Construction Game: Team Performance

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Compare how variations in role clarity and goal clarity affect a team's execution, internal friction, and finished product.

Use it when: Use during project kickoffs, leadership workshops, or operational reviews when teams struggle with ambiguous mandates or fuzzy job boundaries.

Skip it when: Skip when you have fewer than 20 participants, lack identical building materials, or need a quick icebreaker under 45 minutes.

Group arrangement: Four parallel teams of 5 or 6 participants, plus 1 designated client role if group size permits.

Timing: Source specifies 45 to 55 minutes; 50 minutes fits the 20-minute build, small group analysis, and structured whole-room comparison.

Materials and tools

• 4 identical building kits of approximately 200 parts each (such as Tinkertoys, wooden sticks with connectors, or interlocking plastic bricks)
• 4 rulers or tape measures
• 4 flipchart pads and 8 dark markers
• 1 copy of Handout 1 for Team 1
• 1 copy of Handout 2 for Team 2
• 1 copy of Handout 3 for Team 3
• 1 copy of Handout 4 for Team 4
• 4 copies of the Debriefing Handout (one per team)
• 1 countdown timer visible to the room
• Scratch paper and pens for sketching

Before participants arrive

1. Arrange four separate tables far enough apart so conversations cannot be overheard.
2. Place one building kit, one ruler, one flipchart pad, and two markers at each table.
3. Keep the four team instruction sheets face down until the timed build begins.

Say this to open

Welcome. Senior leadership has sponsored four independent project teams to create a prototype structure for a city client. You have 20 minutes to work only within your assigned team using the materials in your container. I will hand each team a briefing sheet. Do not discuss your brief with other teams. When the timer starts, open your brief and begin.

How to run it

1. Set ground rules and assign teams 4 minutes

   Divide participants into four teams of 5 to 6 people. If 21 or more participants are present, select one extra participant to act as the city client alongside the facilitator. Hand each team their specific brief face down: Team 1 receives Purpose only; Team 2 receives Roles only; Team 3 receives Purpose and Roles; Team 4 receives Cheerleading only. Explain the rules: work only with your team, use only kit materials, no inter-team talking.

2. Construct prototype towers 20 minutes

   Start the 20-minute timer. Teams flip their handouts and build. Do not clarify missing briefing elements for any team; tell inquiring teams to interpret their written sheets as given. Stop all building immediately when the timer rings. Any hands touching structures must pull away.

3. Assess prototypes against criteria 4 minutes

   Have the client or facilitator walk to each table with a ruler. Check the three baseline objectives: standing unassisted, completed in 20 minutes, and at least 24 inches tall. Note which structures met all three criteria without declaring a final winner yet.

4. Analyze internal team experience 7 minutes

   Hand one copy of the Debriefing Questions to each team. Teams spend 7 minutes answering questions 1 through 4 on their flipchart: rate performance 1 to 10, list what worked, identify what they would change, and name missing information they needed.

5. Reveal briefings and compare across teams 10 minutes

   Call attention to the room. In exact numerical order (Team 1, then 2, 3, 4), have each team present their flipchart ratings and missing information. Once each group presents, reveal to the whole room the specific briefing conditions given to that group.

6. Synthesize performance requirements 5 minutes

   Facilitate a short discussion on question 5 from the debrief sheet. Ask the client to announce the best prototype based on beauty and stability, then record on a central flipchart the core elements teams require for high performance.

Debrief questions

• How did having clear goals without clear roles (Team 1) compare to having clear roles without clear goals (Team 2)?
• Team 4, what happened inside your group when your only guidance was praise and high expectations?
• Which missing element created the most hesitation or conflict: not knowing what success looked like, or not knowing who was supposed to do what?

Finished output: Four finished physical prototypes measured against objective criteria, accompanied by four team-generated flipcharts identifying how information gaps impacted execution.

Remote

This exercise relies on physical tactile construction under identical supply constraints and cannot be run authentically as a simple video call discussion. For an online equivalent, run a digital wireframe or presentation-building challenge where four breakout rooms receive the four distinct briefing conditions (purpose only, roles only, both, cheerleading only) to assemble a 5-slide pitch deck within 20 minutes.

Hybrid

Hybrid delivery is not recommended because physical co-location is critical for hands-on construction. If required, place remote participants into an all-remote digital team competing against in-person physical teams, ensuring the remote team builds via a digital collaborative whiteboard while physical teams build with physical kits.

Access and participation choices

• Participants with limited physical dexterity or standing fatigue can take designated roles such as Architect, Project Manager, or Quality Inspector.
• Any participant may choose to act as an observer taking field notes on team communication dynamics instead of direct building.

If the session gets stuck

Team 4 becomes frustrated or feels set up to fail.

Acknowledge the frustration immediately during debrief. Validate that organizations frequently give teams inspiring cheerleading without actionable goals or authority, and use their reaction as direct evidence of that workplace hazard.

A team tries to spy on or copy another team's tower design.

Remind participants of the initial ground rule that project teams work independently. If sight lines allow copying, reposition flipchart stands as visual screens between tables.

Terms used here

• Prototype: A preliminary physical model built to evaluate a concept and test dimensions.
• Structural Stability: The ability of a construction to stand upright on its own base without human support or leaning.