Enjoy failing

To focus on the theme of “dealing with mistakes,” we have a fun energize: “round of numbers.”

• Place the participants shoulder to shoulder in a circle.

• The task is to count from 1 to 50, with everyone taking turns naming a number. Any number divisible by 3 must not be named, but you clap your hands instead. For any number divisible by 5, you stamp your foot on the ground. So: 1, 2, clap, 4, stamp, clap, 7, 8, clap, stamp, 11, clap, 13, 14, stamp.

• This task is too difficult for most people to do it right the first time, so there is a lot of failure. Each time there is a failure, you must start over. The person to the left of the one who started the previous round starts.

• After a while, participants begin to get irritated by this exercise and wonder what the point is. Just keep going until you reach 50.

• Pay close attention to the reactions of the participants: one gets giggly, another gets irritated, someone tries to save the situation, and another drops out. Encourage participants to do it right: it’s not that difficult, is it?! Repeat the rules if necessary. The chance is high that it will keep going wrong.

• Stop the exercise after 8 to 10 minutes and ask the participants what they experienced. Focus on their reaction to failure, that is, how they dealt with their mistakes. What did you notice about yourself? How was it to not do it well? What were you thinking? How did you react?

• Finally, ask: what do you recognize about yourself in this reaction? Discuss with the group that people react differently to mistakes. Ask if they allow themselves to make mistakes. People often say that they can’t afford to make mistakes in their work (too expensive, too important, too many consequences, etc.). And yet mistakes are also made in their work. So, how do you deal with it? What label do you attach to it? One way is to accept the mistake and see it as a moment to learn something. And that’s what we are going to do now!

• Do the exercise again, and someone who makes a mistake gets a thunderous applause: “Applause, you are learning!” Give the rules one more time and let the participants start. Relaxation sets in immediately, there is laughter and cheering, and often it goes much better.

• Briefly discuss afterwards: what was the difference? What does this bring you?