10 Best Leadership Games. Part 1

An excellent way to fine-tune your leadership skills or even to discover if you have what it takes to be a leader is to engage in leadership games. Playing games in any arena is always a great way to learn, think outside the box, and work with others.

There are different types of leadership games, such as ice breaker games, team-building games and problem-solving games. Here are the ten best leadership games:

Icebreaker Games

When any group of people meets for the first time, they are generally a little shy and formal. To bond a group of strangers, you need to help relax them and allow them to get to know each other. Icebreaker games are an excellent tool to do this.

• Relay Lock Race. Divide the group into pairs. Each pair stands back to back and locks arms by the elbows while holding their own stomach with their hands. At the mark, they must get from one side of the room to the other. This game creates a lot of laughter.
• Truth or Lie. All participants write down three things about themselves on a piece of paper, and of these three things, two of them are truths and one of them must be a lie. The first person up reads out the three items about himself and everyone guesses which one is a lie.
• Who Am I. Participants write down four facts about themselves, one on each card. The facilitator then collects the cards from the participants, shuffles them and passes out four random cards to each person.  Everyone then goes around asking each other the questions written on the cards. The game ends when every participant has got back their own set of four cards.
• Charades. Divide the group into two teams. A player from one group pantomimes a word, phrase, book or movie title and the other team guesses what it is within a limited time.

Team-Building Games

Playing these types of games is important to help ensure a cohesive and supporting team. A strong team becomes united in purpose and motivation, encourages clear communication, and increases productivity.

• Minefield. Indoors or out, set up an obstacle course with traffic cones, divide the group into pairs, and have one person in each pair wear a blindfold. The blindfolded player crosses the obstacle course at the directions of her partner, relying on trust and camaraderie. Repeat the game by getting the players to switch roles.
• To Be Or Knot To Be.  Have everyone form a circle, close their eyes, and reach across the circle to grab the hand of another person. Then with their eyes open, have each participant reach across the circle join their free hand with a different person. Without letting go, the group tries to untangle themselves. The result should be a circle of intertwined circles, or one large circle.
• Pass the Clay Game. Divide the group up into teams of two to six members each, have them sit in a circle, and give each team a large lump of clay. The first person in each group begins to mold the clay into a predetermined object, and after ten seconds the leader blows the whistle and the clay is passed to the next person in the circle who continues to build the object. At the end of each round allow each group to show their creation to the rest of the group.

Problem-Solving Games

Problems are a natural part of life, no matter what context they are in, so developing the skills to effectively solve problems in game form will give you the confidence to problem-solve out in the real world. Decision-making games are quite common as they have the most direct link to what employers want their teams to be able to do.

• The No-Crack Egg. Divide the group into pairs or small groups. Each teams receives materials like straws, newspapers, cello tape, string, cardboard material and one raw egg in order to craft a protective egg cover so that when the egg is thrown from a height of 15 feet, it lands without cracking.
• Balloon Relay. The group is divided into small teams and each team gets several deflated balloons, water, water guns and an empty bucket. One person fills a balloon with water and throws it to their team members who have to catch the balloon and put it in the bucket. The team must learn how much water to fill the balloon with, how to throw it, and the best technique to catch it, the balloon will very likely burst. The team that winds up with the most intact balloons wins.
• TV Wasteland. Participants are split into two groups with the objective to develop a pitch for the worst television show ever. Groups are responsible for coming up with the idea, title and catch phrase within 30 to 45 minutes. This game encourages participants to bounce ideas off of each other, select the best option, and find an effective way to promote their product.

In the next article we will talk about how those Problem Solving Games can help you learn to think more creatively and achieve what you want.

 

Discover more about how Leadership Games can fast track your progress as a leader or entrepreneur: