Goal
To understand how status can impact our relationships with our colleagues.
Level of Difficulty:
Easy
Participants:
4+
Instructions:
Take a deck of playing cards. Hand out a card to each person – but don’t look at the card! Place the card, face-out on your forehead. You can use tape or can hold the card.
Now, wander the space you are in. Greet each other based on the status of the card you see everyone portraying. A 2 is low-status, and a King is high status. Aces are high. Remember, you don’t know what your own card is!
After greeting and conversing with one another, line up in the perceived order from low too high. Reveal your statuses and discuss!
Repeat the exercise where you do know your status compared to everyone else.
Practical Application:
How does knowing your status compare to when you don’t know it? In teams, we often let titles dictate seniority or importance of ideas. But good ideas and support come from across the team and organization. How might we break down the perceived status and empower team members in collaboration?
Collaborative Improv 