Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 4, Session 2: Team Leadership | Page 21 of 91
- When all the puzzles are complete, lead a congratulatory cheer for all the teams. Then facilitate a
discussion, selecting questions from the following list:
Note: Among the discussion questions, those in BOLD are the most important.
What was it like working to solve the puzzle with your team?
What were you thinking and feeling at the beginning?
Did someone play a leadership role? If so, what did that person do?
What did other people do to help your team even if they were not the leader?
Some people had puzzle pieces that were not needed by their team. If you were one of those
people, what did you think when you realized this and how did you feel?
At some point your team realized it could not finish its puzzle. What interesting things did
people say or do at that point?
How did you eventually finish your puzzle?
What helped your team work well together?
What made working in your team difficult?
If we were to do this activity again, what would you do differently?
If you could change one of the rules for the activity what would you change?
How was working with your team like other times you have worked with a group or team?
- Suggest to the group that we can think about different features of this game as representing or being a
symbol for things that happen in other group or team situations. For example, your team put together
the pieces of a puzzle. That could represent the way a team comes together to achieve a goal.
With this in mind, what might the puzzle pieces represent? (Possible answers: The skills, abilities,
knowledge, gifts, talents, etc. of individual members.)
In the game you could only touch or move your own piece(s). What might this represent?
(Possible answers: Each person has the freedom to choose when to use or contribute her or his
skills or knowledge. No one can force another to participate. Each person has something unique
that only she or he can contribute to the group.)
In the game, some people had pieces that didn’t fit their group’s puzzle. What might this
represent? (Possible answers: Some people contribute more to a group than others [and this is
OK!]. Some people have skills that are not needed for every group project.)
In the game, some people had to look outside the group to use their pieces and each group had
to get pieces from another group. What might this represent? (Possible answers: You may have
to look beyond your group to find the resources and people you need. Just because your skills or
knowledge are not needed by your group now does not mean another group may not need
them later. We shouldn’t be so tied to our own team that we overlook opportunities to work
together with other teams.)
What was the goal of your team? What were you supposed to do? (Possible answers: Finish our
puzzle. Put all our pieces in their places.)
The actual instructions were “You win when your team has all its pieces in the right place.” How
does being reminded of this change your understanding of ‘winning’ in this activity?
