Junkyard Games

Whether it's doing more for less, increasing productivity, or reducing costs, innovation is the lifeblood of all successful organizations. Without it, organizations may survive, but they seldom thrive. The fact of the matter is that anyone can be innovative, regardless of profession or level of responsibility. The opportunity for process improvement exists everywhere and at every level within an organization. The problem is that everybody's innovating, but often it isn't formally recognized as "process improvement" or "innovation." The good news is that through process improvement games, such as Junkyard Games, anyone can learn how to be innovative with regular practice and a little courage.

Remember, fear is a natural byproduct of innovation, and you’ve got to have the courage to take risks and share your ideas. The payoff for overcoming your fears can be tremendous, changing the way your company operates, inventing a new product, and saving your business time and money in the process.

Junkyard Games is an innovation training game for employee and management development training. The team activity is an engaging and interactive experiential instructional game that effectively improves the effectiveness of team and individual innovation skills.

Teams work together, plan, strategize, and execute their ideas to create the most innovative tabletop games for an international competition among imaginary countries. The challenge is that they may only use the miscellaneous "junk" available to them. The parts are random, and not every team is given the same stuff. After an initial round of planning and testing, teams are asked to practice their innovation skills to improve upon their original design. Then, the outrageous fun begins when the teams get to play each other's games and compete to win at all costs.

By the end of this game, participants will have the skills to:

• Differentiate between innovation and creativity.
• Understand the value of managing task-driven and process-driven behaviors.
• Learn and apply a seven-step innovation process.

Junkyard Games is effective either as a standalone activity or as part of a more comprehensive training program. Here are some suggested applications for the game:

• Kick off a team-building workshop or seminar
• Introduce the concept of innovation
• Energize an existing team’s level of creativity for innovation
• Practice using innovation skills in a "safe" environment

Complete Kit: Order One Kit for up to Three Teams of Four to Eight Participants

Each Junkyard Games Complete Kit trains as many as 24 participants (three teams, each with a maximum of eight players). The tote bag includes a Facilitator Guide and three bags of assorted "junk."

Extra Parts Pack: Order One Pack per Additional Group of Participants

For training sessions with more than three groups, order one extra game pack per team.