Blind man’s tower.
( an excellent game for testing the leader’s ability to work with M1 workers of The Situational Leadership
Model )
Items needed:
Teams of 3 people,
50 paper cups per team ,
tables for each team.
room big enough so teams are far apart.
Procedure:
1. Divide participants into teams of 3 people each – one worker & 2 managers
2. give them 50 paper cups each.
3. Tell them to decide among themselves the target – how many floors they will build. ( each cup
represents a floor) note down targets on the board.
4. Give them the following instructions:
a) Time of 10 minutes to build tower.
b) Achieving target gives 20 points, not achieving -no points ( even
90% achieved is not enough ) every extra floor = 5 points extra.
c) Only worker to build the tower. managers must NOT TOUCH the
material ( cups ) If they do, then they lose 5 points
NOW THE LAST TWO ( MOST IMPORTANT) INSTRUCTIONS
d) Worker to build the tower USING LEFT HAND ( WEAK HAND )
e) Worker to build the tower BLIND FOLDED.
( usually ,the last two instructions get a loud groan from all.
Other instructions:
The table in front of the worker must be empty, he/ she must not have begun the tower before the start time.
Observations:
This is a situation where the worker is completely dependant on the manager. ( M1 type
employee. )HeShe depends on the manager’s ability to give precise, clear instructions.
Usually, both managers will start to give instructions.
Sometimes one manager will be more assertive.
Sometimes the worker will be more assertive & not listen to the manager.
Some managers will, not empathize with the worker’s handicap & shout, hurry or goad the
worker. They’ll even criticize him/ her if he/she fumbles.
Most times , the losing team will be poor losers, will try to bad mouth the wining team, will say
they cheated, ‘the worker could probably see’ etc.
Debrief should cover the importance of using L1 type of leadership for the M1 worker.
