Traffic Jam

Traffic Jam is one of my favorite experiential interventions because it is simple to get ready and usually challenging for participants to solve. It can also apply to just about any group that tries it because it involves a lot of teamwork, communication and problem solving. Before you try this intervention I encourage you to please read, and re-read the instructions to make sure you have a solid understanding of the rules and solution to the exercise, otherwise you participants may get confused or not correctly solve the challenge. I have included in this activity plan a sheet with images that depict legal/illegal moves and the solution to the problem. Good luck!

Number of participants: Works best with 8-10. I would not do any less than 7 or more than 11. Divide your group into small teams if you have more than this.

Time frame: This should take at least 30 minutes. If your group is nearing the time you have allotted you can give them hints to help solve the problem.

Supplies needed: Enough floor markers for all of your participants plus one. So if you have 8 participants you need 9 markers. Pieces of letter size paper work perfectly.

Setup/room requirements: You need enough space for your group to stand in a line without being too close to each other. A regular room works fine.

Safety precautions: Participants will need to stand for an extended period and be able to walk around. You could do this from a seated position if necessary though.

Instructions:

1. Place your floor markers on the ground in a straight line. They should be far enough apart for a person to stand on or next to it without being up against the next person in line. About 2 feet apart is adequate.

2. Have each participant stand on or next to one of the floor markers (you should have one extra) leaving the center marker empty. Participants on the right positions should be facing the participants on the left positions and vice versa. Please see the attached diagram and reference “starting position”.

3. Explain to the participants that their goal is to get the people on the right to fill the spaces that are occupied now on the left and the people on the left to fill the spaces that are occupied now on the right. So basically each side of people will be switching places. Please see the diagram and reference “ending position”. However there are rules to the game. The rules are:

a. Only one person may move at a time.

b. You may only move onto an empty space. No sharing spaces!

c. You may only move forward, no going backward.

d. You may leap frog another player to the empty space next to them, IF they are facing the opposite direction as you. No going around players from your own team. Please see diagram and reference “legal/illegal leap frog moves.”

e. Any time the group gets stuck or reaches a “traffic jam” everyone must return to their starting positions and begin again. Please see diagram and reference “traffic jam” to see what a traffic jam looks like. It happens when two people from the same team are back-to-back preventing the rest from moving around them.

4. Teams must now work to solve the challenge which they will learn takes a balance of moves on each side. Depending on how quickly you would like the teams to solve the challenge you may give them suggestions or let them struggle for a while.

What works best:

• Make sure your participants stick to the rules and call them on any breaking of the rules. The full effect of the challenge isn’t realized if people are allowed to backtrack on moves they’ve made to try again. Make them start over.

• If your participants get frustrated after a period of time ask for suggestions of what might help to solve the challenge. Ideas might include letting one person step off their spot to see the big picture, drawing a solution on a white board, or moving the markers with their hands so everyone can step off their place markers.

• Make sure each group of participants remains facing the direction they started in. It can become very confusing to remember who is on what team if people start turning around.

• Give suggestions on how to solve the problem as you see necessary. Reinforce positive steps they made towards achieving their goal and remind them of incorrect efforts they keep making over and over again-believe me, they will!

How to process-items you could discuss

• Frustration tolerance-how people responded to being faced with a challenge that seemed impossible

• Problem solving-how are the ideas you had for solving this problem (i.e. finding a leader, looking at the big picture, trying a new strategy) similar to solving problems in life

• Communication-what worked and didn’t work with the groups communication to solve the problem

• Knowing your limits-when can it be important to take a step back and ask for help to solve a problem

• Coping-ways to manage stressful situations

Feel free to contact me with questions on how to implement the intervention and if you would like processing suggestions. Good luck!

Traffic Jam diagram