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October 2007
Dr. Clue Teambuilding Newsletter, Volume V, Issue 3
The Dr. Clue Newsletter is sent only to subscribers. We do not share names with anyone else. To receive your free subscription or to unsubscribe, email to drclue@drclue.com Dr. Clue: Solving the Puzzles of Teamwork Click here to download this newsletter as a PFD document.
Welcome again to the Dr. Clue Teambuilding Newsletter! Can the summer really be over already and fall around the corner?!! First, I'd like to thank all the folks who filled out our summer questionnaire. We received over a hundred responses and now have a much better idea about what people like you are looking for in your teambuilding. Thank you again! It really helps. As for the iPod Nano drawing, the prize went to Joe Whoston of Savannah, GA, who wrote: "Are you serious, this is a mistake, I never win and it's always someone else who has everything, and doesn't even need it. Thanks everyone for making this possible; this makes my day. WOW."The last few months have certainly flown by, as they always do during our busy summer season, but even MORE so as my fiance Jen and I prepare for our upcoming wedding this month. It should be quite an affair, with the lunchtime ceremony and evening reception bracketing an afternoon treasure hunt in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for over 50 of our friends and family. Yes, when you're a treasure master (and the treasure master's wife), your guests expect nothing less from you on your wedding day. I certainly hope everyone solves all the clues or we might not have anyone at the reception! Another significant milestone: This month marks Dr. Clue's 12th anniversary. That's a lot of treasure hunts under the bridge! In this month's issue, you'll beat a traffic jam with our latest icebreaker; take a trip down the yellow brick road in our feature article; and solve a tricky marriage/movie puzzle in celebration of my upcoming nuptials. Enjoy! Dave Blum
Set Up: Set up your line of place markers with one space for each person, plus one extra. Divide the group into two even teams. Have each person stand on a place marker with the extra marker in the space between the two teams. Each team member should be facing toward the open extra space. The following diagram shows the starting placement with one team represented by numbers and the other represented by letters. Start: [1] [2] [3] [4] [Open] [A] [B] [C] [D]Process: The goal is to have the two teams exchange places and end up in the same order on the opposite side of the open space. The following diagram shows the starting and ending positions with arrows indicating the direction each participant should move. Start: [1] [2] [3] [4] [Open] [A] [B] [C] [D]--------> <---------- End: [A] [B] [C] [D] [Open] [1] [2] [3] [4] The participants may not touch anything but the markers and each other (imagine hot lava flowing all around the markers). The only "allowed" moves are: a person can move to an empty space in front of them and a person may move around a person who is facing them into an empty space. The "forbidden" moves include any move backwards and any move which involves two people moving at once. If at any time a participant makes a "forbidden" move, or anyone steps off the markers, all participants must return to the starting position. Additional challenges: 1) Give them a time limit. 2) Blindfold or ask certain member to close their eyes. 3) Instruct certain members to stay silent. If they are having a particularly frustrating time, call time out and arrange their line in more of a horseshoe pattern, so they can see each other. (Do not forget to ask about this change in the debrief.) Debrief: Who were the leaders of this activity? Who were the followers? How was it for the people on the ends, versus the middle? What kind of initial process did you come up with, and how did that change during the activity. What specific language helped you achieve your goal? How does this activity parallel the way people behave at work? The Point: This simple activity requires a great deal of planning, risk-taking and communication. Some groups tend to take an analytical approach, planning out a process, verbally or on paper, before beginning to move. Other groups opt for a more kinesthetic approach, jumping right into their moves and countermoves in an effort to fall into a solution. Communication is essential, both in generating ideas as well as selecting the best course of action. And both teams must work together, with the big picture in mind, for everyone to succeed. Retrieved from "http://www.teampedia.net/wiki/index.php?title=Traffic_Jam"
Dr. Clue is the premier designer of corporate teambuilding treasure hunts, worldwide. We begin with the cool museum or neighborhood of your choice, convenient to your office or conference locale. We then bring the area alive by scouting out its hidden treasures; its statues, plaques, murals, and monuments. To reach each secret location, you and your team will need to solve our challenging, Da Vinci Code-like set of puzzles, codes and ciphers. Along the trail, we'll coach you on the steps successful business teams take in working towards high-performance levels.
