Third Team Building Exercise: "Plane Crash"

"Plane Crash"

Activity Description: For this team building exercise, the leader tells the other members of a group to imagine that their plane has crashed and that they can only take 12 items out of the plane (in this case the Boatwright Library) onto the island with them. All members of the group must talk with each other and come up with a collaborative list of the 12 items that they deem necessary for their survival, in order of importance.

Purpose: This group exercise allowed the members of the group to participate in a discussion and find the things that we thought would allow for the survival of the entire group on the island. Each member may have had his or her own ideas, but when the group came together, we were forced to work together to find the things that would be best for the survival of the group. This opened up a very nice round of dialogue amongst the group members in which we communicated our thoughts and strove toward the end result of the 12 items we all found would aid us on the deserted island.

Results:

1. Danilo’s lighter
2. Water bottle
3. Variety of books (including ones with survival information)
4. Scissors
5. Paper clips
6. String
7. Tables
8. Couches
9. Fire extinguisher
10. Water filter in the water fountain
11. Sweatshirts
12. Pens

What we learned: 

Emily’s Reaction: This activity helped the group work as a team. We each had our own opinions about what we thought should be used as instruments of survival on a deserted island. We worked off of each other’s ideas to come up with a group list that we all agreed upon. I think the fact that we were able to come up with a list quickly and easily proves that our group is capable of workings as a team, making compromises, and sharing ideas.This makes me hopefully that the leadership legends will work well together for the rest of the semester.   

Eryn’s Reaction: I think this showed that our group has a lot of potential and desires to do well. This will definitely be helpful in the future so that if issues ever do arise we can talk them out and work toward a solution. I think our group was fairly solid and I was very impressed with all the
work we put into this project.

Danilo's Reaction: The plane crash activity really illustrated the idea of working as a team for us, considering we had some differing opinions of what to bring. It showed how some of us had to take matters into our own hands and how to find a solution to the potential problem or task at hand. We worked together to build off of our ideas, and created a list that I believe to be solid to assure survival post crash.

Karly's Reaction: This exercise was the first one that moved away from getting to know each other and on to working together as a team. I found that we shared ideas very fluidly and everyone was very helpful and constructive in making our list. When someone had an idea that we did not like, we were able to share why we thought differently in a respectful way. Most of the time we all agreed on the items to put on our list and I felt like we were all very involved in the process.

Group Reaction: This exercise allowed our group to work together toward a common goal. We found that our group did very well and that we communicated nicely. No fights took place in the days that we met and we formed a cohesive unit that worked really nicely together. We had to fine-tune our list a couple of times but the end results were something that we all came up with. Everyone had an equal say and participated. This will help us be successful in the future as we have had practice working together to come up with a final product, in this case the list. In the future we will be able to jump right into our projects as we are comfortable sharing ideas with one another and respect each other's opinions.

Bonnie, E. (2015, April 20). Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities That Don't Suck. Retrieved September 14, 2015, from https://www.wrike.com/blog/ultimate-guide-team-building-activities/