A warm-up exercise that helps to realise the power of constructive thinking while building on the skills of the team members.
This will help you to think in opportunities and possibilities, rather than problems and restrictions. The “Yes and....- rule” can be useful in a brainstorm or group discussion.
Design phase:
Materials:
Time:
1. If you are doing this exercise with more than 4 people, you divide everyone in small teams of 2 or 3 people.
2. Each team has to plan an event together (a holiday, a party, a meal, a celebration). You will do this by taking turns in sharing ideas.
3. You can use the worksheet for exercise or a blank paper.
4.Now one person in the group will start by making a suggestion: “For our event/party/ … we will ...”
For example: “For our party we will organise a field with a campfire” or “For our celebration we will invite the whole village” or “For our event we will organise a competition”
5.Then the second person will respond to the idea by saying: “Yes, but …” (and continuing logically from that).
For example: “Yes, but someone might get hurt with the fire”
6. Then the next person will respond by saying: “Yes, but …” (and continuing logically from that). And continue like this for a couple of more turns.
7. After some turns, you repeat the same steps, but this time replacing “Yes, but …” with “Yes, and …”.
So the first person starts by saying “For our event/party/ … we will ...”. The second person responds by saying: “ Yes, and ... “ (and continue logically from that).
For example: “Yes, and we can instruct the guests on how not to get hurt!”
8. After 5 minutes look at the ideas that you came up with and compare the two conversations. The differences between the two will be striking!
The outcomes of this exercise are not necessarily useful in your project but you can also do this exercise in a brainstorm activity with your team when you want to come up with new and innovative ideas.
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