The Amoeba Electric Fence teambuilding game requires a group to travel over an obstacle while maintaining their amoeba status (remaining connected with each other).

The challenge can be made more difficult by making the "electric fence" taller.

Though it's possible to setup this teamwork activity by simply stringing a rope between two chairs (or trees) I prefer the version you see in the video because the facilitator is removed from the "policing" role.

Would you like to lead this teambuilding game with your group?

I'll send you the complete teambuilding game write-up!  Just subscribe to my free TeachMeTeamwork.com teamwork ideas e-newsletter (see the form in the right hand column).  In addition to receiving a free teambuilding games e-book, I'll regularly send you complete and detailed lead-it-yourself instructions to teambuilding games like the one above.  The lead-it-yourself instructions include: 

• Setup & Preparation directions
• Rules
• Comments and insights about the teambuilding game
• Debriefing suggestions
• Variations
• Detailed "how to make it" if props are involved
• Video clips and photos

Over time you'll receive over 100 new and different lead-it-yourself teambuilding game write-ups for FREE. 

CLICK HERE for a sample teambuilding game write-up.

Do you need immediate access to my growing online archive of lead-it-yourself teambuilding games?  When you purchase my popular Multimedia 3-CD Training Bundle, I'll immediately send you the password to my online archive of teambuilding game write-ups.  Learn more HERE.

>> Lead consciously.  Learn how HERE

The woman said something disgusting and the leader let it slide and it was all captured on video.

Here's how it played out...

Presidential candidate John McCain was in South Carolina at a gathering of political supporters and a woman stands up and asks the senator,

"How do we beat the bitch?'

The woman was referring to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

McCain, along with the rest of the group, laughed out loud at the question.  McCain even said it was an "excellent question".

Watch the video below:

McCain missed a great opportunity to lead.

McCain should have stepped right up to that woman and said "That is TOTALLY unacceptable.  You will NOT use that type of language in my presence.  Referring to women as bitches is wrong and I demand an apology right now."

Was McCain's response clouded by his need for support (money and votes) of the people at that gathering?

How will you respond when someone you're leading says something incredibly disgusting and everyone in the room starts to laugh?

If you don't have a strong "Personal Foundation" you'll be susceptible to the same inappropriate response McCain had (trying to laugh it off, etc.).

A Personal Foundation is much like the foundation of a building.  If the foundation is weak then whatever you build on it will be unstable and unreliable.  Build the foundation strong and you've set the stage for a building that will stand the test of time.

A Personal Foundation consists of:

• Restoring Integrity
• Extending your Boundaries
• Raising your Standards
• Re-orienting around your Values

The part of your Personal Foundation that will protect you most in these situations is clarity of Values AND orienting your entire life around your top value(s).

If you aren't clear about your top values and you haven't oriented your life around them, your life will become compartmentalized - - you'll find yourself saying one thing and then, when your guard is down (and the video camera is rolling), you'll say another.

Compartmentalization happens by not having great clarity about your top values AND not orienting your entire life around those values.

Compartmentalization leads to duplicity and duplicity is toxic.

When you first identify (clarify) your top values and then orient your entire life around those values, you'll see these benefits:

• Easier goal setting.  Your goals will be in sync with what's most important to you.
• Developing deep clarity.  You'll free yourself from being torn between things.
• Experiencing FLOW more often.  You'll enjoy your work and the different areas of your life will flow together.  No more compartmentalization.
• More energy.  Releasing goals and projects that drain you and don't express your values.
• Regret free living.  When you're true to your core values you have no regrets.

You can strengthen your Personal Foundation and upgrade your leadership skills.  Learn more HERE

Want to learn more about the McCain "How do we beat the bitch" comment?

CLICK HERE to read this great article by Debra Condren in the Huffington Post.

CLICK HERE to view a fascinating 20-minute video of Bill Moyers interviewing Kathleen Hall Jamieson on women in power.

New research finds that babies naturally gravitate toward people who cooperate.

A Yale University study published in the journal Nature says that 6 and 10-month-old babies are much more capable judges of character than previously thought. Not only can infants pick out a good Samaritan, they tend to identify with them.

Yahoo News states this:

The study released last month presented babies with a diorama-like display of an anthropomorphic circle struggling to make it up a hill. Just when it appeared that all hope was lost, a heroic triangle appeared, and pushed the circle to the top. The round climber bounces, clearly elated to have reached the summit. The same scenario is played out again, only this time a square appears at the top of the hill and pushes the circle to the bottom.

The babies were then asked to pick a toy – the helper or the hinderer, as scientists called them. One hundred percent of 6-month-olds and 87.5 percent of 10-month-olds chose the helper. The results were consistent even when the triangle and the square swapped places as good guy and bad guy. In several other iterations of the experiment, the helper, regardless of shape or color, won out.

