16 May 2018

BPIF launch the Tennis Ball Challenge

With Wimbledon just around the corner, the BPIF has launched the Tennis Ball Challenge a simple but highly effective exercise to highlight the power of teamwork and communication with incredible outcomes and results. We recently filmed two companies achieve transformative results and progression and those involved commented on how it had been a great and informative experience. We will be setting up a score board shortly and promoting it to you our members, to see the level of performance you can achieve with the power of your team and a bit of friendly competition.

Purpose
This is a fantastic exercise in getting a group of staff working together, coordinating their activities and learning to work more efficiently. Delegates will review their performance and think of better strategies for problem solving and continuous improvement.

As an analogy this exercise can be thought of as an operations team tasked to produce a batch of products where the efficiency of the team leads to better production rates. The team must think of ways to improve the production rate and workflow. They must think creatively of strategies that can be implemented easily in practice and improved upon. The exercise requires teamwork, leadership, communication skills and the ability of each team to get the best from every individual.

Objective
To teach the concept of continuous improvement, communication, and teamwork by engaging staff.
Motivating staff to challenge fixed ideas and drive improvement measured against realistic targets.
Develop a culture that strives for the best, but learns from mistakes without blame.

Format
The workshop will begin with a short presentation about change and how difficult sustainable change can be. This will be followed by the Tennis Ball Challenge, where participants will work in teams of 6-7 people over a series of 4 rounds. A room needs to be set up with enough tables and chairs to accommodate multiple groups of that size. The exercise is expected to take around 1 hour. The workshop will conclude with a brief discussion on the findings, observations, behaviours and winning team best practice.

For more information on how you can get involved with the Tennis Ball Challenge or Process Improvement please contact Garry Mellor at [email protected]