Are you in charge of a group, the leader, boss or a teacher? The Dynamics of teamwork Which I will explain to you will serve you to break the ice, generate ideas, improve decision making, assess leadership skills and much more.
Group dynamics could be defined as the procedure or the systematized medium in which the activity of a group is organized and developed.
It refers to the interactions between people who talk to each other in a group or teamwork environment.
They are used as strategies that are constituted along norms or practical procedures that are very useful when what is wanted is Facilitating and improving the action of a group when participants are to build and work together and bring postures, opinions, thoughts, etc. together.
Group dynamics can be studied in different environments: business, academic, social... generally, when there are more than three people, Is giving a group dynamic.
In groups, people assume different roles: people with leadership, people who are more quiet, others who care more about the feelings of people, etc. And that's what people assume when in a group and not even aware of it.
In general, these roles are shaped according to the personality Of each one and of the experience that has had in group environments. However, they may Modified and improved.
What are the benefits of these dynamics?
Group dynamics are relevant because they influence the productivity of the group. If we work on the formation of teams and foster the dynamics of Groups can increase what the group is able to achieve.
The best way for them to improve is to learn how to handle the situation by reorienting the group. The whole group is responsible for its effectiveness and Share all responsibility for the group and its results to come to fruition.
An effective group or team is one in which each member assumes responsibility according to their talents and experience.
15 Dynamics of Teamwork
We include here some activities or dynamics that can be used to encourage teamwork. These are ideas and exercises that can be used as Tools that help to understand and improve the effectiveness of a group.
1. Ice-Breakers
These are activities to get to know each other. For example, you can divide the group into pairs and have one person interview the other for some Minutes.
A small scheme of questions can be provided according to the objective that we are looking for or can be done in a free way.
Another alternative would be for one of the partners to tell their lives (who they are, where they come from, why they are here, etc.) to the other member of the Couple and vice versa.
It is proposed that they then return to the large group and a member of the couple present to their partner.
Through this dynamic, in addition to knowing yourself, you learn about the importance of listening.
We can also make each member of his group present himself; You should specify what things should be said: name, strengths, a thing Fun that has happened to you, places where you have traveled, wishes...
The activities to get to know each other are interesting because it is necessary to know a person to understand it. And the more you understand, the more effective They will have at work.
2. Technique 6.3.5
It is a dynamic that serves to Generate creative ideas . In groups of 6 people, participants gather around a table to generate Ideas on an issue that had been previously agreed upon.
Each participant is offered a blank sheet where he has to write down three brief ideas, since he only has five minutes to power Write them down.
Once the five minutes have passed, they will pass their page to their partner, where they will repeat the process of writing three new ideas in five minutes.
Once the entire cycle has been completed and all the leaves have been circulated, 18 ideas will be available on each leaf.
3. Solidarity cubes
In this dynamic the group must construct a determined number of cubes on demand of a toy company. To do this, the group must be divided into three Subgroups.
Each group should perform 15 5 × 5 cubes in an hour and the material they have is as follows:
- Group 1: 2 cards, 1 ruler, 2 pencils, 3 scissors, 1 glue
- Group 2: 2 cards, 1 ruler, 2 pencils, 2 scissors and 1 glue
- Group 3: 2 cards, 2 rulers, 2 pencils, 1 scissors, 1 glue
The quality of the cubes will be assessed. Through this activity the roles assumed by the different members of each one will be shown, we will see how Work to coordinate and take the work forward.
Certain behaviors such as competitiveness, individuality...
Once the dynamic has been completed, a group discussion will be held to discuss all of this.
4. The Hot Air Balloon
The group proposes a situation:
"A meteorite falls into the ocean creating a giant wave that leaves all the continents of the planet submerged.
However, you and five other people are flying over Teide National Park in a balloon. After a few hours, it begins to lose air But you see an island. The sea is full of hungry sharks and the only way for the balloon to reach the island is to shoot one of the occupants."
A debate must be established to decide who will leave the globe. Each of the participants has an assigned role: a priest, a Journalist, a nurse, a political advisor, a primary education teacher and a Statistics.
