The Helium Stick Team Building Activity

by Derik Mocke
(Pretoria, South Africa)

This team building activity is a quick, fun way to let people experience that teamwork and employee motivation needs a constant focus…it won’t happen by itself.

Time Needed

15 Minutes.

Number of participants:

Any number more than 8…the more the better.

Materials Needed

A stick of a bout 3 meters (10 feet) long

Set Up

Divide the group in two subgroups of equal numbers

Let both groups stand facing one another. Each person should stand opposite another person and shoulder to shoulder to someone else

Every person bends his or her elbows 90 degrees. Their index finger should be pointing to the other person.

Let them move their fingers closer to the opposite person so that the whole group form one line of fingers

Now place the “Helium Stick” on top of the fingers, so that it rest on everyone’s collectives fingers

Nobody is allowed to have their thumbs on top of the stick.


Objective

The group must lower the stick to the ground without letting their fingers leaving the stick.

Process

• You, as the trainer, hold your hand on top of the stick to make sure that everyone has contact with the stick
  
  
• Count to three and let them start the process.
  
  
• The stick ALWAYS goes up…yes up. What happens is that everyone are so pre-occupied with keeping contact with the stick that they overcompensate and the collective overcompensation let the stick goes up.
  
  
• Ask them what happened and debrief the actions.
  
  
• Let them try again and again until they manage to let get the stick to the ground