“Two Truths and One Lie”

Start out by having every team member secretly write down two truths about themselves and
one lie on a small piece of paper – Do not reveal to anyone what you wrote down! Once each
person has completed this step, allow 10-15 minutes for open conversation – much like a
cocktail party – where everyone quizzes each other on their three questions. The idea is to
convince others that your lie is actually a truth, while on the other hand, you try to guess other
people’s truths/lies by asking them questions. Don’t reveal your truths or lie to anyone – even if
the majority of the office already has it figured out! After the conversational period, gather in a
circle and one by one repeat each one of your three statements and have the group vote on
which one they think is the lie. You can play this game competitively and award points for each
lie you guess or for stumping other players on your own lie.

“Paper Tearing Exercise”

Materials: Blank 8 ½-by-11-inch sheets of paper for each participant

Instructions:

1. Tell the participants the following: “We are going to play a game that will show us some
important things about communication. Pick up your sheet of paper and hold it in front of you.
Now, close your eyes and follow the directions I will give you—and no peeking! Participants
cannot ask questions.

2. Give the following directions, carrying them out yourself with your own sheet of paper and
pausing after each instruction to give the group time to comply:

The first thing I want you to do is to fold your sheet of paper in half.

Now tear off the upper right-hand corner.

Fold it in half again and tear off the upper left hand corner of the sheet.

Fold it in half again. Now tear off the lower right-hand corner of the sheet.”

3. After the tearing is complete, say something like “Now open your eyes, and let’s see what
you have. If I did a good job of communicating and you did a good job of listening, all of our
sheets should look the same!” Hold your sheet up for them to see. It is highly unlikely any sheet
will match yours exactly.

4. Observe the differences. There will probably be much laughter.

5. Ask the group why no one’s paper matched yours. (You will probably get responses like “You
didn’t let us ask questions!” or “Your directions could be interpreted in different ways.”)
Then, lead into a presentation on the need for two-way communication in the workplace.

“Human Knot”

This brain teaser is funny and really works on teambuilding, problem solving and
communication. It will take around 15-30 minutes depending on how well everyone works
together. No materials are needed. Recommended group size ranges from 8-20 people.

1. Instruct the participants to stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

2. Tell everyone to put their right hand in the air and grab the hand of someone standing
across the circle from them.
3. Now tell everyone to put their left hand in the air and grab the hand of a different
person.
4. Someone needs to check that everyone is holding the hands of two different people and
that no one is holding the hand of someone who’s standing directly next to them.
5. The objective of the game is to untangle everyone without breaking the circle.
6. If the chain is broken, participants will have to start over.

TIP: Announce that this game requires casual clothing. Also remind others to be mindful of
colleagues, especially those with certain physical limitations.

This exercise will prove to be extremely challenging and will heavily rely on teamwork and
communication, without which, participants will find it extremely difficult to successfully
complete the task.

“Helium Stick”

 Deceptively simple but powerful exercise for learning how to work together and
communicate in small to medium sized groups.
 Line up in two rows which face each other.
 Introduce the Helium Stick- a long, thin, lightweight rod.
 Ask participants to point their index fingers and hold their arms out.
 Lay the Helium Stick down on their fingers.  Get the group to adjust their finger heights
until the Helium Stick is horizontal and everyone's index fingers are touching the stick.
 Explain that the challenge is to lower the Helium Stick to the ground.
 The catch: Each person's fingers must be in contact with the Helium Stick at all
times. Pinching or grabbing the pole in not allowed - it must rest on top of fingers.
 Reiterate to the group that if anyone's finger is caught not touching the Helium Stick,
the task will be restarted. Let the task begin....
 Warning: Particularly in the early stages, the Helium Stick has a habit of mysteriously
'floating' up rather than coming down, causing much laughter. A bit of clever humoring
 can help - e.g., act surprised and ask what are they doing raising the Helium Stick
instead of lowering it!  For added drama, jump up and pull it down!
 Participants may be confused initially about the paradoxical behavior of the Helium
Stick.
 Some groups or individuals (most often larger size groups) after 5 to 10 minutes of
trying may be inclined to give up, believing it not to be possible or that it is too hard.
 The facilitator can offer direct suggestions or suggest the group stops the task, discusses
their strategy, and then has another go.
 Less often, a group may appear to be succeeding too fast.  In response, be particularly
vigilant about fingers not touching the pole. Also make sure participants lower the pole
all the way onto the ground.  You can add further difficulty by adding a large washer to
each end of the stick and explain that the washers should not fall off during the exercise,
otherwise it's a restart.
 Eventually the group needs to calm down, concentrate, and very slowly, patiently lower
the Helium Stick - easier said than done.

