Make measurement fun: Cut me a short piece of liquorice!

This is an activity I invented around 1995, to show people in a fun and engaging (and delicious) way, what objective measurement means.

Use this activity to introduce measurement

Cut me a short piece of liquorice is a great ice-breaker for your first measurement workshops with your teams, particularly the workshop where you introduce them to the concept and importance of measuring performance.

Allow about 15 minutes

The activity takes about 15 minutes all up, and that’s for approximately 7 participants. So take into account the number of people you’ll have at the workshop.

You need liquorice, scissors and paper bags

A rope of liquorice, which you can get from any good confectionary store or supermarket. Use traditional or raspberry—it’s just a matter of taste. You will also need a pair of scissors, and enough brown paper lunch bags so each person attending your workshop can have their own.

Here’s how to do it:

Before your workshop begins, set aside a small table, and place the liquorice, the paper bags and the scissors there.

As each participant arrives, instruct them to do exactly this: “Cut me a small piece of liquorice, place it in a paper bag, and take it with you to your seat. Keep it until after everyone arrives and I give you the next instruction.”

After everyone arrives, is seated and has cut their liquorice, your next instruction for them is this: “Everyone, take out your short piece of liquorice and hold it up.”

Ask everyone why the short pieces vary so much in size, despite your giving everyone exactly the same instruction.

Debrief the activity by drawing the parallel to why measurement is so important: it gives us objective feedback that is far less open to interpretation. It gives us fact.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stacey Barr is the Performance Measure Specialist, helping strategic planners, business analysts and performance measurement officers confidently facilitate their organisation to create and use meaningful performance measures with lots of buy-in. Sign up for Stacey’s free email tips at www.staceybarr.com/202tipsKPI.html and receive a complimentary copy of her renowned e-book “202 Tips for Performance Measurement”.