This week I had the pleasure of viewing the 2010 TED
Talk Build a tower build a team by
Tom Wujec. This video explained the Marshmallow Challenge where, according to
Wujec (2010), the participants “learn very deep lessons about collaboration”
(n.p.). You may be thinking, how is it possible to learn to strengthen my
teamwork skills with marshmallows. Great question! You are a member of a four-person
team at a conference that has just been issued a challenge. A paper bag is
handed to you and eighteen minutes are set on a clock. As you open up the
contents of the bag, you realize you are given twenty pieces of uncooked
spaghetti, one yard of masking tape, one yard of string, and one jumbo
marshmallow. The rules are simple, the team with the highest free standing
structure (marshmallow on top) wins. What is your plan to build the best
structure?
Wukec (2010) said that he has issued this challenge
to approximately seventy groups and has noticed a pattern in the actions of the
groups. He said that the group would spend the first several minutes getting
oriented with the rules and construction materials. The group will then jockey
for power for the next couple of minutes. Next is the planning stage, followed
by the building and architectural process. The last thing step is to tape the
marshmallow frantically to the giant base of spaghetti and hope for the best.
Wujec (2010) stated that most people are looking for a-ha moments, but this
tactic quickly turns into uh-oh moments of cleaning twenty pieces of uncooked
spaghetti from the table.
As I am in pursuit of my graduate degree, one
statistic I found interesting about the challenge was that the individuals with
the lowest scores were recent graduates of business school. To add comic relief
to the situation, some of the groups that build the largest structures were
recent graduates of (drumroll please) kindergarten. How could this be? Wujec (2010) explained
that the children do not jockey for position or attempt to be the “CEO of
Spaghetti Inc.” (n.p.). The kids are not
worried about being in charge or who is in charge. They simply see the project
as a task that needs to be completed and jump into action. The older graduates
begin the process by attempting to establish themselves as the leader of the
group. This process not only uses precious time in the challenge but could
cause friction between the group members. Brown (2011) warned that a successful
group would share leadership function between all members. The children begin
as a more cohesive group because they share leadership responsibilities.
Also, the MBA graduates are taught that there is one
single perfect answer to the problem. I know I have been guilty of this line of
thinking. When I first started the leadership program, I would sit for long
periods of time trying to formulate the perfect answer. I am beginning to
understand that there is not one single perfect answer to an issue as a
multitude of processes could generate the correct answer. The children, on the
other hand, do not think themselves into a circle about how to build the
perfect spaghetti and marshmallow structure. They simply begin to build small
structures and add to it as they go. Unlike the graduate students, the children
start with the marshmallow and build by adding to the marshmallow. The graduate
students begin with the structure and add the marshmallow as a last minute
thought, causing the structure to crumble.
I believe one other reason the children performed
better is that they still have a sense of imagination. As children, we believed
anything was possible. We were all going to be astronauts, professional
athletes, actors/actresses, or President of the United States when we grew up.
The world had not yet proven that these dreams are impossible for most of us.
The children imagined building a large structure and began to go to work. There
was no planning or negative feelings of why one idea would not work compared to
another idea. There was also no fear of failure. If the tower fell, then the
kids would just try another method. As adults, we have lost our sense of
imagination and prepare to the point of nausea. I am certainly guilty of
over-preparation. Maybe if the graduate students took a page from the kids and
were not scared of failing, then the result would have been a taller
marshmallow tower.
Wujec (2010) also explained that a group of CEO’s
with the help of the executive assistant tend to build taller structures than
CEO’s without the help of an executive assistant. Why is that? Wujec (2010)
said that the executive administrators have facilitation skills and can manage
the process. I agree with his opinion. I know the executive administrator in our
department is an excellent facilitator and problem-solver. They have their
hands in multiple tasks each day and help to keep the office running smoothly. According
to Mageean (2016), an administrative assistant will be valuable if they are
flexible and have exceptional problem-solving skills. To successfully build a
marshmallow tower, the participants must show flexibility and problem-solving
skills.
I have taken part in this group building process and
thoroughly enjoyed the activity. The activity was included in the LEAD program
I attended at the college where I work. Like the other teams discussed, we
tried to build around the spaghetti instead of the marshmallow and the
structure crumbled to the table. We were able to salvage a structure and
rebuild, but it was not very tall. Though the structure itself ended up being a
failure, the activity was very educational. As Wujec stated, the challenge
“forces individuals to collaborate quickly” (n.p.). Since I was able to
experience the activity first-hand, I would without a doubt include it in a
process intervention skills workshop.
Brown (2011) mentioned several types of process
intervention including: clarifying and summarizing, synthesizing, questioning,
listening reflecting feelings, and feedback observations. The marshmallow
challenge could utilize synthesizing because it allows the group members to
intertwine their ideas about building the tallest tower. Listening is a critical
skill in this group challenge. Members should listen to each other to come up
with a group consensus on how to construct the tower. Clarifying and
summarizing is another skill that can be learned from this challenge. In my
experience, clarification was a key to understanding the group member’s ideas
for the construction of the tower.
The biggest lesson I took away from this video came
from the kindergarten class. The kindergarteners built prototypes during the
challenge to make sure things were going correctly along the way. At my job, I
could benefit from conducting status checks along the way to make sure my
marshmallow tower does not come crashing down.
References
Brown, D. (2011). An experiential approach to organizational development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Mageean, M. (2016). The job description
of an executive assistant to the CEO. Retrieved from http://oureverydaylife.com/job-description-executive-assistant-ceo-28091.html
Wujec, T. (2010). Build a tower, build a team [TEDGlobal]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower
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