From the course: Skills to Build Stronger Work Relationships

Flex your play muscles

From the course: Skills to Build Stronger Work Relationships

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Flex your play muscles

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- Now that we know how important it is to play at work, I want to share my absolute favorite game. This game is amazing because it can be played with two people or 100 people, and it shows just how deeply our minds are connected. So I especially like to facilitate this game when people are feeling disconnected or are having trouble thinking together. One quick caveat that I like to share is that the game can last 10 seconds or 10 minutes, but if everyone sticks with it, you will win the game together. I have never unsuccessfully completed a round. So this game is called Got It. And here's how it works. Everyone is going to think of a random word or common two word phrase. It can be anything. Something like "Prehistoric" or "Banana," "Thailand, "Brad Pitt," "Hocus Pocus." There are no wrong answers here. When a player has thought of the word or common phrase, they're going to raise their hand and say, "Got it." The first two players who say, "Got it" will count down together, "Three, two, one." And then together they will say the words that they were thinking at the same time. Or if you're playing digitally, they can type their words into the chat. And then three, two, one, press Enter. Alright, so now there are these two words. Next, everyone will try to think of a new word that somehow links the two words that have been said. There's no wrong way to do this. However your brain connects the words is great. So for elephant and airplane, a person might think "Big," or, "Gray," or, "Magical." Whoever thinks they have a word that connects the two initial words will say, "Got it." The first two to have it again countdown together and together say their new word. And this is going to continue on until the two people counting down say the same word at the same time. This often happens a lot more quickly than you would expect. So a few things to remember about this game. Firstly, Go It tends to work best when there's a facilitator who's calling on people and counting them down. And also keeping people's spirits high if it's taking a while to get to the same word. Next, once a word has been said, it can't be used again during that round. And finally, in larger groups, you might try a rule that when two people say, "Got it" they are out for thinking up the next words to make sure everyone has a chance to participate. I love Got It because it shows how similarly we all think at a base level and it makes people feel really connected in their thought processes. Take a second to try this game out with a willing participant. It works great online and in person. And check out the Exercise Files for more work appropriate games and ways to play.

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