"Two Truths and a Lie"
Activity Description: For this team building exercise, each member of the team must take a few minutes to write down two truths about themselves and a lie on a small piece of paper – make sure not to tell anyone what you wrote down. After this is done, allow for 10-15 minutes amongst the group members. During the conversation each member involved should ask questions regarding the other members three statements in an effort to get an idea of what is true and what is not. After the conversational period, the group should rejoin and each member is to repeat his/her three statements. Once this is done the team must vote together on each member and circle the statement they believe to be a lie.
Purpose: While the activity itself may seem as an ice breaker, it actually serves a rather useful purpose. Through this activity, each member is exposed to the rest of the team. In other words, one can see how others think, act, and in a way even get to learn a bit about their partners. All in all it promotes better communication in the office or workspace, and it allows each member to get to know the other on a personal level rather than simply a professional one.
Results: Lies are identified in bold lettering.
Eryn Mills
1. I picked up my friend after his girlfriend dumped him two hours away.
2. I have broken my leg twice.
3. I witnessed my friend fall off my bike and break her arm in the third grade.
Emily Kirsner
1. I had a pet parrot named Ibis who was eaten by a cat.
2. I lived in Paris for six months when I was three for my dad’s job.
3. I have been scuba diving in a shark tank.
Karly Horn
1. I was once bitten by a wolf-spider at summer camp and had to be taken to the emergency room.
2. My grandma lives in Florida and was bitten by a poisonous spider; she had to have her finger amputated.
3. A bee or a wasp has stung me on twenty-three separate occasions.
Danilo Dauhajre
1. I have played golf since the age of nine and am a three handicap today.
2. I had a pet fish named sushi in high school and swallowed him for twenty dollars.
3. I fell off the top bunk and knocked myself out on impact, twenty minutes later as I tried to shower, I got dizzy and fell. I ended up with a concussion and a fractured wrist.
What we learned:
Danilo's Reaction: I found this exercise to be an enjoyable and effective tool to get to know my three partners. Having never met them before this class, let alone worked with them on group projects, I believe that Two Truths and a Lie was a nice way to get to know them individually considering the conversational aspect of the activity. Furthermore, it was nice to see that none of us struggled to follow the rules or contribute, and more than anything used the time we had together productively. I genuinely thought that it was going to be fifteen to twenty minutes of awkward small talk, but our team had no problem avoiding my fear considering we were able to finish the activity on time and got to know each other quite well.
Emily’s Reaction: Firstly, I found that the two truths and a lie activity helped the entire team use their creativity in coming up with a lie that fit in with the other two truths. It was encouraging to see that every member of the group was able to come up with three convincing facts, making it difficult for the other members to determine which was the truth and which was the lie. Secondly, through the two parts that were true we were able to determine bits of information about all our group members that we either found interesting or that we shared in common. Each of the facts had a backstory, and learning more about our team members help us to bond.
Eryn's Reaction: I found this activity to be very funny and a quick way to get to know each other. It was very difficult to decipher which of the three statements was the lie because the others played it off so well. I really enjoyed how after it was discovered which of the statements was a lie the one member described each individual story because this allowed us to become closer. I found that each of the other members stories were really quirky and I found them very funny to listen to.
Karly's Reaction: This activity really helped us to get to know each other in a more light-hearted way. After each group member told their two truths and a lie, the rest of the group asked questions that allowed us to get to know some back story. I was happy to see that our group was getting along nicely and I think that this activity will help us as a group because we now know a little bit more about each other and how we communicate.
Group Reaction: As a team, we learned that all members have a sense of humor, but have no problem with communicating what they believe is best for our success. Through this activity as well as the others, we managed to agree on several key characteristics that we should try to embody, my favorite being the idea of always staying ahead and getting our work done in a timely and efficient manner. This game, if you will, allowed us to draw such conclusions because we got to know each other on a personal level, as well as on a professional work based level.
Chowdhury, R. (2009, September 2). 10 Quick and Easy Team Building Activities [Part 1]. Retrieved September 14, 2015, from https://www.huddle.com/blog/team-building-activities/
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