• Highlighting the way we behave in a group, especially when we feel under pressure
• Acknowledging how roles are distributed within a team
• Improving our ability to make decisions within a diverse group
• Developing our communication skills
• Understanding the key factors of a successful communication and cooperation, and what can impede it.

Duration: 1h45

Building a bridge requires strong cooperation and team-working between the builders. But building half a bridge in two separated teams and making it stand at the end requires some serious communication skills on top of that!

For this serious game, divide the whole group (30 people) into two groups of 15 persons. In each group, ask one person to be an observer. The remaining 14 people will be then divided into two teams of 7. Each team has to be in its own room, separated from the others, so as they cannot see what their counterpart is doing.

Distribute to both teams the same material to build half of a bridge in a time-frame of one hour. Precise from the beginning that the time frame is strict: no additional minute will be given.

To meet the challenge, each group will be allowed to pick one person to represent them at “cooperation meetings”. Those meetings will allow the 2 groups to build together a functional bridge with two matching halves. They can last for maximum 5 minutes each and will take place in a neutral place where the observer has to be present. The 2 groups may ask for a maximum of 3 meetings during the hour they got, knowing that their representative have to be different for each round. After the game started, visit regularly the different teams to see if they want to organize a meeting. From time to time, remember to them to time left (knowing it will most probably put them under pressure, especially when the final countdown will be close).

After one hour, gather both teams in a same room and ask them to put their work together to see if the bridge is useable. To confirm the sturdiness of the construction, place a stick of glue in the middle, at the meeting point of the two half-bridges. It has to be able to stand there without tipping.

To close the session, take half an hour after the presentation of the bridges to debrief all together about what happened. Give first the speech to the observers, asking them to describe and explain what they saw. Then, give the speech to the “builders” so that they can explain which roles they endorsed, how they made decisions, how they decided who would be the person representing them, how they felt during the exercise, etc.

• Toilet paper rolls (at least 5 per team)
• Cardboard and paper
• Scissors (4/team)
• Tape (2/team)
• Glue sticks (2-3/team)
• Pencils