In 2006, Peter Skillman, Head of Design for HERE, a Nokia company in Germany, presented a TED talk where he introduced the “Marshmallow Challenge.” Designed to gauge the interactive abilities for a group to collaborate on a common goal, the task was simple. Build the highest free standing structure using only 20 strands of spaghetti (uncooked), a yard of masking tape, a yard of string and of course a marshmallow (not mini marshmallows).
The idea was to see how the groups collaborated among themselves to accomplish this goal, would it autocratic, democratic or a free for all? Would it be planned out or put together quickly through trial and? And what does this have to do with business anyway?
The challenge is meant to teach a simple lesson, that any new product, any new or improving process, in essence, any project, can benefit from four simple tenets:
- You continually learn by doing. A controlled environment where you can conduct trial and error quality control helps you design the best product or service.
- By working in parallel with others you can learn and see where ideas can help, or fail, your effort and you can build on that as a shared knowledge pool.
- By iterating your work and showing build prototypes in stages to a customer helps you address any shortcomings during your build phase instead of at the end when it can be more costly.
- And finally being first to market is not always optimal. You can learn form others what works or not by observing the reception and adoption of a new product or service.
This is especially relevant to small businesses where capital, both monetary, material and human are in shorter supply than corporations. Time and quality are paramount to their success and growth, especially in competitive areas and introduction of new services.
With this in mind, we conducted the Marshmallow Challenge at the May meeting of AWE – Amazing Women of Excellence, where a group of Business Women and Men convened to “Manifest their May-bees”. The meeting, part of a newly launched monthly event held in Pawling, NY, showcased the manifestations of personality and learning styles that can help small business grow and thrive.
Dividing the attendees in to two groups, with an additional observer for each, the teams set about to build their iconic towers. What transpired was nothing short of amazing. Both teams finished their task with one team completing just as the timer expired. Both structures, standing on their own, measured 32” and 28” respectively, far surpassing the average height most efforts have shown.
Upon debriefing, it was clear each team had their own style. But the takeaway was that iterative works best. As in business, building, testing and showcasing in stages usually works best to gain optimal results in product, service and human satisfaction. That’s because you get instant feedback which you can act on in a timely manner.
It also is key to innovation, the growth elixir for any business.
However, this is not an absolute, there are times when straight ahead creation, testing and launching is the best approach, usually when time is key and resources are constrained.
Nevertheless, the Challenge was an eye opener and helped build awareness of the importance of how team dynamics work and how it’s important for being able to tap in to others to build your business. It’s a fun way to get groups to identify the “marshmallow” in their business and continually learn to improve their offerings.
Why not try it yourself?
(Note: more information about AWE can be found here. Group meets every third Friday of the month)
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