Customer Reviews

Feeding the Zircon Gorilla: And Other Team Building Activities

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a must-have for any trainer. Sam Sikes takes a fun, creative approach to team building and problem solving activities. The activities presented run the gamut of activities from those requiring few props, to high challenge activities for ropes courses. There are activities that are adapatable for children's groups to adults. I have used a number of these activities in team building activities, and participants have always found the activities to be valuable -- and fun!

Feeding the Zircon Gorilla is but one of the most fun teambuilding games included in this book. Sam Sikes rides again as he shares with us more really creative, group, brain teasers! The fun part is - you simply cannot win as an individual, you must work as a team to succeed! The game props can be made with everyday, around the house kind of stuff - nothing else to buy.

Some of the activities here were great but only a handful were easy to perform in an office setting with minimal setup. Great if you have a whole day to spend on a series of activities and preferably an outdoor setting, but in corporate teams with little space they could be a challenge.

I have dozens of teambuilding books. This one disappoints. Even the format is inconsistent (some activities have a heading "Time" that indicates about how much time the activity takes, most do not even have that category). This feels more like someone printed their own notes on activities they are very familiar with...not written for someone who has never seen the activity before. For example, "The Grid" looks like a great activity but there is danger for the group making errors--they will lose "one resource." Unfortunately, Sikes never tells the reader what a resource is, nor how many each team should begin with. Some of the activities are simple and great (and if you like these, get Miller's Quick Team-building Activities for Busy Managers), some are unbelievably complex, and ther is one that requires advanced ropes course training to perform!