This document provides instructions and descriptions for a series of team-building puzzles and exercises: String Ball, Signlines, Leonardo's Bridge, Pyramid, and Connecting the Dots. The puzzles require skills like guidance, dealing with ambiguity and pressure, coordination, patience, listening, planning, and problem solving. They are meant to test and develop abilities to work as a team, communicate with limited information, realize ambitious designs, and manage complex challenges. The exercises also involve discussions focused on facts versus feelings, downsides to explore roles, and creative ideas for how exploring can make life easier for others.

2. Making Life Easier
String Ball
A team puzzle that will require guidance
team members, the ability to deal
ambiguity and change, coping in a
pressured environment, co-ordination
clear help and instruction.
Signlines
Your team has a puzzle to solve! You all have
information to work with, but cannot share it
with other team members. You must form a
strategy to overcome the barrier to
communication and implement this strategy
successfully within 30 seconds.
from
with
time
and
Your own
peer group
Going beyond
your remit
Helping the
business
find a
solution
Leonardo’s Bridge
Pyramid
Patience, listening to each other, team co-ordination,
planning and skill will all be put to the test with this
challenge. Team members will need to coach and
instruct each other in order to work the grabber and
construct the tower.
Sometimes a man is ahead of his
times, and sometimes a man is
ridiculously far ahead of his times.
Your teams’ task is to realise the
dream of Leonardo da Vinci (only on a
slightly smaller scale) and construct a
bridge which will span the gap using
only the materials provided.

8. How influential are u?
The Red Hat signifies feelings, hunches and intuition.
The White Hat calls for information known or needed.
Presents the facts of the case.
“Thinking comes from the rational brain and involves critical analysis based on facts and
data”
“Feelings comes from the limbic brain and involves our storehouse of information about
experiences that we remember and project onto new events and circumstances”
Split into two teams and for the first 10 minutes one team should list the following:
a) Facts and data that tell how influential and important they now are in the business
b) Beliefs you hold or emotional experiences of how you feel exploring helps others make
life easier.
Then switch...

14. Connecting the dots
The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking process.
Jo Jepson will conduct a 10 minutes briefing on the connecting
eXplore to the ways we do things round here.
This should be followed up by a Q & A discussion.

18. Look on the downside
The Black Hat is judgment -- the devil's advocate or why something may not work.
When helping the business to find solutions eXplorers are often being taken advantage of and
even being used to substitute Line managers taking responsibility.
Hold 15 minute team discussion on the negative aspects of eXplorers being taken advantage
of or misused. Answer the following questions and encourage the group to add their own.
Encourage the group to complete the sentences rather than your own context.
•
•
•
•
What should you not be doing?
How could I possibly ensure you don’t....
How might I be making things more difficult for ....
What should I possibly not do...
Write the questions discussed and answers to each as your 15 minutes progress.

21. Thinking creatively....
The Green Hat focuses on creativity: the possibilities, alternatives and new ideas.
Grid 1: How can you expand your circle and make life easier for people?
Grid 2: What are the best examples of eXploration that u have witnessed or heard spoken of?
Gird 3: What’s the best thing about being an eXplorer?
Grid 4: How does eXploring make life easier for customers?
Using the printed girds. Ask each person to write three ideas in the top three boxes on the grid
and then pass this on to the next person. The next step is to review the ideas and generate
three more ideas on the next row down the grid. Repeat this cycle until all ideas have been
exhausted and the gird is full Then review the ideas as a team.
Note: If anyone freezes pass it quicker than the three boxes.