http://marshmallowchallenge.com/TED_Talk.h... What can marshmallows teach us about innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership? A lot, actually.
The challenge requires participants who are grouped in teams of four to build the tallest free standing structure out of twenty sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and a marshmallow placed on top. Not only is the marshmallow challenge an incredible workshop to encourage collaboration, but it provides deep lessons about the nature of collaboration.
Most people start from the bottom up. A trend often seen when approaching this challenge is to first deal with group politics, decide on a plan, build their structure, then place the marshmallow on top. Most of the time, people fail at their first attempt. What is surprising is that kindergarteners are more likely to accomplish this task than recent graduates of business school. Business students are trained to design a plan and to follow it. Younger children get an instant feedback loop as they start with the end in mind, the marshmallow, they work with that to build their structure.
In another workshop, an incentive of $10,000 was provided. As a result, no teams were able to build a strong structure. Therefore, the higher the stakes, the lower the likelihood of success.
Prototyping is a powerful tool when attempting to achieve any goal. Pressure, if not managed correctly, can hinder the ability of an entire team. Young children do not waste time deciding over who gets the power in their group. They are hands on and keep the end in mind, so they don't get blinded with any one plan.
Posted By: Jonathan Burnley
Monday, January 4th 2016 at 8:53PM
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