As team members enter the conference room, they are greeted with piles of materials, including pulleys, ropes, marbles, bowling balls, mousetraps, gears and more.
This 3-4 hour creative team building program asks participants to design and construct a Rube Goldberg style machine that will launch a ball into a bucket. A Rube Goldberg machine or device is a deliberately over-engineered machine that performs a simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction.
During the On Target Program, the larger group is split into smaller teams comprised of 4-5 people. Each team is given responsibility for constructing one part of the machine. While each team might be tempted to work in isolation, the chain reactions of each group’s part of the device need to connect with the chain reactions of the other groups.
With limited amount of equipment, communication skills and strong leadership are essential for successfully completing the task. This fun and engaging employee team building activity illustrates the elements of successful project management: innovation, assigning roles, accountability, teamwork, and producing a final product that works.