101 Ways to Improve Customer Service: Training, Tools, Tips, and Techniques

Chapter 92. To the Letter: Time-Constrained Team Performance

Goal

To work on a task as a team under the pressure of time constraints. In a collective group effort, participants will list the names of cities beginning with the letters from A to Z.

Time Required

Approximately 20 to 30 minutes

Group Size

Subgroups of four to six persons each

Materials

• One copy of the To the Letter Worksheet and a pencil for each subgroup

• Timer or stopwatch

Process

1. Form subgroups of four to six persons each. Ask the members of each subgroup to count off for their order of play during the activity.

2. Distribute one copy of the worksheet and a pencil to player 1 in each subgroup.

3. Explain that the goal is to list the names of as many cities as possible on the worksheet, one by one in alphabetical order, moving vertically, one column at a time. Play passes from one group member to the next, as in a relay race. All the answers in Column 1 must be attempted before Column 2 can be started. For example, Player 1 writes Akron for the letter A in Column 1, then passes the worksheet and pencil to Player 2, who fills in Baltimore for B, and so on. Other members of the group may not make suggestions if a player cannot think of an answer during his or her turn. A player may choose to skip a letter by placing an X in the appropriate ...