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InterventionKnowing when to intervene in a game is a good skill to develop as a facilitator. Jump in at the right time and it will enhance the learning but get it wrong and you can disrupt the process and any resultant failure of the team will be blamed on you. Ideally you want your interventions to be invisible.
Have a look at the video of German students playing a version of Jim Cain's Marble Run game (see 'Teamwork and Teamplay' for more details). They are playing it as part of a set of games where the only focus is team development. As you watch it, think about where you might feel the need to step in and make changes or suggestions or alternatively do a mid-game mini-review. After you have watched the video, read my thoughts below about where I would consider doing something different. |
Although the video is not a complete sequence, I didn't intervene during the game, partly because of the way I had set it up in the first place (read the Briefing chapter of the book for more details). However, there are moments where I did consider doing something as follows:
0:39 - the marble falls from the tubes and hits the floor. I could have ended the task there and reviewed their progress looking for learning about poor planning or communication. The other thing that strikes me at this point is the laughter; does the participant not care about the team's result or is she simply too focussed on having fun? Even though I give them multiple attempts, this is still a question that could be asked before they carry on.
0:48 - the grey tube is not being fully utilised. As you will notice later in the video, the grey tube with the angle has a stopper at one end. Most teams use it as every second tube since it is easy to prevent the marble building up speed - when it drops into the stoppered end then everyone can relax. The team have not made use of this device. If they were struggling and starting to show signs of frustration, I may have intervened at this point to gently guide them in this direction. A simple query like, 'Are you making best use of the tubes you have?' might suffice.
1:37 - "Nicht bereit" (not ready). If one of the team is saying they are not ready and others are just carrying on this might be a time to step in and question their team work. If it had happened repeatedly then I would have done so to retain the memory of the shouts. Alternatively the sound can be stored away to be reproduced when you review later.
1:44 - "Can I move the glass?" Here I am being given the option to change things. This is often more acceptable since the team does not feel a change has been imposed by an evil facilitator. I had actually considered moving the glass myself shortly before that to make it harder but thought I couldn't get away with it. I now have the option of saying, 'Yes the glass can be moved' and then moving it myself to somewhere harder. Alternatively I can allow them to move it nearer to where it suits them best. This serves no positive purpose in my view and actually makes them think they can simply bend the rules to suit themselves (an issue in other games). Consequently I say 'no' but file the moment away to come back to later - it links to the team's lack of planning - since it would have been a great question to ask at the start.
2:38 - the grey tube is passed to someone else. This is against the rules stated in the briefing (to be able to pass the marble in the tube from hand to hand makes the task ridiculously easy). I have the chance to intervene and say they have failed or make them do the task again. However since this is not their first attempt and they quickly fail just after this, I didn't say anything. I was also aware that this was an example of doing as they pleased and not respecting the rules of the game and this had been noted before and I was confident it would crop up again.
2:48 - failure again. The team tried to half-heartedly argue (as most teams do) that since the marble had been in the glass momentarily that they had finished. I could have agreed and reviewed it there but again the laughter at failure made me push them harder to do it again. This allowed me to push home the point about taking tasks seriously and applying yourself to the team's common goal in order to finish faster.
0:39 - the marble falls from the tubes and hits the floor. I could have ended the task there and reviewed their progress looking for learning about poor planning or communication. The other thing that strikes me at this point is the laughter; does the participant not care about the team's result or is she simply too focussed on having fun? Even though I give them multiple attempts, this is still a question that could be asked before they carry on.
0:48 - the grey tube is not being fully utilised. As you will notice later in the video, the grey tube with the angle has a stopper at one end. Most teams use it as every second tube since it is easy to prevent the marble building up speed - when it drops into the stoppered end then everyone can relax. The team have not made use of this device. If they were struggling and starting to show signs of frustration, I may have intervened at this point to gently guide them in this direction. A simple query like, 'Are you making best use of the tubes you have?' might suffice.
1:37 - "Nicht bereit" (not ready). If one of the team is saying they are not ready and others are just carrying on this might be a time to step in and question their team work. If it had happened repeatedly then I would have done so to retain the memory of the shouts. Alternatively the sound can be stored away to be reproduced when you review later.
1:44 - "Can I move the glass?" Here I am being given the option to change things. This is often more acceptable since the team does not feel a change has been imposed by an evil facilitator. I had actually considered moving the glass myself shortly before that to make it harder but thought I couldn't get away with it. I now have the option of saying, 'Yes the glass can be moved' and then moving it myself to somewhere harder. Alternatively I can allow them to move it nearer to where it suits them best. This serves no positive purpose in my view and actually makes them think they can simply bend the rules to suit themselves (an issue in other games). Consequently I say 'no' but file the moment away to come back to later - it links to the team's lack of planning - since it would have been a great question to ask at the start.
2:38 - the grey tube is passed to someone else. This is against the rules stated in the briefing (to be able to pass the marble in the tube from hand to hand makes the task ridiculously easy). I have the chance to intervene and say they have failed or make them do the task again. However since this is not their first attempt and they quickly fail just after this, I didn't say anything. I was also aware that this was an example of doing as they pleased and not respecting the rules of the game and this had been noted before and I was confident it would crop up again.
2:48 - failure again. The team tried to half-heartedly argue (as most teams do) that since the marble had been in the glass momentarily that they had finished. I could have agreed and reviewed it there but again the laughter at failure made me push them harder to do it again. This allowed me to push home the point about taking tasks seriously and applying yourself to the team's common goal in order to finish faster.
