This face to face leadership session is one of my all time favourites. It’s hands-on and experiential. Originally created for HSBC as part of a Digital Leadership training programme, it is designed to be delivered as part of a day long leadership workshop.
The design
After recapping Carol Dweck’s growth mindset, participants are handed a Rubik’s cube and told to solve it with no guidance from the facilitators. Some embrace the challenge, whereas others instantly give up, their fixed mindsets kicking in.
With support from facilitators, participants are taught how to solve the first layer of the cube, demonstrating how teams need guidance and tools from leaders.
Participants then explore how to support different team members, using clips from children’s films.
Dory from Finding Nemo demonstrates grit and resilience.
Gusteau from Ratatouille demonstrates the importance of role models.
The Robinsons from Meet the Robinsons celebrate failure.
The session then leads on to recognising fixed and growth mindsets in others and how to encourage a growth mindset.
I like this session because participants get quite emotionally involved in solving their cubes. Occasionally, one or two can do it already. Mostly, people either get really frustrated and sometimes refuse (fixed mindset) or they are determined to learn how to do it (growth mindset). However, it does have its limitations: it’s resource heavy and not accessible to all. I later updated this session to use a riddle instead of a cube as it provokes the same feelings and works remotely.