Team building exercise: Zoom by Istvan Banyai

As a new leader, you will want to do some team building or team bonding exercises.  Not only can the activities be illuminating, they can be a lot of fun and start your leadership off on the right foot.  

You may find that after completing team building activities together, your staff better understand each other's strengths, weaknesses and interests.  This understanding helps people work even better together on future progress.  Here is an example of successful team building activity that is low cost and flexible.

Zoom by Istvan Banyai

This activity is based on the picture book Zoom by Istvan Banyai. It consists of 30 sequential “pictures within pictures" (there is also a second book titled, Re-Zoom).  
The team is tasked with putting together the story - a set of sequential images. Each person is given an image, or a number of images based on the size of the group.  I inform the group that they are creating a sequential story and they have to work together to build the story.  The only help I give them is the first and last image and tell them the title of the book needs to be their guide. Together, the team has to figure out the correct sequence. The activity focuses on effective communication and problem-solving skills.

When the team feels that have completed the task, you have to confirm it is correct.  If it is not correct, you may simply say it is incomplete, or you may say where the problem is occurring.  

As the team leader, take notes as the team works through the task. Note good questions, moments of disagreements, or spontaneous celebration. Review these observations with the team. 

Discussion

Here are a few suggested questions to ask the team:

• What difficulties did your team experience?
• What communication methods did you team use?
• What did  your team do well when you discussed the sequence of images?
• Is there anything that frustrated you?
• Did everyone agree with the sequence? If not, did you have to compromise?
• How well did you work as a team? Is there anything you could have done better?
• Did others in the team listen to your opinion? Did everyone have input?
• Did anyone emerge as a leader? How did having a leader help?
• What is the one thing you can take away from the task?

Now discuss the key elements of an effective team (see earlier post).

Variations

• If there are more people than cards, you can pair up participants
• For smaller groups or to increase difficulty, don’t let participants talk at all during the activity. Let them use gestures and actions to put the images in sequence.
• For smaller groups, you can give each participant more than one image.
• You can make the activity more competitive and measure team performance by the number of images that are in the wrong sequence.
• You can enforce a time limit to make it more difficult. 
• You can tell people that they cannot show anyone else their picture/ page of the book until it is put down as part of the sequence. 

Different applications and settings:

• I have used this in a Library setting as a team building exercise.  It doesn't matter if an individual is familiar with the book. The individuals knowledge provides the opportunity to discuss the benefits of having experienced staff or subject specialists.  
• This team building exercise was introduced to me at a coaching certification course. Basically, 30 strangers were given a page of the book and we were told to create a cohesive story. 
• This was a useful exercise to introduce project management concepts to a small department in a large municipality.

Resources: 

• Two copies of Zoom by Istavan Banyai in paperback format. Tear one copy apart at its spine.  These will be distributed to the team.  Keep one copy as the source document to confirm the team puts the story in its proper sequence.  
• You need a room that is spacious enough to have all the pages displayed in sequence (either on the floor or around a long, narrow table) 

This exercise can be done in 30 minutes: 

• 5 minutes to explain and clarify the task
• 15 minutes to do the task
• At least 10 minutes for discussion

I thoroughly enjoy this exercise and hope you can apply and modify it to best suit your situation. Enjoy.