The Potato Poke
The Potato Poke is a team reflection exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- Set up a table at the front of the room with your potatoes and straws set aside
- Ask for 5 volunteers - give each one a straw and a potato
- Tell the volunteers that they have 2 minutes to put the straw through the potato you can even show
- The Potato Poke Timing 15 30 minutes Purpose/Objectives Ask for 5 volunteers give each one a straw and a potato..
- Debrief the team after the a few minutes.
- Discuss why some failed and some succeeded.
- volunteers fail, demonstrate how the potato can be successfully poked with focused speed and direction instructions below .
- Hold the straw about two thirds of the way up, so there s lots of straw to go into the potato.
- you hold the straw in the hand that you write with.
- a readiness to have some fun.
Run this exercise live
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What participants need now
Materials:
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Prompts to use +
Set up a table at the front of the room with your potatoes and straws set aside
Ask for 5 volunteers - give each one a straw and a potato
Tell the volunteers that they have 2 minutes to put the straw through the potato you can even show
The Potato Poke Timing 15 30 minutes Purpose/Objectives Ask for 5 volunteers give each one a straw and a potato..
Debrief the team after the a few minutes.
Discuss why some failed and some succeeded.
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: The Potato Poke. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Set up a table at the front of the room with your potatoes and straws set aside; Ask for 5 volunteers - give each one a straw and a potato; Tell the volunteers that they have 2 minutes to put the straw through the potato you can even show; The Potato Poke Timing 15 30 minutes Purpose/Objectives Ask for 5 volunteers give each one a straw and a potato... Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Relationship Makers Handbook; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.