in the customer container.
6. Objects may not be passed to anyone to your immediate right or left, in other words the object must “skip” at least one person when it is passed.
7. Points are earned for each object that is placed successfully inside the customer container after it has journeyed through the production team.
8. Whenever an object is being passed from one side of the square to another, it always must cross over the inside of the boundary area (i.e. it cannot be passed around the corner on the outside of the perimeter of the square).
9. Any time an object is dropped it must return to the resource container to be recycled, if it is to be used in the round.
10. If an object is dropped inside the boundary markers, it may not be retrieved and is lost for the duration of that round.
11. No member of the team may step inside the perimeter boundary during a round. If such a touch occurs, all the objects must be returned to the start.

Variations:

• The time frames outlined here can be modified to suit the needs of the group and any program constraints.

• This activity is a complex variation of Group Juggling. If the group is familiar with this activity, it may have an easier time developing a workable solution.

• Depending on the skill of the group indicate that each object must have “air time,” i.e. be tossed not passed to another person.

Instructor’s Notes:

It can be helpful to print out or post these rules on a poster or flip chart so that the participants can refer to them. The rules are complex enough that many groups become confused and cannot remember everything. Posting the rules has worked well to encourage the group to review the rules as needed.