It is necessary to fulfill the premises that: you are the only survivors and you must ensure the continuation of the species; The decision must be taken Unanimously; None of the participants can voluntarily leave the globe and everyone should state their arguments.
The purpose of this test is to analyze the group decision-making process and to see the communication processes, as well as to analyze the capacity of Cooperation and implementation of aid, equality. You can also see the initiative and the leadership.
5. Case study
It is a question of the group making an exhaustive analysis of a given situation from multiple visions to obtain conclusions. The goal is not to arrive To a single solution, is the interaction and dialogue between the members of the group.
A case is first chosen, a single problem is presented, presenting the relevant details so that it can be understood and solved. Must fit To the type of participants to make it interesting.
They can be offered a work script to help them focus. And then the case is raised in a summarized way and by groups they are offered.
Each group is discussing the case and reaching conclusions according to the script. And then he gets into a big group.
It is a useful technique to respect peers' ideas, to establish active listening, to see how they solve a group problem, how Discuss ideas and agree, etc.
One case, for example, could be the following (although we emphasize the importance of being appropriate to the target group):
"Pilar is a woman, housewife and mother of two children who, after seeing on TV and in magazines a new brand of X brand. The advertising and the characteristics of this soup, as well as the vitamins it has.
Pilar, because of the publicity, decided that morning to go to a supermarket to buy the soup. When it has been a while, it comes out of it with a broth, but Not the mark X, but the mark Y.
What happened at the supermarket to have varied your purchase?
6. Role play
With this dynamic we can evaluate the ability of candidates in the use of communication when there is a situation to solve. It can Also observe the negotiating capacity.
For this, it is distributed to the participants in pairs and given a case that they will have to solve by representing it.
The cases may be as follows:
"Tomorrow I must miss work and I have to tell my boss. However, the last time I asked him to leave, last week, he discovered that it was Lie the excuse that I put. However, tomorrow is true and I need to absent myself."
"I have a coworker who asks me to please leave me today to finish his work, about 20-30 minutes because he has to leave already Who has a wedding and must go to arrange his hair. I do not feel like doing it."
7. The desert island
This group dynamics allows us to evaluate the ability of candidates to play the role of leader when there is a problem situation to solve.
The participants are divided into groups of 6 at the most and given a printed case. They should sit around a table and each of them has of the case. You have 10 minutes to solve it.
The case is as follows:
"You're on a plane and you're going on a vacation. However, there has been an accident on the plane and you are the only survivors aboard the plane. Boat, which is about to sink by weight.
A few kilometers you can see a desert island, which you can reach if you lighten the weight of the boat.
Here are 12 objects, which you must classify by priority. Do the classification, first, individually, and then discuss the order of priority of the Objects until you reach consensus."
The listing is:
- 5 packs of diapers
- 1 revolver without ammunition
- 20 liters of drinking water
- 1 pack of cigarettes
- 1 cash register with money in different currencies
- 5 kilos of coal
- Thread and hooks
- Condoms
- 2 bottles of Whiskey
- 1 parachute that does not carry instructions
- 1 gold burner
- 1 mirror
The most important thing: to keep what allows to signal to the airplanes, like a mirror or the parachute; Making it possible to make fire (lighter, coal), Which helps them survive (fishing, water), and what they can heal themselves (alcohol).
8. Group Communication
You will need paper and pencil and choose one of the participants. This will be the one who makes a drawing that others will not be able to see.
You can start by making drawings easier (based on lines and geometric shapes). And later, through instructions, he will try to get the rest of his Colleagues copied it in their papers without having seen it, only through their explanations
9. The Card Game
It is a dynamic based on the communication And how we sometimes do not correctly interpret other people's messages.
For this, different letters are prepared where they put words: freedom, pain, child, table, sky...
At the beginning, the participant thinks a message and transmits it to the neighbor through five letters (five words).
The partner receives the five words (five letters) and writes on a sheet what he thinks the partner wanted to tell him. And so on.
When it is finished, we see the difference between what was meant and what the partner interpreted. And at the end of the day there is discussion about Utility of dynamics.
10. The group of cannibals
It is a dynamic that allows for argumentation. It should be distributed to participants in groups of 8 candidates at most.
