Dr. Clue Central

Welcome again to the Dr. Clue Teambuilding Newsletter.

Many pardons for the long delay between issues! In the last few months, I've literally been traveling all across the globe: in small part for leisure, in larger part for Dr. Clue. During this time, I visited family in Israel, toured England for ten days, and led Dr. Clue teambuilding programs in at least 10 U.S. cities! Read the section "Dr. Clue News," below, for more information about all the exciting new developments in Clue-land. Clearly the life of a professional "treasure hunter" is a busy (and fun) one!

In today's issue, we've got a "storied" icebreaker, an article that's sure to jazz you up, and a plethora of puzzling paradoxes. Enjoy!

Dave Blum
Editor, the Dr. Clue Teambuilding Newsletter

Teambuilding Icebreaker
"Everyone's Story"

Set Up: Paper and pens.

Process: Have participants write down on a sheet of paper the names of all the participants in the assembly. (If they don't know each others' names, read the list out for them, name by name.) Allow a minute or two to accomplish this task. The challenge now is for people to get up and move around the room, asking one personal question to each person in the group. Encourage people to come up with a different question for each person they speak with. For example, they might ask one participant, "What's your favorite color?" while posing the question, "Where was your first kiss?" to the next one. Encourage creativity. Allow about 10 minutes for the activity.

When everyone is again seated, call out a person's name (at random) and instruct everyone, one by one, to share the fact they gathered about that person. Once everyone has weighed in completely on that person, call out another person's name and repeat the procedure. Continue until you've completed the entire list and everyone's personal facts have been aired.

Discussion Questions: What was the most interesting thing you learned about anyone in the group? What surprised you? As time went by, did the facts stay separate and disjointed, or did they begin to knit together? In other words, did people toss out their answers in discreet, separate factoids, or did they start to link them up and build the items into inter-connected stories?

The Point: People are like icebergs; what we show above the water level is only a small percentage of whom we really are. Activities like this begin to lower the water level, revealing more and more of our rich and fascinating private histories. Most interestingly, although the facts people gather are random and unconnected, patterns often begin to develop. One person might note, for instance, that Jane has a brown dog named Muffin. Another person might connect this item with a related factoid, remarking "And this is strange, because Jane's favorite snack is chocolate croissants." Yet another person might then chime in, "And she washes it down her pastries with coffee at her favorite hangout, Starbucks." In this way, rather charming stories often emerge about each person in the assembly‹stories that aid the memory process when you meet that person in the future. And what is more memorable, after all, than a good iceberg story (like the Titanic)!

(Thanks for this one to trainer Stephanie Griffin of Denver, CO.)

Feature Article:
"Jazzing Up Your Leadership Style"
By Dave Blum and Tim Armacost

I met New York jazzman Tim Armacost in college almost 25 years ago, at a time when we were both grappling not only with what careers we ought to pursue, but with what kind of adults we wanted to become. Tim comes from an illustrious family, boasting more than its fair share of bank presidents, ambassadors and college presidents. I would not have been surprised if he had gone into finance, diplomacy, or academia. And yet, with seemingly limitless professional options open to him, Tim chose a more modest path ­ that of the jazz musician. For two decades he's been traveling the globe, pursuing his career as a professional tenor saxophonist, in such exotic locations as Amsterdam, Delhi, and Tokyo. His albums, including Live at Smalls and The Wishing Well, have received high praise from the Washington Post and Jazz Times. Fluent in Japanese, Tim is also a longtime student of Zen Buddhism; his meditation practice infuses his music and contributes strongly to his relaxed yet passionate performance style.

I asked Tim to share a few of his thoughts on team leadership ­ from a jazz improv perspective. Here are his insightful comments:

"What I've learned from leading jazz groups, and from being a sideman for that matter, is that a group functions best when the leader is strong, confident, and has a vision. Within the context of that, he must also give the members of the band the feeling that they are totally free to express themselves within the boundaries of what the leader is setting out to do. I often find myself describing an improvising quartet as an excellent example of living, dynamic democracy. The jazz group was born to express the American spirit, and it has evolved into a form that is capable of expressing the spirits of communities of musicians throughout the world.

"The leader needs to pick members who will be compatible, and create an environment of mutual respect. With this in place, the sidemen can relax into a feeling of safety, from which they can explore and take risks without being judged unfairly for mistakes. If the leader is too selfish or demanding, the band members start to see themselves as just being there to do a job and collect a paycheck, and they lose respect for the leader. But more importantly, they become detached from the music and go on autopilot, ceasing to be actively expressing their own true music. On the flip side, if the leader defers too much to others in the band, the sidemen lose respect for him because they expect to be led somewhere interesting. This situation can result in everyone acting like a leader to pick up the slack in the band, and arguments over decision making and the direction of the music inevitably ensue.

"Then there's the issue of "swing". There's the fundamental level of swing where everyone is feeling the beat together, and the music has natural momentum. Then there's the next level where four artists all hearing the music in its moment of creation together generate an incredible propulsion. The rush of that stream carries each individual and the group into a place where they are all playing in a way that no one imagined before or could possibly recreate. The music is not only in the moment, it is of the moment. That's what I live for! Occasionally it happens, and I dream of the day when I can play enough and have enough work for my band to live in that place more.

"So I see the wisdom of team leadership lying in the ability to acknowledge and nurture each individual's freedom and creativity while simultaneously having the vision to create a group dynamic that takes the individuals bound together to a new and unforeseen place."

Editor's Note: Business team leaders can learn much from the world of Jazz improv. Before your next meeting, considering asking yourself the following questions:

1. Do I have a strong, confident vision for my team, and if so, what is it and have I communicated it sufficiently? Am I taking people somewhere "interesting"?
2. Do I provide my "sidemen" the freedom to express themselves within the boundaries of my vision?
3. On the flipside, do I provide so much freedom that my team members are confused about the direction they're being asked to take?
4. Do we "swing" as a team? Are we attaining, on a regular basis, that feeling of flow you get when people are functioning at their highest performance level? If not, what aspects of my leadership style might be preventing this?

Let the spirits of Miles Davis and Duke Ellington be your guide.

Puzzle

1. COW; 2. OCEAN; 3. LADY. 4. LINE; 5. AGE; 6. BLACK; 7.OPINION; 8. ROLL; 9. ANIMAL; 10. TOWN; 11. IRON; 12. OPEN; 13. NEW; 14. INSTRUMENT; 15. SHOE; 16. KANGAROO; 17. ISLAND; 18. NET. 19. GOLD

The secret message, using the first letter from each word above, was "Collaboration is King".

The only puzzle solvers were Jan Frizzell and Sandra Paulson. Congratulations guys!

Puzzle Challenge
Puzzling Paradoxes

See if you can answer these nine tricky questions:

1. How many animals did Moses take with him on the ark?
2. A plane crashes on the exact border between two countries. Where would unidentified survivors be buried?
3. An archaeologist finds a coin he claims is date-stamped with 49 BC. Why is he a liar?
4. Is there any law against a man marrying his widow's sister?
5. A bear knocks on the door of your house. All four walls have southern exposure. What kind of bear is it?
6. You have a match, a kerosene lamp, and a wood stove. Which do you light first for maximum heat?
7. There are 3 balls and you take two away. How many do you have?
8. A butcher is 5'6". What does he weigh?
9. How many months have 28 days?

(Answers next month.)

(As always, we'll list the first five puzzle solvers in our Dr. Clue Honor Roll!)

Dr. Clue's News

Reader Contributions

We'd love to hear your comments about the newsletter. And we welcome contributions! Please send us your articles, icebreaker ideas and puzzles.