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Learning Activity: Spoons


Purpose:
To provide a fast-paced review of a topic (such as Leadership or Project Management).

Materials:
One deck of cards for each small group (about one deck for up to six people)
Plastic spoons (one for every person in each small group, minus one spoon)

  • A deck of cards for each small group (about one deck of cards for each four or five people.)   
  • One plastic spoon for each person in each group, minus one spoon. (For each group there is one less spoon than the number of people.)
  • Place the spoons in the center.
  • Deal six cards to each person
  • The person to the left of the dealer begins by drawing a card from the center. They either keep that card or discard it to the person on the left, or discard another card from their deckto the person on their left.
  • The object is to gather six cards in the same suite.
  • When you have six cards all in the same suite, grab a spoon.
  • Once a spoon has been grabbed, any one else can grab a spoon until there are no more spoons. This will leave one person without a spoon.
  • That person must now answer a question on the topic (Leadership, Project Management, Communication...) from a deck of question cards. If they answer the question correctly, they can continue to play. If they answer incorrectly, they retire from the game and one spoon is also retired (so that there is always one less spoon than the number of people playing.




Sample Leadership Questions:

  • Which is more powerful, transactional motivation (things that cost money) or internal motivation (things that make you feel good about yourself?)
  • Is leadership mostly about authority or is it about influence?
  • True or False: your personality type is who you are and how you must always be
  • Four core leadership strengths include clarity, courage, creativity, and ____________
  • In effective meetings, every agenda item must have a goal, and every agenda goal needs a ___________
  • To prioritize a workload, it helps to align your work with which of these: your mission, or, your boss's personality.






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