"Babies are very competent socially," says Kiley Hamlin, lead author of the study. "They can figure this kind of stuff out without people explicitly teaching what's nice and not nice and who's nice and who's not nice."

We are, by design, born looking for and wanting to associate with people who cooperate.  So why is it that we need to teach teamwork?

I propose that even though we are born with an innate desire to cooperate there is a need for people to practice and refine this desire.

There are some people who were born with a natural skill to hit a golf ball - think Tiger Woods -  and yet even the best (like Tiger) need a coach to stay on top of their game.

Are you developing and refining YOUR skills at teaching teamwork and leading people?  I have a new 12-month transformational leadership development program for your to enroll in today.  CLICK HERE to learn more.

The All Aboard teambuilding game is considered a "classic" activity and for good reason.  It's fun and the difficulty of the challenge can be adjusted to meet the needs of the group.

The video clip doesn't show the three nesting platforms used in this activity.  To view the platforms you'll need to download the "How To Make It" PDF in the IATF Members Only Area.

Would you like to lead this teambuilding game with your group?

When you become a member of the IATF you'll receive immediate access to our growing online archive of teambuilding games plus you'll receive many other benefits.  CLICK HERE to learn more about the benefits of IATF membership.

CLICK HERE to view a sample IATF teambuilding game write-up which includes:

• Setup & Preparation directions
• Rules
• Comments and insights about the teambuilding game
• Debriefing suggestions
• Variations
• Detailed "how to make it" if props are involved
• Video clips and photos

CLICK HERE to subscribe to the free IATF teambuilding ideas e-newsletter and receive a free teambuilding games e-book instantly.  Learn more HERE

Here in the US it's the gift buying and giving season and leadership guru Patrick Lencioni suggests managers NOT give a cookie basket, gift certificate or desk accessory. 

Lencioni offers up a free gift idea every manager should give her employee that takes a little time and perhaps a bit more courage and vulnerability than managers are sometimes prepared to spend.

But the benefits will make it all worth it.

CLICK HERE to find out what this gift is.

Here's a news item that speaks to how easy it can be to fool people.

A small group of high school students play a prank on visiting fans during a football game.  Be sure to watch the video clip below.

This small group of students passed out small (8.5 x 11 inch) pieces of paper to fans sitting on the opposing  side of the field.  The fans thought the signs would spell out something positive ("Go Darby") but instead said "We Suck".

This small group of students was not operating in integrity and yet they were able to quickly and easily fool a few hundred people because only they lacked the "big picture".  Had the fans known what they were doing they would have never participated in the prank.

It's easier for  leaders who aren't operating in integrity to fool larger and larger numbers of people because so many people are in a fog.  This fog can be caused by many things but one of the biggest culprits is our seemingly never ending desire for  more TV that is the equivalent of junk food for the brain.

TV distracts us an makes us more susceptible to being fooled, much like the fans at the football game were fooled.  When we're distracted it becomes harder to think about the big picture or what's really important.

Al Gore talks a lot about this in his must read book entitled "The Assault On Reason".

Read a book review of "The Assault On Reason" by the NY Times HERE

NPR interviews Al Gore about this book.  Listen HERE

Would you or your team members like to develop the skills needed to lead with high integrity?  Take a look at my new 12-month leadership development program:  the Emerging Leaders Coaching Program

It's Tom Heck, President & Founder of the IATF (second person from the left dressed as an elf - click image to enlarge) with your December 2007 edition of the IATF Teamwork & Leadership Ideas e-Newsletter. 

What an amazing and delightful year this has been.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share strategies, tactics and tools that support your good work building and leading teams.

I launched TeachMeTeamwork.com five years ago because I had a great sense of urgency about sharing resources that would promote win-win team consciousness worldwide.  I continue to add new and free resources to the site including a new Master List of Teambuilding Games that will help you find the activity you need.

The project I'm most excited about is the new 7-week distance learning leadership development program called the Leader As Coach Fast Track Program.

The Leader As Coach Fast Track Program includes weekly live and interactive TeleSeminars, weekly Group Coaching, Guest Speakers from the world team and leadership development, access to an online Leadership Resource Library (audio recordings, printable articles, self and team assessments, etc.), and more!

On Thursday December 13 I'm leading a free live TeleSeminar on the  Leader As Coach Fast Track Program  where I'll share the 7 Qualities of a Coach Leader.

Over the past several weeks I've been talking with some amazing people and working out some truly wonderful collaborations that will ultimately benefit YOU.  As the first quarter of 2007 unfolds you'll begin seeing new opportunities at the IATF that are designed to support you and the good work you do.

