continue to iterate, learn, and apply until the optimum construction solution emerges. However you look at it, the 18-minute time constraint certainly appears to work in favour of the under 5-year-olds. Interestingly, we can frame the Marshmallow Challenge in a number of different ways, depending on our own area of interest. For some people the challenge is about problem-solving models, while others see it as an application in constrained project management practice, as a teamwork task, or even as a leadership exercise. Different approaches seem to lead to different explanations of what is actually going on here. Some years ago, I found myself in a similar situation, while studying for a Diploma in Recreation and Sport. During the course, a well-regarded guest tutor came in to take us through a newspaper towers exercise. For those who aren’t familiar with this particular activity, participants are divided into small teams, and given some pieces of newspaper, a length of sellotape, a piece of string, and a crowning object, such as a can of soft-drink. From there, the rules are pretty much the same as the Marshmallow Challenge, with the winning team being the one which can elevate the soft-drink can the furthest from the base of the resulting structure. Well, the group that I was in did pretty well, including winning commendation from the tutor for devising a new way to construct the tower. We easily beat the opposition. (From memory, one of the other teams didn’t come up with a workable solution in the time available, and the other team’s tower crumbled under the weight of the soft-drink can, so all we had to do was to make sure that our tower didn’t collapse!) As a bonus, we did actually build a pretty damn good tower. Following the obligatory congratulationsand-kudos, we then moved into the analysisand-debrief stage of the session. The tutor went around each group, asking us for our thoughts on why our respective teams performed (or didn’t perform) in the way that they did. When our turn came, my team mates mentioned the usual suspects, such as the role of teamwork, respect, listening to others, and so forth. This was clearly where the discussion was headed, particularly in the context of recreation and sport. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Phil Sales is specialist business coach, interested in 'cool stuff' in the business development sector. For more about Phil, see https://iact15.wixsite.com/iactltd/who-we-are Then it was my turn to speak. Heretic that I am, I said something about our success being due to having the right combination of people in the team. In particular, people who knew where they could best contribute to the team’s success, and how to give other team members the space to do what they each did best. Strangely, the tutor moved on quickly to the next person, without further comment. I have often thought about my reply, and I don’t think that I have substantially changed my view over the years. A few years after this event, I was playing in a regional sports tournament. At the dinner on the last night, one of the members of our team was asked to make the toast ‘to absent friends’ and, as he was an officer in the armed forces, he spoke at some length about sport in hierarchies, such as the defence force. In particular, he noted how rank and status became largely irrelevant once a game had started. As he put it, you can hardly afford to go through a formal request process to a senior officer, when you want that person to pass you the ball! Arguably, I think that there is a great deal of truth in his comment, and that it applies equally well to both the newspaper towers and the Marshmallow Challenge. Yes, the pre-schoolers did try more things than their competitors, but this was a direct consequence of ditching the respective rulebooks that each of the adult teams worked by. And, yes, the pre-schoolers did quickly sort out who could do what best, and just how much space to give each other. Inevitably, there may be some valuable insights here for people in the workplace. Established systems and processes generally work well in clearly defined situations and under well-anticipated conditions. But every now and then, something like the Marshmallow Challenge will come along, and we may need a new strategy to get us through. If time is of the essence, then we may need to respond with something more akin to the strategy of the under-5-yearolds! By the way, my own preferred solution to the Marshmallow Challenge? Eat the damn marshmallow! June 2023 { 39 }
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