Managers, team leaders, click here for some of the things your team can get out from the Junkyard Sports® experience.

I have often asked people to demonstrate their ideal
image of teamwork. A popular image is a jazz band - improvising, sharing the lead, being creative, having fun, producing amazing music, etc. The emphasis shifts around a little (depending on the values of the person who presents the image) but the image of a jazz band is a strong (and popular) one. How much more powerful this image would be if everyone in the group actually had the talent to play in such a band! The huge benefit of Junkyard Sports (by comparison) is that everyone can take a full part and have a first-hand direct experience of working in a team that is improvising, sharing the lead, being creative, having fun etc. ..The key difference is that in Junkyard Sports people really take part - it is not a mime but a real performance. Direct experience provides a convincing demonstration of what is possible and makes change (especially change in a similar direction) much easier to accomplish.

Roger Greenaway

Fun for a reason

A profoundly fun team building event, where:

no one is pressured to perform
no one keeps score
no one is being judged

while practicing:

systems thinking
participatory leadership
and the ability of both individual and team to adapt to change

The Junkyard Sports® Team Buliding Experience

First, people work together to figure out how to make a bunch of junk (usually socks and pantyhose) serve as the equipment for a team sport.

Next, people play in teams against other teams. They play competitively, and get to compete in the games they created, and the games that another team created for them.

Finally, people watch the Instant Replay, eat junk food and give each other awards


We have socks. We have a roll of toilet paper. Our mission, should we choose to accept it: create an Olympic event.	Phase two: we explore the tensile strength of several socks tied together
Sockput: the event

The Learning Points

In the process of designing and playing new sports, almost every aspect of team life is touched upon, lightly, and clearly, This helps assumptions and worries and teamlife issues surface, and be seen in a more understanding and playful light. Here are a few:

Inclusion - Teams that are having difficulty overcoming differences between genders or races or positon can focus on what people did to include them and others in each phase of the experience, what they did, how they could be more inclusive at work, what they would need to feel included

Energy - Teams can get "burned out" and when they do, it can get almost impossible to motivate them to do anything. Talking about the energy they experienced during the event helps not only raise awareness of how exhausted they've become, but also helps them become more aware of how easily they can help each other restore that energy to the team

Commitment - Teams that are newly formed or changing composition can remind each other about when they work best as a team, what they think teamwork is and should be, what is the difference between being a team member in a cooperative activity and a team member in the "real world" of competition

Change - Teams that are stressed do not like change. Even when change is beneficial. Often when change is trivial. Junkyard Sports are constantly changing, adapting, redefining themselves.

Recognition - Teams where members are being unequally paid often need to pay more attention to how they award themselves and each other. A discussion about the awards can easily lead people to talking about what they need to be awarded for, how they award others, what kind of recognition is meaningful

The debriefing process takes place while people are munching and watching the Instant Replay, creating just about the ideal environment for them to reflect on what they saw and did and learned.

Take-aways

Since we use a camcorder as standard equipment, we have a record of the Junkyard Sports® experience that can be used again and again, as a reminder, as a reference point, as a guideline for creating their own Junkyard Sports® experience. .

With a Technographer, computer and data projector, participants can also leave with a PowerPoint presentation of their key discoveries. And first-hand exposure to a technique for effective teamwork, of great value to virtual teams, whether they meet place-to-place or face-to-face.

Debriefing space

Debriefing is optional and fun. It can take place almost anywhere it is easy for people to eat and watch TV together. Indoors or out.

Junkyard Sports® Team Building

Basic and extended costs

Your basic package for 12-25* people

Includes 2-3 hours of your essential Junkmaster (Bernie) and one assistant, two Portable Instant Junkyards, use of a camcorder. $2500 plus expenses.

Industry-specific junk can also be included (specific to the industry that the team works for). See the Junk Page for more.

And all you need to provide, aside from people and money

A TV monitor big enough for all to see, and a place big enough for us all to play in. And if you can't, we'll get it for you for somewhere between $350 and $15,000 depending on where you want to play.

More people?

More media

An additional digital camcorder is recommended for every 25 players.
A video projector (for indoors) or large monitors (an additional monitor per every 25 players)
$750 per

More Junkmasters

You'll need an additional Junkmaster for every 25 people. Figure about $500 per.

Or you want maybe a little fancy added

The Junk Food Buffet Game

Though part of every Junkyard Sports® event, the Junk Food Buffet Game is a team building activity in its own right. People not only eat junk food, but work together to create new junk food combinations. As you can imagine, it can be as exotic or organic or junky as budget and taste allows. For a truly junky Junk Food Buffet, how about 20 extra large family-size jumbo bags, each with a different kind of potato chip, and 30 different 2-litre bottles of beer? ($15 per person). Or trail mixes and soy milks. ($25 per) Or caviars and champagnes. ($150 per)

A little high-powered productivity with Technography

A Technographer is $1500 plus expenses. Computer and projector rental $750

Some amazing place to play, which we'd also be happy to help find

Though Junkyard Sports® can be played in almost any environment, there are a few things you might want to look for:

Indoors

Large, open, carpeted area - large enough for everyone to play two different sports, simultaneously. For 25 people, a 40x40 open space is ample.

On the other hand, we can use the hallways.

or we can meet on the beach,
or the deck of a cruise ship,
or after hours in a shopping mall

- as long as there's enough room to play two sports, simultaneously. ($1500 and up for up to 25 players)

Outdoors

Generally, any place where the team can play, undisturbed, for three hours. The" undisturbed" part means some kind of space that can be made private, and that you can yell in:

courtyards
parks
lawns
beaches
roof tops
the company cafeteria
somewhere South of France.

($1500 and up, for up to 25 players)

Meeting planners, event organizers, click here for some key costs and potential benefits to consider: