# Mission Impossible

Participants move silently through an open space, each trying to keep one secretly chosen person directly aligned between themselves and a second secretly chosen person.

**Time:** 5 minutes. UWT suggested 5-minute schedule based on source 20-30 second movement bursts.
**People:** 6 to 24. Whole group moving simultaneously in an open space.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Observe dynamic system behavior and interdependence through spontaneous, self-organizing physical movement.
**Use it when:** Use during in-person sessions to interrupt prolonged sitting, shift energy, or illustrate how individual actions ripple through a connected system.
**Skip it when:** Skip when open floor space is unavailable, when participants cannot navigate rapid foot traffic safely, or in purely virtual environments.

## Materials and tools

- No special materials.

## Before participants arrive

1. Clear a large, level room or outdoor area of chairs, tables, and tripping hazards.

## Say this to open

Please stand and scatter across the room with some space between you. Look around in silence. Pick two people without pointing, looking at them fixedly, or saying their names out loud. Person A is your shield. Person B is your target. Your goal is to position your body so that Person A is always directly between you and Person B. When I say begin, walk at a normal pace to keep that alignment true.

## How to run it

### 1. Set up and pick secret roles (1 minutes)

Invite the room to stand and spread evenly across the area. Deliver the opening script. Give an explicit neutral example: if you pick Alex as Person A and Sam as Person B, you must move so you are looking past Alex to see Sam in a straight line. Give 15 seconds of silence while everyone selects their two secret targets without giving any clues.

### 2. Run round one (1 minutes)

Call 'Begin.' Everyone walks at a steady pace to maintain their line of sight. Remind participants: no running, no physical contact, and no talking. Allow movement to swirl for 30 seconds. Call 'Freeze' and ask everyone to hold position.

### 3. Run round two (1 minutes)

Instruct everyone to silently choose two completely new people as Person A and Person B. Once chosen, call 'Begin.' Let the group adjust their positions continuously for 30 seconds, then call 'Freeze.'

### 4. Debrief system dynamics (2 minutes)

Gather participants standing or seated where they stopped. Invite two or three brief observations using the debrief questions to close the exercise.


## Debrief questions

- What happened to your position when your shield or target moved?
- Did the group ever reach complete stillness, and why?
- How does this pattern reflect how teams react to changes made by others?

**Finished output:** Completion of two active rounds and a shared observation of group interdependence.

## Remote

This mechanic requires shared physical geometry and cannot run as designed over standard video calls. Label an online alternative as a different exercise, such as 'Virtual Cursor Tag' on a digital whiteboard, where participants move digital avatars to stay equidistant between two named teammates.

## Hybrid

Hybrid delivery is not recommended because remote attendees cannot share real-world sightlines. If required, assign remote participants the role of system trackers: have an on-site camera capture the floor from an elevated view while remote participants observe and report cluster patterns in the debrief.

## Access and participation choices

- Wheelchair users and individuals with restricted mobility can participate at a comfortable rolling or walking pace; specify a strict walking-only rule room-wide.
- Anyone wishing to pass may step to the room perimeter and serve as a timekeeper or referee to signal when collisions seem imminent.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants start running or bumping into each other in tight spaces.**

Pause immediately, remind the room that fast movement breaks the line of sight faster, and enforce slow walking.

**A participant cannot identify or keep track of who they chose.**

Call freeze, give everyone five seconds to re-confirm their two people visually, and resume.


## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Playmeo collection, which attributes the activity to Mark Collard.

Retained core mechanic from Playmeo observation (secretly choosing two people and keeping one between oneself and the other for 20-30 seconds). UWT added concrete pacing rules, explicit non-contact safety standards, neutral alignment example, and structured systems-thinking debrief.

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/energizer-warm-up-games/mission-impossible)

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/energizer-warm-up-games/mission-impossible/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/hilarious-group-energiser-to-trigger-laughter-mission-impossible/