What to do if a Team Game Goes Wrong

As much as the trainer prepares for the smooth running of a game or activity, there unfortunately are times when activities go wrong.  In this short article Sarah Cook examines the main reasons for this and provides practical advice on what to do if this happens.

The main reasons that games go wrong are:

• In sufficient preparation: the trainer has not fully assimilated the running order of the activity and what should happen when

• Poor briefing :  the trainer has not briefed thoroughly what participants need to do during the game or positioned the activity in the context of the development need

• Poor timing : the trainer has miscalculated how long each phase of the exercise will take to run

• Lack of coordination : Where the game is being facilitated by several trainers, different trainers run the game with different timings or do not brief the activity in the same manner

• Lack of relevance : Participants do not see the relevance of the activity 'to the real world'. The trainer fails to draw out relevant learning from the activity.

There are some common-sense antidotes to these typical problems:

• In sufficient preparation : the trainer should make sure they know exactly what needs to happen throughout the activity and prepare each stage accordingly

• Poor briefing :  the trainer needs to position the activity in the context of the development need and explain exactly what the participants are expected to do

• Poor timing : Best practice is to hold a 'dummy run' of the game if the trainer has never run it before to see exactly how log it will take

• Lack of coordination : If the game is being facilitated by several trainers, appoint a lead trainer who can act as co-ordinator with the other trainers running the activity. Their role is to make sure everyone is briefed

• Lack of relevance : Make sure the learning needs analysis has clearly identified the correct development need and that the game addresses this need

And if a game does go wrong : admit your mistake, do not try to hide it or continue the game in the incorrect fashion. It's much better to quickly bring stop the game and put it back on course than to end up with an uncoordinated output that does not address the learning need!

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Article by Sarah Cook of the Stairway Consultancy. Specialists in Leadership, Customer Services, Team Building and Personal Effectiveness.

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