I usually try to stay on topic on these blog posts but thought this was pretty cool so I then thought to take the idea and make it into an informative post.
I am NOT a tie guy, but I do have to dress up on occasion so I have the Hong Kong suits purchased from long ago (great material, great price and the MacClarry Brothers do a fabulous job in Kowloon) and I do have some nice ties. My favorite ties come from… wait for it… Denny’s Restaurants. There, years ago, they offered some “Save The Children” ties and those had pictures of vehicles with wheels on them. I thought they were “wheely nice” and even bought a red umbrella with the same images…
An image caught my eye the other day and I thought it was a significant improvement over the tie knotting that I have always done. Continuous improvement and all that. I mean, since age 15 or so, when I first taught myself how to do a hand-over kind of Windsor Knot for myself, I have always tied that exact same knot and never even considered doing something differently!
SO, I thought to show it as an “old dog, new trick” and a way to simply demonstrate that there ARE different ways of doing things. Heck, there is even an instructional video on youtube to show you how to do it — pretty easy, actually. Innovation and creativity. Neat!
It’s called the Eldridge Knot and it shows what can happen when people have too much time on their hands. But the YouTube video tells the story of its origination, too. Interesting.
Yeah, maybe some of the people who do “low ropes” kinds of team building training may go with doing this as their next Executive Icebreaker. Me, I will just continue to use my Square Wheels illustrations and games and the Lost Dutchman teambuilding program.
If one is looking for an icebreaker that actually does have some positive benefit to at least the men in attendance, you might teach them how to tie this knot. My guess is that most will resist doing it for a wide range of different excuses, mostly based on fear of failure! We all know what you would hear. But then one wonders how many might actually try to do such a thing the next time they have to tie one on (so to speak…).
Next time I have to go somewhere special, I might give it a go,
For the FUN of It!
Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools. Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant.
Connect with Scott on Google+ – you can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com
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Scott’s blog on Poems and Quips on Workplace Improvement is here.
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