Each of the participants must receive a card with a number (from 1 to 8) and a form where the case is described.
They should be told that they must solve the case in group and that they have 20 minutes to do so. The case is as follows:
"8 tourists are traveling in the jungle next to the guide, but suddenly they are captured by a tribe of cannibals. They have eaten the guide and locked up All tourists. Eating the guide, cannibals have it for one week, and next week they will choose the next.
However, it is they who must decide who will be next and the order in which the cannibals will eat them. They must also decide how to Escape from there.
Each one will adopt an assigned role (according to the number he has touched) and from the character must negotiate with others who should be the last to be Eaten:
- Obese singer who knows about medicine
- Young and strong killer
- Lame prostitute who knows how to hunt
- Old man who knows the area
- Blind locksmith
- Sick biologist
- Lion Tamer who is deaf
- Interpreter who knows the language of the tribe
11. Things in common
Participants are asked to distribute in groups of about 5 people. Next, they are told that they must find 10 things they have in Common among all of them.
They can not describe things of clothing, neither of work nor of anatomy.
They should take note of those things they have in common and write them down to put them into the great group.
12. Very funny questions
It is an activity that allows the members of the group to meet, open to the group and have fun. A series of questions should be proposed, That can be fun and playful.
The group is divided into different subgroups of 4-5 people randomly. A description of the different questions is provided for them to go Answering
These questions can be:"what color do you see and why?, what other name you would have chosen, if you were an object what would you be, what would be the slogan Of your life, what place you would be, etc."
It should be put in common in the group and then in the large group.
13. The lie
You can start by distributing the groups in small groups of 5 people or it can be done in a large group.
The idea is for all participants to choose three or four statements about themselves. Only one of them must be a lie.
It is advisable to give them time to think about them and to be adequate enough so that their colleagues find it difficult to choose what is the True.
We ask you to think individually and write them down on paper. Subsequently, and in turn, they should read the sentences so that between all they debate and Come to an agreement as to why they believe that is the lie.
We need the members of the group to agree and each of them to discuss and argue their position.
Later the person will say which of them was the phrase that is not true.
14. Shared Drawing
It is a dynamic that can make the members of the group reflect on the need for dialogue and communication for a smooth operation of the team.
It is about getting the group out of the room and enter only one of them. In the room we will have placed a large folio or a blackboard where the The first participant in the group will start a drawing.
Later we will cover it exposing only a part of his drawing and we will pass to the next participant, who must follow with the drawing Of his partner. So on and on until everyone has participated.
Once finished, we can talk to them about what has happened and the emotions that have generated the process.
15. Truth Photo
It is a technique that allows the group to observe how the reality is negative and nobody has the complete truth, as well as with the help of a group the Members can complement each other.
Groups of about 7-8 people are formed and a photograph is put on the board. They are given time to observe it, but they can not speak or stand standing.
The coordinator removes the photo and then each writes on a paper the estimated age of the person.
It is a painting where you can see, according to the eyes, a girl of about 18 years old or an old woman.
They are given 1 minute for each to mark the age and 5 minutes to be discussed in group and agree with age. There will be Seen the two and who has seen only one.
Then we let them see the photo again but reminding them that they can not speak. They are told that they can approach and see it from the angle they want, but Who can not speak.
They come back to agree. And in a final stage we re-teach them the photo and we let them talk and help each other.
Once finished, we will ask the group to reconvene and comment on what conclusions have arrived, what they have learned and if they can extract some Conclusion for your daily life.
And what else? Dynamics Teamwork do you know?
References
- Chehaybar, E. (2012). Techniques for group learning: large groups. National Autonomous University of Mexico.
- Government of the Canary Islands. Group dynamics.
- González, I., De León, C. Strategies of group learning. University of Córdoba (Department of Education).
- Kaneko Aguilar, J. (2013). Dynamic group workshop applied to the selection of personnel. César Vallejo University.
- Marle Nazzaro, A., Strazzabosco, J. (2003). Group dynamics and team building. World Federation of Hemophilia.
- Youth Pastoral Coyuca. Techniques and dynamics to work in a group.