A635.4.3.RB - Build a Tower, Build a Team

In a TED Talk entitled “Build a Tower, Build a Team” Tom Wujec describes a team building exercise that he uses at design workshops. The challenge involves building a tower in eighteen minutes using twenty pieces of dry spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow.  The goal is to have the tallest tower with the marshmallow on top. “Though it seems really simple it is actually pretty hard because it forces people to collaborate very quickly” (Wujec, 2010).  Wujec (2010) explained that the results were surprising; groups composed of kindergarteners generally were able to build structures taller than groups composed of business school students and executives.  Wujec’s reasoning for the kindergartener’s success was that “they build successive prototypes, always keeping the marshmallow on top, so they have multiple times to fix and build the prototypes along the way” (2010).  He explained that this is the “essence of the iterative process” (Wujec, 2010).

I believe that there may be multiple reasons that the kids perform better on this challenge.  Wujec (2010) indicated that most groups spend a few minutes becoming oriented to the task and jockeying for power.  Children, on the other hand, have no need to establish a hierarchy and have a meeting about how the task will be accomplished; they simply start working creatively to overcome the challenge. As children begin to work they see problems and work together to overcome them.  Adults try to plan a successful design before the work is ever begun. Adults are more self-conscious than children, and may be more concerned whether or not their ideas and suggestions will be accepted by the group, so they may hesitate to offer them. Children generally do not have a “social acceptance filter” and so they likely offer their ideas completely unrestrained.  Additionally, through a lifetime of experience adults have become conditioned to think certain ways, as opposed to the creativity of children which knows no bounds.

Interestingly, groups of CEOs that included an executive assistant were able to build spaghetti structures significantly taller than groups without an assistant.  Wujec (2010) explained that this occurred because executive assistants “have special skills of facilitation, they manage the process, they understand the process.”  Brown (2011) explained that process interventions are used “to help groups become more effective” and “become more aware of the way it operates and the way its members work with one another.”  The executive assistants on the teams helped to ensure that the process continued moving toward the goal, and that too much time was not taken performing unnecessary tasks that were not part of accomplishing the objective.

If I were invited to lead a process workshop I would use this video to demonstrate the importance of process intervention to team performance. Teams with executive assistants involved process intervention in their effort to build the tallest tower.  When process intervention was part of the spaghetti challenge, the teams performed better. “Process interventions help the work group solve its own problems by making it aware of its process” (Brown, 2011). As teams become more aware of the process it is easier to determine areas of weakness that need to be improved so that performance can be enhanced.  

By utilizing process intervention in my daily activities I can increase performance of the teams that I am involved with.  In my position I do not have an OD practitioner that I am working with to help me improve. However, I can apply the principles of process intervention myself by increasing awareness of the processes we use to accomplish our objectives. By becoming aware I will be more inclined to see inefficiencies and areas for improvement, and be able to help the groups perform better by independently solving their problems.

References

Brown, D. (2011). An experiential approach to organizational development (8th ed). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Wujec, T. (2010). Build a Tower, Build a Team [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

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