Optimism Icebreaker /Activity

Below is one of my favorite activities to do with teams.

Optimism: Experiential Learning Activity

Purpose: This is a great training opener to help your group to recognize how their pre-conceived ideas and self limiting beliefs can impact their possibilities for the future. It ties in well with the Team Performance Indicator: Optimism.
It is also an excellent icebreaker before brainstorming or be to highlight other team performance indicators such as decision making, valuing diversity and communication.

Preparation: Put team members into groups of 3 -5 people or you may do experiment as one single group if the participant number is 8 or less. Each team will need 1 eye dropper (glass dropper preferred), a glass of water and a shiny, relatively new penny.

Delivery: Ask the group to discuss among themselves the total number of drops of water they feel will sit on the penny before the water overflows onto the table. Tell the group they will have 2 minutes to discuss and come to consensus on the number of drops.

Then ask each group to say aloud their estimate. Write their estimates on a flip chart.

The guesses will range from 2 to 25, but most groups will guess low (5 – 10 drops). Once everyone has weighed in their response, instruct the groups that they may begin dropping water onto their penny slowly and to count each drop.

Depending on the size of your dropper, most groups will get from 18 – 28 drops on the penny before the water spills over. This result usually amazes the participants.

In a second column on your flip chart list the actual number of water drops teams were able to put onto the Penny before the water slipped off.

Debrief Questions:
How different was your estimate from the actual? Was anyone surprised by the result? Why?
Was your perception or preconceived idea very different from the reality?
Can you relate this experience to anything you’ve experienced at work?
Have you ever believed that a work process or project wouldn’t work, but somehow it was successful?
How do limiting beliefs affect you ability to achieve success?
How would an optimistic attitude impact your team result?

The questions you ask can vary depending on what point you’d like to illustrate and what particular topic you are preparing to address (i.e.: goal setting, decision making, valuing diversity, communication, etc.).
If you have any questions , feel free to call me at 949-387-3436. Enjoy! Anita