Hey there! Happy Friday. By now you may have seen my first list (1-5) of spontaneous- inspired hybrid practice problems that I refer to as hybrid team tasks. But, even if you have, I thought I would highlight them and explain why your team needs to try them!
So, what is a hybrid team task?
It’s a team-building activity that combines the principals of both verbal team tasks and hands-on team tasks… one that requires your team to complete a physical challenge and explain it too. They are super challenging and usually require more time to complete. But that’s what makes them fun! Your team can really dive into the challenge and get so much out of it.
What are the benefits?
There are so many! But two of the most pronounced are increased teamwork and communication skills. Not only must teams work together to solve the physical portion of the challenge, but they must also communicate well—with their teammates and the judging adults.
Public speaking is a tough skill to master but it’s not just limited to speeches before large audiences. Communicating in front of peers and adults is something that your kids should be comfortable doing too. Hybrid tasks encourage kids to share their ideas, which isn’t always easy to do. With practice though, they will become confident adding them to the conversation. It’s a learned skill like any other. But it’s ultra important and will carry them through any team they are a part of or any classroom. And really, isn’t that the point of challenges like this? We want our kids to become strong, confident people in any setting.
Honestly though, these tasks are tough! During our Odyssey of the Mind meetings, my teams always groaned when I gave them a hybrid spontaneous problem. But they always rose to the occasion, worked through their frustrations, and had so much fun. I’m sure your team or classroom will too. Just allow a little more time for them for your kids to complete them…and appeal to their competitive nature. Most kids don’t like to fail. Besides, the bigger the challenge, the bigger the success, right?!
Scroll down for the first five examples. But remember, like the other types of spontaneous-inspired tasks on the sight so far, I’ll be sharing more soon. So, keep checking back.
Feel free to share this PDF with your educator friends. They may find these hybrid tasks fun and useful too! Thanks for being here and for reading my latest team-building post. I’m so glad you did. And until next time, keep dreaming and keep building your best & most inspired team!
Up next: The 2023-2024 Classroom Team Challenge