Nothing evokes more nostalgia than a family tradition. My fiance's family, for example, had a tradition of making cherry cheesecake on her dad's birthday. They also had an interesting tradition of putting their holiday cards right into the Christmas tree, sort of like ornaments. In my house one of our big traditions was to make predictions on New Year's Eve of what was going to happen in the upcoming year, not only in the nation and the world but also in the family. (I recall always predicting that this would be the year my dad would get his book published and my brother, Brian, would finally get a girlfriend.) On birthdays in my house, it was traditional to get your choice of either an egg breakfast with sausage or bacon, or a lunch out at our favorite dim sum restaurant. Ah, sweet caloric memories. Most family traditions seem to be annual in nature (birthdays, holidays, etc.), fixed to the calendar, but one of my all-time favorite traditions was relatively random in nature: the ritual watching of "The Wizard of Oz" on TV. Back in the day (before DVDs, Netflix and TiVo), you relied on the networks for your small-screen entertainment When one of the big three (was it NBC?) deemed it time to show "The Wizard of Oz", the Blum family would cancel all other plans, gather around the boob tube and spend the next 4 hours watching Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger and all those munchkins tripping down the Yellow Brick Road. Could all those repeat viewings of the The Wizard of Oz be responsible for my current career as a trainer and teambuilder? It's certainly possible, because the 1939 classic is, quite simply, the best teambuilding parable in movie history! Think about it. Here you have your typical low-level "manager", Dorothy Gale, under the thumb of the benevolent but controlling Auntie Em. Upon request, she's transferred (in something of a whirlwind) from her comfortable-yet-boring position in the monochrome Kansas Department to the new and colorful Oz Department. It's an extravagant place, this Oz, with a very different culture from her original division. People talk differently here; they have a different dress code. Adjusting to her new surroundings will take some time and effort, and to top it all off, Dorothy is accidentally responsible for the removal of her predecessor, a certain Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy's new colleagues seem mostly happy about the changing of the guard, but Dorothy discovers she's made a few powerful enemies as well. It doesn't take her long to decide that this over-the-rainbow place is not for her. But transferring back to Kansas isn't that easy. It seems that all applications for transfer need to be approved by Corporate, way down the road at Emerald City. So off Dorothy goes to take her request to the big boss, a certain Mr. Wizard - accompanied as always by her loyal assistant, Toto. As Dorothy soon discovers, it's a long and twisty road to the executive offices, fraught with yellow tape at every turn. She's going to need some allies: a few like-minded colleagues who have their own requests to take up with management. So Dorothy puts together her team, a group of wildly diverse individuals with complementary talents and abilities. There's Scarecrow, a flexible, instinctive fellow - not much of a thinker, but with the stuff of greatness in him - someone you definitely want on your side. And there's Tin Man, a bit stiff at first but full of heart when you loosen him up. And finally there's Lion, full of bluster on the outside, but deep down a real pussycat, with hidden depths of courage. Together, the team will overcome incredible odds, fighting through a forest of prickly phone-trees and bureaucratic obstacles until finally they reach the Emerald City Industrial Complex, the offices of the Wizard himself. Like many CEOs, the Wizard hides behind a veil of wealth and power, never really showing his true face. His mouthpiece, a frightening visage full of sound and fury, insists the team must accomplish an impossible project before their requests will be approved. Dorothy and her colleagues will need to sweep away the competition and get the account of their industry's most challenging client - Wicked West Unlimited. The task is perilous; the resources minimal. But with guts and grit and the valiant efforts of Dorothy's assistant, the team accomplishes its mission, on time and under budget. But still, the Wizard is recalcitrant. It seems he's far less powerful than he claimed, holed up in his ivory tower, clinging to his position with smoke and mirrors. In the end, the team realizes that placing all their hopes in management was a mistake. Rather, getting their needs met was only going to be accomplished through their own efforts and resolve. Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion all leave to found the start-up of Brain, Heart & Courage, depending only on their own innate abilities. And Dorothy, well, she pulls a few strings, draws on her own social capital, and manifests a transfer back to her old department. But with all the experience she's gained from the journey, things are different in Kansas. Now Dorothy's the boss - and Auntie Em had better watch her back. At least that's how I remember it, back at the Blum household. There's no place like home. Oz lessons for team leaders:
What does a teambuilding treasure hunt look, feel and sound like?
The answer to last issue's puzzle was "T-R-U-S-T". DR. CLUE HONOR ROLL The lucky winners of the drawing - with the correct answer - were: Congratulations to both of you!
Today's Puzzle Challenge: Married to the Movies
The following puzzle is honor of my upcoming nuptials. Enjoy 
Once you provide the movie titles, put the letters into the blanks below to obtain a quote from a member of a lovely and lethal movie team. Give us the quote and name the movie. 
As always, we'll put the names of all clue solvers in a hat and draw three for a choice of Dr. Clue-brand items (hats, shirts and mouse pads)! Email your answers to drclue@drclue.com to take part in the drawing. Our three winners will appear in next issue's Dr. Clue Honor Roll. Wondering how a typical Treasure Hunt CLUE works? Click here. to follow along with one.
It's been a wild and wonderful quarter. Here are some hunt highlights: USA --Northeast: Spadac and ExxonMobil in Old Town, Alexandria; Thales at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; Family Services Association at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia; Verizon in Morristown, NJ; ContextWeb at Wall Street, NYC; Stat Oil in Greenwich Village, NYC; NovoNordisk in Princeton, NJ. --South: Varian at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. --Midwest:Pleasantdale School District in the Chicago Loop; Whitewave at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science; Pepper Construction at the Columbus COSI Museum. --Southern California: Borm at Laguna Beach. --Northern California: McDermott Will & Emery in Half Moon Bay; Wells Fargo in North Beach, SF; Gilead in Golden Gate Park, SF; Roche at Stanford University; Kaiser at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom; Cisco in Downtown San Jose.
Our clients, from Oracle to Yahoo, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Apple, and Wells Fargo all agree that Dr. Clue is cutting-edge teambuilding with a twist.
Please let us know how we can improve this newsletter!! We welcome puzzles, icebreakers, real-life teambuilding success stories -- anything you'd like to contribute. Dr. Clue's E-BOOK, "Solving the Puzzles of Teamwork," is ready for download...and it's free! A compilation of past newsletter articles, it offers great essays about teamwork, roles & relationships, communication, motivation, leadership, and much more. Download it right to your screen by clicking here and choosing the e-book option. Enjoy!
And remember: If you liked this newsletter, please forward it to a friend or a colleague. Information is meant to be shared! Watch for the next edition of the Dr. Clue Teambuilding Newsletter in January, 2008.
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Dr. Clue Treasure Hunts
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