Here's to your health and happiness!

Tom Heck
President & Founder
International Association of Teamwork Facilitators

New Teambuilding Games

• Rope Pile -- teach win-win
• Paper Tower -- two sheets of paper, scissors and a coin
• M and M Arm Wrestle -- no-prop teambuilding lesson
• Jump Rope Record -- very active goal setting activity
  
• Master List of Teambuilding Games -- making it easier to find the activity you need

New Audio Interview

• Kevin Eikenberry -- Author of "Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Potential One Skill At A Time"
• Tom Heck -- Tom is interviewed by Dr. Relly Nadler, an Emotional Intelligence Leadership Expert, author and executive coach.

Must-Have Books

• Playing With A Full Deck -- My friend Michelle Cummings does it again!
• Create Light -- Anne Heck's first book of poetry

Teamwork Theory

• Language of the Leader -- 8 practical language principles for anyone who wants to play a bigger game.  PLUS a bonus music video of one of my favorite singer-songwriters.  :-)

Humorous

• The Heck Family as Dancing Elves -- video clip that makes me laugh

The Rope Pile teamwork game is easy to setup and lead and yet it provides a wonderful opportunity for the group to explore their decision making process.

Provide the group with a pile of rope (length 75-100 feet).  The objective is, as a team, to CONCLUSIVELY determine if the rope has a knot tied in it AND make their decision in the shortest amount of time.

Would you like to lead this teambuilding game with your group?

I'll send you the complete teambuilding game write-up!  Just subscribe to my free TeachMeTeamwork.com teamwork ideas e-newsletter (see the form in the right hand column).  In addition to receiving a free teambuilding games e-book, I'll regularly send you complete and detailed lead-it-yourself instructions to teambuilding games like the one above.  The lead-it-yourself instructions include: 

• Setup & Preparation directions
• Rules
• Comments and insights about the teambuilding game
• Debriefing suggestions
• Variations
• Detailed "how to make it" if props are involved
• Video clips and photos

Over time you'll receive over 100 new and different lead-it-yourself teambuilding game write-ups for FREE. 

CLICK HERE for a sample teambuilding game write-up.

Do you need immediate access to my growing online archive of lead-it-yourself teambuilding games?  When you purchase my popular Multimedia 3-CD Training Bundle, I'll immediately send you the password to my online archive of teambuilding game write-ups.  Learn more HERE.

>> Lead consciously.  Learn how HERE

Here's a teamwork exercise you can use to teach goal setting. 

Supply each team of 2-4 people with two sheets of paper (8.5 x 11 inches or equivalent), one pair of scissors, and a large coin (quarter).

The objective is to build the tallest free standing structure using only the supplied materials.

Would you like to lead this teambuilding game with your group?

I'll send you the complete teambuilding game write-up!  Just subscribe to my free TeachMeTeamwork.com teamwork ideas e-newsletter (see the form in the right hand column).  In addition to receiving a free teambuilding games e-book, I'll regularly send you complete and detailed lead-it-yourself instructions to teambuilding games like the one above.  The lead-it-yourself instructions include: 

• Setup & Preparation directions
• Rules
• Comments and insights about the teambuilding game
• Debriefing suggestions
• Variations
• Detailed "how to make it" if props are involved
• Video clips and photos

Over time you'll receive over 100 new and different lead-it-yourself teambuilding game write-ups for FREE. 

CLICK HERE for a sample teambuilding game write-up.

Do you need immediate access to my growing online archive of lead-it-yourself teambuilding games?  When you purchase my popular Multimedia 3-CD Training Bundle, I'll immediately send you the password to my online archive of teambuilding game write-ups.  Learn more HERE.

>> Lead consciously.  Learn how HERE

My wife Anne has published her first book of poetry and it's wonderful.  You can order your copy HERE.

This book contains 18 poems, all inspired by Anne's connection to nature and Spirit.

Check out Anne's blog where you'll find more poetry and photographs by Anne:  www.AnneHeck.com

CLICK HERE to view a fun animated clip of the Heck family dressed as elves and dancing up a storm.  Please vote for the best dancer by leaving a comment (click on the link above "comments").  Left to right:  Liza, Tom, Joseph, Anne

This is a "no-prop" teamwork activity, meaning all you need to lead this are participants.  People pair up and then assume the "arm wrestling" position. 

Here's what you tell the group:  "Your goal is to earn as many points as possible.  You earn a point when the back of your partner's hand touches the ground."  I'll demonstrate how this works and then I'll say "Ready, set go!" 

Watch the video to see what happens next 99.9% of the time.

Would you like to lead this teambuilding game with your group?

