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Kris Bordessa: It's About Working TogetherApril 1, 2008Back in 2006 I interviewed Kris Bordessa from Team Challenges. She provided readers with wonderful activities and solutions on teamwork strategies. I emailed her recently to ask her opinion about the unspoiling issue plaguing some parents and teachers.
Kris writes... When I think of a spoiled child, I think of one who always gets his or her way. When a child is part of a team, this can be a really difficult thing to deal with! We've all heard 'there's no I in TEAM', right? If one team member consistently expects things to go his or her way, it quickly stops being a team effort. In order to learn to become part of a team, a spoiled child must learn to let go of control. In order for these kids to be part of a successful team - whether it's a formal team, or simply a group of siblings - they must learn to see the value in letting go of that control. One way that I've found to do this is to equalize the group. My favorite way to do this? Don't allow anyone to talk! That sounds funny, but when practicing team building skills, it's great.
Try setting a box of paper clips in front of a group of kids that has at least one bossy or spoiled child. Explain to them that they have two minutes to make a paper clip chain as long as possible - but they must keep one hand behind their backs at all times, and they cannot talk. What happens? The team realizes that the overbearing child can't really be overbearing without being verbal, and so they go about solving the problem as a team. With this success, the difficult child sees that the team can function quite well without her constant stream of demands and commands.
Another way to help that child know her limits is to do some verbal challenges that allow each participant to answer only in turn. Again, this equalizes the group and demonstrates to the child that getting her way doesn't contribute to the team's effort at all. This is a great collaboration for around the dinner table or to fill a few spare minutes in a classroom. Try open-ended questions such as "Name things that rock" (chairs, rock and roll, my mom). Note that there aren't any correct answers; creativity is encouraged, but in this case it's about working together more than anything! This does take practice - one challenge won't cure all ills!
Please visit Kris's blog for more resources. Posted by Amy Bowllan on April 1, 2008 | Comments (0)
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