The next TEDxNicosia event will take place on May 7. Which means that the growing group of volunteers assigned with making this event happen has been a group of busy bees.
Last Saturday afternoon said bees made our way to the Starbucks conference room in Nicosia for a coffee and a meeting/chat about the upcoming event. But don’t, for a second, think that this was your average boring meeting, notes being scribbled alongside doodling patterns, heads held up by hands and members in the back row dozing off.
At this TEDxNicosia meeting we, the members, were challenged!
Split into three groups, we were given The Marshmallow Challenge kit. Have you heard of it? It consists of 20 spaghetti sticks, one yard of tape, one yard of string and one single marshmallow.
After the initial shock of being challenged to anything on a Saturday afternoon at a coffee shop wore off and the giggles and remarks subsided we were told that we had exactly 18 minutes to construct the tallest structure using the above materials. The marshmallow needed to be on the top.
During the next 18 minutes The Marshmallow Challenge succeeded in doing exactly what it is supposed to do: create a team, get that team to work together, to birth ideas, to collaborate and to bring about the best possible outcome.
It’s a fun and innovative exercise that has been completed by many since it was invented by Peter Skillman and popularised by Tom Wujec over five years ago. It has had people from all walks of life scratching their heads from politicians and CEOs to kindergarteners and regular people like me.
Except for mechanical engineers and architects. They succeeded in building the tallest tower. For obvious reasons.
What’s surprising about The Marshmallow Challenge is that lawyers and business school graduates scored ridiculously low while massively successful were kindergarteners. Why?
Because business students spent too much time planning and playing power games only thinking of the weight of the marshmallow at the very end when time had ran out. Kindergarteners on the other hand kept a focus on the marshmallow adapting their structure as they went along.
See, the marshmallow on a spaghetti stick is a crucial point. It represents the possible outcomes of a project that aren’t thought of. It is assumed that the marshmallow won’t be an issue as it is fluffy and light. Why would it not be supported by a stick?
So The Marshmallow Challenge opened new windows of thought for all the coffee-drinking bees that day. Apart from learning to identify the assumptions in projects we were once again reminded of the power of innovation, creativity and collaboration.
Bet now you can’t wait to see what’s in store for May 7.
Written by Eleni Antoniou, TEDxNicosia blogger
Photos by Charis Michael.