Follow the link below to read detailed directions on how to lead this teamwork exercise which include:

• Setup & Preparation
• Rules
• Comments and insights about the teambuilding game
• Debriefing suggestions
• Variations
• Detailed "how to make it" if props are involved

CLICK HERE to read complete lead-it-yourself instructions.  You'll be taken to a password protected "Member Only Area".  Become a Member - Learn how HERE.

>> Master List of Teambuilding Games HERE

>> Leadership Development Program HERE 

Here's a fun teamwork activity that always seems to get a group "going for the world record".  It's easy to lead, just get a section of rope and ask the group to set a record for the most number of consecutive group jumps.  This teambuilding exercise creates a great opportunity for you to talk with the group about goal setting, coordinated effort, and when to give up.

Would you like to lead this teambuilding game with your group?

I'll send you the complete teambuilding game write-up!  Just subscribe to my free TeachMeTeamwork.com teamwork ideas e-newsletter (see the form in the right hand column).  In addition to receiving a free teambuilding games e-book, I'll regularly send you complete and detailed lead-it-yourself instructions to teambuilding games like the one above.  The lead-it-yourself instructions include: 

• Setup & Preparation directions
• Rules
• Comments and insights about the teambuilding game
• Debriefing suggestions
• Variations
• Detailed "how to make it" if props are involved
• Video clips and photos

Over time you'll receive over 100 new and different lead-it-yourself teambuilding game write-ups for FREE. 

CLICK HERE for a sample teambuilding game write-up.

Do you need immediate access to my growing online archive of lead-it-yourself teambuilding games?  When you purchase my popular Multimedia 3-CD Training Bundle, I'll immediately send you the password to my online archive of teambuilding game write-ups.  Learn more HERE.

>> Lead consciously.  Learn how HERE

My friend Michelle Cummings has done it again.  In her new book Playing With A Full Deck Michelle shares 52 teambuilding games you can lead with a normal deck of playing cards.  How cool is that?!

Sometimes the simplest prop can be the most valuable item in your bag of tricks.

This book is jam packed with some wonderful experiential activities and all are engaging and hands-on in nature.

Throughout this book Michelle applies Multiple Intelligence theories and the "7 Kinds of Smart" work done by Thomas Armstrong and Howard Gardner.

It's important that you examine the learning styles of your participants and choose activities that will match their strengths.

If you select a wide variety of activities from multiple learning styles, each participant in your group will be engaged at different levels at different times. At the bottom of each activity it will note the learning style that is relevant for each activity.

A simple deck of cards can cover so much ground with any group that you work with. Everything from mixers and ice breaker activities, problem solving initiatives, powerful diversity activities and great debriefing activities can all be done with a deck of cards.

Most of the team activities in this book are geared towards groups of 10 or more, but there are some great ones you can do with small groups as well.

Card games engage players in classifying, ordering, reasoning, deducing, and devising strategies to solve a problem. These same skills help in team development, science, math, and other studies. They help us concentrate, focus attention, hone motor skills, and become more sociable.

Buy Playing With A Full Deck HERE

Teambuilding games author and trainer Michelle Cummings has developed one of the coolest debrief tools ever.  She calls it the "Body Part Debrief Bag" and it's guaranteed to help your group more effectively process teambuilding activities.

Once you get a chance to actually use this bag with a group your working with it's hard to imagine how useful this can be.

People really like holding the different items in the bag when they talk. 

For example, pass the heart around and ask people to share how they felt about what happened during the activity.

Or send the stomach around and ask people what took guts for them to do or ask how they stepped outside their Comfort Zone.

Brain- Tell the group something that you learned.

Hand- How the group supported you, or someone you would like to give a hand to.

Ear- Describe something you heard, or something that was hard to hear.

Eye- A vision you had for the group, or something you saw.

Smiley Face- Tell the group something that made you smile, or name some positive attributes of yourself or the group.

Once you start using the Body Part Debrief Bag you'll find it to be an invaluable tool, one that you'll make sure you always take along on a training event.

You can purchase the Body Part Debrief Bag from Training-Wheels.com (Michelle's company) HERE.

My friend Michelle Cummings at Training-Wheels.com is interviewed in Thiagi's newsletter.  Michelle is an expert facilitator and teacher of teamwork activities and is the author of several teambuilding games books.

CLICK HERE for the interview.

CLICK HERE for the great teambuilding game Michelle shares - - it's from her book "Playing With a Full Deck"

When you sign up for Michelle's newsletter she sends you 9 free teambuilding games from Playing With a Full Deck.

I also recommend Thiagi's free monthly newsletter.  Thiagi is a masterful teacher of games and how to use them in a training situation.  I always learn something new and valuable.  You can sign up HERE.  Look at the current issue and back issues of Thiagi's newsletter HERE.