How Does it Work?

 The stick does not contain helium.  The secret (keep it to yourself) is that the collective
upwards pressure created by everyone's fingers tends to be greater than the weight of
the stick.  As a result, the more a group tries, the more the stick tends to 'float' upwards.

“Trust Walk – Introduction of Trust”

What You Need:

 2 players
 Blindfold
 Several small objects such as blocks, small traffic cones, stuffed animals, tennis ball
canisters or plastic containers (larger objects like plastic trash cans also work)
 Large flat area

What You Do:

1. Before you begin placing your obstacles, clear the play area of any items that won't be
part of the game and make sure there aren't any uneven surfaces or stairs nearby that
could cause injury to the blindfolded player.
2. Place obstacles strategically around the play area to create a sort of maze for players to
wind through. Make sure you leave no straight, direct path to the other side.
3. Have the first pair of players choose which one will give the directions and which one
will follow them. Securely blindfold the follower and instruct her not to talk while the
game is in play.
 4. Begin the game. The communicator must give her blindfolded partner directions to help
her successfully navigate the maze of obstacles and reach the other side. The
communicator can give her partner directional cues, but cannot tell her how many steps
to take in each direction. Advise the communicator to speak slowly so her partner has
time to follow her directions and doesn't get confused.
5. Once the blindfolded player safely reaches the other side, have the two partners switch
roles and restart the game.

You can easily play this game with more than two players, and with a few modifications you can
also make it into an exciting treasure hunt that's great for birthday parties and other group
gatherings. Just put a small gift under or inside one of the obstacles and have the
communicator guide her partner to that obstacle.

“Mouse Trap Pass”

Game Type: TRUST

Props: Mouse Trap (unused)

Instructions:
What we are going to do is to pass this mousetrap around the circle. At no time can you pick-
up the mousetrap just slide it off onto the hand of the person next to you. So, you can place
one hand behind your back.

Facilitator: (to the person to your right) Ask- If I passed this mousetrap to you and took good
care to not let it snap you, then would you trust me a little more?

Answer: “ A little”

Facilitator : Right because trust is built in little tiny increments, but, would your ability to trust
me would go up just a little.

But what if, just as you were about to take the mousetrap I turned my hand over quickly and
made it snap your hand – How much would you trust me then?

Answer: “Not at all!” Right, and I wouldn’t blame you.

Facilitator: So, now since “Joe” won’t stand next to me the next time I’m going to stand next to
Susie. Susie, how much are you going to trust me.
Susie: I’m not!

Facilitator: (to Susie) That’s not fair, I snapped Joe not you, why don’t you trust me?

Susie: Because if you did it to him you might do it to me!

Facilitator: (to the group) Right, because when you break trust with one person it doesn’t just
effect your trust level with that one person it effects your trust level with anyone who knows
about it. So, breaking trust can have a devastating effect in a family. Because it effects the way
everyone in the family trusts you.

So, during the activity if I was making noises and saying things like “SNAP” would that be
building trust or breaking trust? Breaking trust and remember we are building trust.

Debrief:
Ask the group which was more difficult receiving the mousetrap or passing it?
Typically you will get mixed answers from the group.

Why did some of you say receiving was more difficult?

Answer: “I was scared I might get snapped” or “I didn’t have any control over what they
were going to do.”

Facilitator: It was scary because you were taking a risk and any time you trust another person it
requires taking a risk.

Why did some of you say passing?

Answer: “I was afraid of snapping the other person.”

Facilitator: When another person trusts you there is a responsibility placed on you to prove
yourself worthy of their trust.

There are always those two sides of trust at work in all of our decisions. You will always do one
of two things – build trust or break trust.