The Helium Stick teamwork activity is easy to lead and offers a powerful lesson.

I’ve successfully used this activity to help the leadership of an organization realize that having a company mission is one thing and making it a reality is another.  I did this by leading the group in a four-hour company mission and vision statement workshop. 

After everyone was in agreement about the mission and vision statement and understood it I had the group do the Helium Stick activity. 

Here is the metaphor I shared with the group:  The tent pole was the company vision and by successfully lowering it to the ground they achieved their vision. 

What happened next was eye opening!  The tent pole immediately went in the OPPOSITE direction from where they were trying to go. 

After 50 minutes of trying to lower the tent pole to the ground they succeeded. 

In the debrief I asked the group if they experienced any parallels to real life while doing this activity.  YES they said…everyone had to be committed to the process, blaming and excuses didn’t make things better, staying calm and focused was critical, and so on.

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