The Longest Line - Team Building, Training

Activity Objective: To make the longest line from collective resources gathered by the team.

Facilitated Objective: (what educational purpose can it help to foster)

Needs: No props needed to bring

Numbers: Four to Eight people per team. Need enough room for each team to stand next to each other as if about to do a relay race.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes and additional time if you wish to ask debriefing questions from below.

Procedure:

Tell the group that the goal is to create the longest line they can from the starting line.
As a team, each member has to be physically connected to form the longest line end to
end.
They may only use items on their person to collect. No outside resources. If they see a
rope on the wall they can’t use it.
Give two minutes plan and one minute to execute the plan into the longest line.
Don’t interfere with other groups or borrowing resources. 😉

Safety: Be sure to have enough room for each team to move around freely.

Facilitation: If you are doing the activity for fun and connection, feel free to give examples of additional resources. For example, a lanyard, watch, sweater or any other form of expendable clothing.
If you are looking to run the activity for team development, you might want to be vague about the rules. Just be clear that the team needs to stay physically connected from person to person. This gives the team an opportunity to ask questions on communicating and sharing ideas.

Observations/Questions:

What was the communication towards planning like?
What were the different ideas that came up during the discussion?
When sharing ideas in other areas like a meeting at work, do you find it to be hard or
difficult? Was the planning process here the same or different? How?
What resources did you use for the activity? Were there any resources you were
hesitant to give up for the team? If so why?
If you were to vote if your team was successful, which way would you vote? Why?

Variations:

If you have limited space, remove the human component as seen in part 2 of the video link below. Use only the resources to connect end to end.
If doing this in a conference setting at a table, have the table form a team and ask them to use only resources found in their pockets. They must connect the pieces and form the line on the table only. If needed the team may curve the line around the table. Think of it serpentining around the table from the inside out.