The Blind Wine Waiter Activity

Present the Blind Wine Waiter activity as a fun challenge that will help improve communication between teams.

Teams of six must successfully find, uncork and pour a bottle of wine into five glasses. Each team member must carry out no more than one element of the task and at least five of the team must wear blindfolds.

In advance, get one bottle of wine per team, one wineglass per team, blindfolds for 5 members of each team, one corkscrew per team.

Divide the group into teams of 6 and ask each team to elect a leader. Hand out blindfolds to all team members other than the leader, instruct all team members other than the leader to put on their blindfold.

Ask the team leader to take a seat somewhere close to his/her team and ask him/her to sit on her hands. For each team, position one bottle of wine, one wineglass and one corkscrew in various locations around the room. Take care to ensure that nothing is positioned where it might easily fall or break (eg make sure the wine bottle(s) and glass(es) are placed on the floor against a wall, or in the centre of a table).

Tell all participants that their task is to find a bottle of wine, a corkscrew and a wine glass, open the bottle and pour their leader a glass of wine.

Tell the participants the rules:

• the team leader cannot move from his/her position and cannot use their hands
• no team member must complete more than one task
• task 1 is to find the bottle and bring it to the team leader
• task 2 is to find the glass and bring it to the team leader
• task 3 is to find the corkscrew and bring it to the team leader
• task 4 is to open the bottle of wine
• task 5 is to pour the wine into the glass and offer it to the team leader
• task 6 (for the team leader) is to drink the wine without using their hands

Once one team leader has drunk the wine, signifying the successful completion of the challenge, you can announce the winning team (if more than one team is taking part).

Moment of Reflection

• Ask each group to share the strategy they adopted for the exercise. Were you able to organize as a team? How did you organize the tasks?
• Ask what was missing in their strategies. What improvements would you make if the game was repeated?
• Ask the team to evaluate the effectiveness of their communication. How would you evaluate the communication and why?
• Identify the moments in which a similar communication occurs in the workplace.

The topics of this publication: interactions, active listening, adaptation, teamwork, trust, foster relationships, strategy, adaptability skills, collaboration, leadership, cooperation, integration