I’ve been running workshops with clients for the past couple of years, always searching for an activity to break the ice or illustrate the virtues of collaboration. At the same time, we’ve been working on a board game for EDGY, which led us at &friends to dive into the world of board games (with or without boards). And then… it happened. I stumbled upon a Jenga tower game at a local store, and suddenly, the entire tower metaphor came crashing into my mind all at once!

Jenga tower: if you make a careless move, everything can come crashing down.

Ivory tower: people who make decisions without taking into account the reality of others.

Tower of Babel: a metaphor for misunderstanding, chaos or the inability to work together due to cultural or linguistic differences.

The rules

So… now it’s a game I’d like to share. Here are the rules.

Round 1 – With cards

Take turns drawing a card.

The card determines the color of the block to be removed and repositioned on top of the tower.

The goal of Round 1 is to avoid being the one who causes the tower to collapse.

Round 2 – Without cards

As a team, identify which bloc is unstable and can be moved. Decide who is best suited to remove it and who is best positioned to replace it. It can be of any color.

If multiple teams are playing, the winners are the ones with the tallest tower.

Got the point?

Round One is all about working in silos. If you’re a brand manager, change the brand—that’s what you’re paid to do. If you manage processes, change the processes. If you’re responsible for the vision, change the vision. When you have a job, you do it, whether it’s needed or not.

Round Two is all about collaboration. As long as we communicate and work together, we can focus on changing only what’s necessary to build the tallest tower. Now, it’s a competition with other teams, not just within your own team.

So, the only question I have for you now is… are you playing against one another, or are you trying to build the tallest tower together?