A facilitator leads pairs through Fast Fingers, where teammates silently flash fingers to hit a target sum. The game shows why some goals need others and why talking to your team matters.
So I want to open today because I know you just ate and some of you are already starting to nod. I see you there. What I'm going to ask you to do is this: we're going to, in just a moment, go through something I like to call the Fast Fingers activity. Don't worry, it is school appropriate. Yeah. And in just a moment, I'm going to ask you to stand. And as you stand, we're going to go through a really simple, maybe even fun activity to illustrate the importance of working together. You with me? You willing? Willing. All right. Stand up, pretty please. Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to turn around, find someone near, next to, beside, over, under, through you that looks almost as intelligent as you are. Give him or her a high five and say, "Hello, partner." High five and find a partner. Almost, almost. All right. So here's the Fast Fingers activity. Show me your right hand. All 5 fingers, not 1, Paulie. With that right hand, we're going to place the right hand behind your back. The right hand is the only one you're using for this activity. What hand are you using in the activity? Right hand. Right hand. Ahem. With your right hand behind your back, you're going to be facing your partner. And the Fast Fingers activity is basically this. I'm going to give you a couple of examples. I am in just a moment— if you lost your partner, we're in trouble. I am in just a moment going to share a number with you. Get excited, this is good stuff. I'm gonna share a number with you. Your job, as soon as you hear the number, there's gonna be no hesitation, there's gonna be no communication, there's only reaction. Got me? As soon as you hear the number, you're going to flash fingers only at your partner. For example, if I were to say the number 5, You might flash 4, your partner might flash 1, and that means you gotta win. Got it? Right hand behind your back. One last example, one last example. If I were to say 4, as quickly as you could, you would flash your fingers, they would flash theirs, and together you want to add up to the number 4. Hielva. If we're looking for 4, All right, don't make me get up. If we're trying to get the number 4 and you show 2 and they show 1, that would not be a win, and we want wins, okay? So here's where we're going live. Are there any questions? Any questions? Going once, going twice. All right, facing your partner, right hand behind your back. We got 5 quick fun rounds. Now here's the rule. If you get a win, I want high fives and tell each other you're awesome. Got me? Anytime we get a win, we get a high five and a you're awesome. Here we go. So we're going to play Fast Five. Here's your first number. Ready? Right hand behind your back. Which hand? She just asked which hand. I thought we went over that. Right hand only. Here we go. 4. Give her a high five. You get a win. All right, second round, hand behind your back. Second round, hand behind your back with your partner. Fingers ready. On your mark, get set, 4. All right, last 2 rounds, last 2 rounds. You ready? Hands behind your back. Right hand's ready, right hand's ready. On your mark, get set. Again, don't confuse the troops. On your mark, get set. Again, staring into your partner's eyes. 7. 7. All right. Last round, last round. Now, here's what I need. By a show of hands— I know, right? By a show of hands, is there anybody who has not yet gotten a win? You can be brave. All right, we're here for you. We're going to make this happen. All right. Clear your mind. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Last time, hands behind your back. Right hand's ready. We got this. 100% success. We ready? Here's your number. On your mark, get set, 10. Oh my God. Thank your partner. Have a seat. Thank your partner. Have a seat. Thank you, guys. So, so again, as I shared, you never have a story or an activity without a point. You never make a point with an activity or a story. You want to make sure it's memorable. Stories and activities are memorable. So hopefully through the program, I'll share a few stories and share a couple of activities because I want it to be memorable. But with every story and activity, I want there to be a takeaway of some kind. What's something that's going to be not just a haha moment, but an aha moment that you can carry with you and apply not just to work, but to home and wherever else you're building connections. KK, funny thing is 10's supposed to be easy. Amen. 5 and 5. I got a couple of 2s and 3s in the audience when I asked for 10. So there's always the few. That's all right. You love them where they are. So what are a couple of possible takeaways? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let me share. One of the important takeaways in that activity that hopefully you got in the back of your mind is this: you absolutely, for some of those numbers, you can't accomplish it on your own. You need somebody else's hand. True story. And the jobs that you do The different roles that you play, the different shifts that you're on, you absolutely depend upon others to get done what this organization has successfully gotten done, right? And in the midst of relying on others, sometimes you got to adjust a little bit more than you thought you wanted to. True story. Anybody change their fingers along the way? I didn't see it. Nobody else did. A second takeaway that I want you to consider though is this. I told you at the beginning you couldn't talk, had to be quick, you couldn't communicate, and that made it difficult, didn't it? The only reason you couldn't get wins every single time wasn't because you can't add, most of you. The reason you couldn't get wins, all of you, every time, was I'd set it up so you weren't able to communicate. 'Cause what gives you more wins? That opportunity, taking advantage of the opportunity to share information so that we're on the same page, adjusting to each other.
