50 Digital Team-Building Games

John Chen is the CEO of Geoteaming, a technology-oriented team-building company. Previously at Microsoft, he helped ship ten major products over ten years, and facilitated a collaborative multi-team approach to the development of Microsoft Exchange—a transformative product that sold 100 million client licenses and earned two U.S. patents.?At Geoteaming, John has helped over 950 companies and 50,000 participants produce incredible results, from world-class service to exceeding revenue goals. John has presented at many international conferences including MPI (Meeting Professionals International) and ASTD (American Society for Training & Development).?His clients include Booz Allen Hamilton, Microsoft, Adobe, Boeing, Motorola, and REI.

• 50 Digital Team-Building Games Quick Start ixPreface: How to Use the Games in This Book xixAcknowledgments xxxiIntroduction to 50 Digital Team-Building Games 1CHAPTER 1 Icebreakers 7Me in 140 Characters or Less—Twitter Hypernetworking 9Alpha Names—Learn Names While Learning Team Process 13Where in the World Whiteboarding—Draw Who You Are and Where You’re From 15Photo Booth—iPad 2 or Photo-Based Networking 16Pinterest—Pin Pictures and Websites for a Common Topic 20CHAPTER 2 Communication/Games for Speakers 23Texting Q&A—Asking Anonymous Questions Via Text 25Raising Hands—Have You Ever . . . ? 27Polling—Team Concensus by Technology 29TwitterStorm—Crowdsourcing Goodness 31Go Ahead, Caller—Improving Teleconference Skills with a Game Show 38Model Citizen—Testing Communication Assumptions by Building a Model They Can’t See 41Backchannel—Instant Feedback by Group Text 44Team Pecha Kucha (peh-chak-cha—)Team Presentation with 20 Slides for 20 Seconds Each 47PowerPoint Karaoke—Team Improvisation by Presenting Slide Decks They Haven’t Seen 49CHAPTER 3 Trust 51Last Team Texting—Trusting and Sharing Valuable Information 53Trust Grid—Mapping Team Trust 55The Johari Window—Discover Team Blind Spots 57Video Matching and Mirroring—Build Instant Team Rapport 60Skype Interview—Capturing Team Knowledge through Video Interviews 62CHAPTER 4 Improving Performance 65A to Z—The A to Z of Building and Speeding Up Team Process 67Grid Unlock—Collaborative Team Problem Solving with Shared Spreadsheets 68Marshmallow Challenge—Build a Tower, Build a Team 70Customized Jeopardy—Test Teams’ Retention of Information 73QR Scavenger Hunt—Scan Your Way to Team Building 76CHAPTER 5 Problem Solving 81Move One Line/Add One Line—Team Creativity with More Than One Solution 83Consensus Voting—Choosing Top Team Options Online 91Like to Move It—Quick Spatial Team Diagnosis 95Project Matrix—Balance Time, Quality, and Performance to Complete a Project 98Chat Survivor—Setting Team Priorities and Making Hard Decisions 100CHAPTER 6 Creativity and Innovation 103Twaiku—Twitter Poetry in Motion 105One Text at a Time Expert—Team Answers One Text at a Time 106WWMTD?—What Would My Team Do If They Had to Make a Creative License Plate? 108Team Pictionary—Communicating through Drawing 110Mind Mapping—Visual Brainstorming for Teams 114YouTeams—iMovie-Based Team Building 117GooseChase—Cell Phone Photo Scavenger Hunt 120Team GarageBand—Build a Song, Build a Team 121CHAPTER 7 Collaboration 125Office Move—Working Together to Switch Places 127Mergers and Reorgs—Getting Two Teams to Collaborate and Integrate Rapidly 130Broken Squares—Giving Is Better Than Getting for Team Collaboration 132Team Timely.is—Collaborating a Month’s Worth of Tweets and Updates 135Team Haiku—Write a Team Haiku/One Word at a Time Online 136Team Case Study—Simultaneous Team Editing 138CHAPTER 8 EPIC Team Building 141SCVNGR—GPS Treasure Hunt for Team Building and Cross-Team Collaboration 143Geoteaming—GPS Treasure Hunt for Team Building and Cross-Team Collaboration 150Flash Mobs—Organize Your Team in Time and Space 156CHAPTER 9 Closers—Ending a Team-Building Event 159Shout-Outs—Acknowledging Teammates 161“I Commit to . . .”—Public Commitment to Change 162Just Three Words—Micro-Assessing Your Team 164Digital Slideshow—Picture Your Success 165Appendix: Getting Online 169About Geoteaming 185Index 191