← Get-To-Know-You Exercises

The Human Machine

The Human Machine
Needs a room

One person starts a movement. Everyone else becomes part of it.

Someone steps into the middle with a repeating movement and a sound. One by one, everyone joins on, adding a part that connects to what is already running. What you end up with is a ridiculous, functioning machine made of the whole room, and a shared thing that gets referred back to for the rest of the day.

CollaborationGroup CoordinationMovementLaughterConnection
Use this when

The room is warm, you have ten minutes, and you want one shared, slightly absurd thing that the group built together and will still be referencing after lunch.

Props: None

Run this when…

If none of these is your room, pick another.
  1. A creative warm-up before anything about systems or process

  2. A group that has warmed up and is ready to be silly

  3. Building something the whole room contributed to

The run-sheet

What you get once it’s yours. Open any of them to see how.

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Run it yourself

5 icebreakers free for 10 days. No card. Put it on the projector and step through it — nobody in the room has to set anything up.

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At a glance
8–30people
7–10minutes
Energymedium
Where
Needs a room
Props
None
Big screen
Required
Teams
Supported
What it builds
collaborationsystems thinking