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Up in The Air

This document describes an exercise called "Up in the Air" that can be used for team building. Participants stand in a circle and pass objects like balls to each other by name. The facilitator starts by introducing one object and has the group practice until comfortable. Additional objects are gradually added. Finally, the facilitator instructs the group to reverse the passing order, creating chaos at first but helping the team learn to adapt to change. The game aims to illustrate learning new tasks and builds skills like multi-tasking, listening, and handling uncertainty.

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Edward Wing
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35 views1 page

Up in The Air

This document describes an exercise called "Up in the Air" that can be used for team building. Participants stand in a circle and pass objects like balls to each other by name. The facilitator starts by introducing one object and has the group practice until comfortable. Additional objects are gradually added. Finally, the facilitator instructs the group to reverse the passing order, creating chaos at first but helping the team learn to adapt to change. The game aims to illustrate learning new tasks and builds skills like multi-tasking, listening, and handling uncertainty.

Uploaded by

Edward Wing
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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up in the air (for team building, handling change, team development, teamwork,

listening skills, illustrating the training and learning process, and more)

You can use this game to support the training of any new task, particularly if delegates feel
unsure about their ability to learn the new task and apply it along with existing activities. The
game works extremely well, and trainees love it because it's different and fun. This exercise
will also help participants understand and deal with that uncomfortable feeling when they join
a new team, experience change within their own team, or are forced to adjust to a change in
procedure or policies. It emphasises the understanding of 'what is now new and will soon
become the normal' and helps demonstrate how the transition from new to normal can flow
naturally. Amongst other things, use this great team building game to develop multi-tasking
ability, eg., for people who are unsure of their ability to talk to customers and work on the
computer at the same time. This game is also ideal as a warm-up for training sessions or
courses because it helps delegates remember the names of other people in the group.

How it works: A group of 6 to 20 stand in a circle facing each other. The facilitator must
participate as well. The facilitator explains to the group that they will call out a person's name
and toss a ball (such as a stress ball or juggling ball - any soft object actually, even fruit or
cuddly toys will suffice) to the named person. That person must then call out another person's
name in the circle (who has not yet had the object tossed to them) and then throw the object to
that person. This continues until everyone in the circle has thrown and caught the object. The
facilitator must explain to the group that each person must remember their catcher. When the
object has been thrown to everyone in the group, the ball returns to the facilitator, and is then
thrown around the circle again, in the same order as before. This cycle continues until the
facilitator is happy that the whole group is comfortable with the exercise. (You'll know this
because people are actually listening for their name to be called out and catching the object.)

When the group is competent with the first ball, the facilitator introduces a second ball (or
suitable object), which must follow the same order as the first, so that two objects are being
passed around the group. When competence is reached with the two objects, a third is
introduced, and still, every thrower must announce the name of the catcher before throwing.

And so on. At some stage between three objects and saturation point (ie as many objects
being passed as people in the group - it's up to the facilitator) without warning the facilitator
instructs the group to begin tossing the objects in the REVERSE order (ie., catchers call out
names of, and throw to, the people who previously threw to them. Chaos at first, but all great
fun, and gradually people learn, which after all, is the point of the game.

Points to review: How did you feel when the exercise began? After you reached a comfort
level with the task, how did you feel when more objects were added? How soon did you
achieve comfort level when new objects were introduced, and did this timescale change for
each new object? Did anyone in the team begin encouraging or helping others by telling them
to just focus on the person tossing the object to them? When we had the major change of
reversing the order the object was tossed, did you expect it? How did you handle it? Did the
group eventually perform well at it and get a constant flow of objects in the air? You will
think of more questions to ask and points to review, especially when seeing the game played.
(Ack. Tori Sarmiento)

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