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Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 8c92e2900c0af0b47d52e292360c3da286da4b7c7f39d277d23b64fe9c27d8f2

# Challenging Taboos to Enhance Creativity

Teams tackle a lateral thinking puzzle with limited physical resources. After presenting proposals, the room uncovers how social taboos and self-censorship eliminate workable options.

**Time:** 50 minutes. Matches source duration of 50 minutes (5 + 5 + 10 + 5 + 15 + 10).
**People:** 4 to 24. Subgroups of 3 to 6 participants (or one group of 4 to 6 for total sizes under 7), followed by whole-room discussion.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Identify unspoken social taboos and examine how self-censorship restricts problem-solving options.
**Use it when:** Use when a team is stuck in conventional habits or needs to examine unwritten rules limiting creative choices.
**Skip it when:** Skip in settings where examining bodily functions or social taboos causes extreme discomfort or breaches company decorum rules.

## Materials and tools

- Printed copies or projected slide of the Ping Pong Ball Challenge
- Scratch paper and pens for each participant
- Flip chart and markers or shared digital document

## Before participants arrive

1. Display or print copies of the Ping Pong Ball Challenge scenario.
2. Arrange room seating to allow quick grouping into clusters of 3 to 6 people.

## Say this to open

We will tackle a lateral thinking puzzle with strict constraints. After I introduce the challenge, you will spend five minutes writing your own ideas, then work in small teams to pick one solution to pitch to the room.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce challenge (5 minutes)

Display the Ping Pong Ball Challenge. Read the scenario aloud: an eight-inch vertical pipe embedded in concrete holds a ping pong ball at the bottom. Available tools are a one-foot thin rope and a metal file. No other tools exist, the pipe cannot move, and the ball cannot be damaged. Clarify constraints without giving clues.

### 2. Generate individual ideas (5 minutes)

Participants work individually in silence on scratch paper. Everyone writes down as many practical methods as possible to extract the ping pong ball under the stated constraints. Notes may remain private.

### 3. Select team solution (10 minutes)

Divide participants into small teams of 3 to 6 people (or keep a single team if fewer than 7 participants). Members share their ideas and build on them. Each team selects one final solution to present to the room.

### 4. Present and vote (5 minutes)

Invite one spokesperson from each team to pitch their solution in 30 seconds or less. The room votes on each proposal using thumbs up, sideways, or down. The two voting criteria are: Did the team follow all rules, and would the physics actually work?

### 5. Reveal solution and list taboos (15 minutes)

If no team proposed it, reveal that the most effective solution is to urinate in the pipe so the ball floats to the top. If a team proposed it, acknowledge their lateral thinking. Ask for quick reactions: did anyone think of it but hesitate to voice it? Explain that public talk about urination is a taboo. Record offered taboos on the board, including anonymous written slips or digital chat submissions.

### 6. Debrief (10 minutes)

Guide full-group reflection using the debrief prompts. Choose two core questions to explore how taboos serve protective roles, where they impose trade-offs, and how identifying them opens up fresh options.


## Debrief questions

- What was your reaction to the floatation solution, and did anyone self-censor it during brainstorming?
- Looking at our list of taboos, what protective purpose do these social boundaries serve?
- What are the practical trade-offs when teams treat certain topics or unconventional approaches as completely off limits?

**Finished output:** A shared list of social taboos and recorded notes on how self-censorship limits problem-solving, while allowing personal scratch notes to remain private.

## Remote

Show the scenario on a shared screen. Place participants into breakout rooms of 3 to 6 people for small group work. Return to the plenary room for verbal reports and video-reaction voting. Capture participant taboos on a shared live document.

## Hybrid

Form separate in-person and remote subgroups of 3 to 6 people. Remote participants cast thumbs up, down, or sideways using video reactions or chat emojis while room participants vote with physical gestures. A shared online whiteboard displays the scenario and captures spoken and typed taboos in real time.

## Access and participation choices

- Provide written copies of the scenario for visual review.
- Participants may pass during plenary speaking turns or contribute taboos anonymously via written slips or digital chat while keeping individual scratch notes private.

## If the session gets stuck

**A group invents physical impossibilities, such as shredding the rope into sticky threads.**

Remind everyone of the voting criteria: proposals must rely on realistic physical properties and the exact tools provided.

**Participants express visible awkwardness about the urination answer.**

Acknowledge the reaction as a direct demonstration of a taboo in action, then shift focus to how workplace norms silently block valid ideas.


## Terms used here

- Taboo: An unwritten social prohibition or implicit restriction placed on certain words, actions, or subjects.

## Participant material: Ping Pong Ball Challenge

Scenario:
An eight-inch long metal pipe is embedded in concrete at one end. The pipe is perpendicular to the ground, facing upward. A ping pong ball is at the bottom of the pipe. The ping pong ball fits loosely into the pipe.

Available Tools:
- A one-foot length of rope (0.1 inch in diameter)
- A metal file

Restrictions:
- You have no other external resources available to you.
- You cannot move or bend the pipe.
- The ping pong ball cannot be damaged.

Task:
Devise a workable method to remove the ping pong ball from the pipe.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in the Collaborative Discussion Project module '2.9 Challenging Taboos to Enhance Creativity'.

Retained the lateral thinking puzzle, taboo analysis, and timing breakdown from the Collaborative Discussion Project source. Adjusted subgroup ranges to 3 to 6 (allowing a single group for 4 to 6 people) to ensure valid arithmetic across the entire group size range. Set pitch duration to 30 seconds to fit five minutes. Clarified that scratch notes may remain private while taboo submissions via slip or chat are anonymous additions to the group list.

[Collaborative Discussion Project](https://www.collaborativediscussionproject.com/items-1/29challengingtaboostoenhancecreativity)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/9-challenging-taboos-to-enhance-creativity/