Need a great icebreakers and want to reinforce a need for creativity in your organization? Look no further than Rory’s Story Cubes.Rory O’Connor, a creativity consultant has a creativity tool called Rory’s Story Cubes. The Story Cubes consist of nine plastic cubes, emblazoned with iconic images on each side. They are packaged in an attractive box that make them a memorable meeting tchocke.
To use Rory’s Story Cubes, you roll all nine dice, look at the images on the upright faces of each die, and use them to tell a story that must begin with the words, “Once upon a time…”
Rory says “this creativity tool is based upon the psychological principle that everything we do outwardly reflects what’s going on unconsciously inside of us. The stories we tell using this tool, therefore, can reveal some deep ideas that may be lurking inside your creative brain.”
These can be used for breaking the ice and getting a group to open up and tell some fun stories that always make for laughter and spur team building. The cubes can also inject some fresh thinking into a strategic planning process.
I worked with a team this last week that found itself bogged down in the minutiae of strategic planning: the group felt that it wasn’t making much progress. We took a break and developed some stories utilizing the Story Cubes. This exercise resulted in some very promising ideas, and had the added benefit of generating a high level of buy-in from team members, because they all had a hand in shaping the story.
Originally a creativity-enhancing tool for businesses, Rory’s Story Cubes became a phenomenon when parents brought the game home from the office and their kids started playing. “It had a much bigger audience than we’d contemplated,” says inventor Rory. “It’s now the most popular game on Amazon.com selling more than 150,000 copies since last summer.” Says Jason Schneider of U.S. distributor Gamewright
Whether for business or pleasure I suggest picking up at least a 4-pack of these, you will find a use yourself or you will find someone who you know could use them.
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photo by Katrina Snaps