Balancing the Peacock Feather: Practical Game to Teach System Thinking

?? Inspiring Insights from the Dare to Lead Event at RIT ????

?Recently, I had the privilege of attending the Dare to Lead event hosted by GE Vernova at the RIT campus on September 12-13. It was an incredible experience to connect with young talents and witness their boundless energy and intelligence firsthand. ??

?

One of the standout sessions we conducted focused on emotional intelligence, a vital skill in today's world. We delved into the concept of "systems thinking," a powerful approach to observation and problem-solving that considers the entire system and its relationships, rather than just its individual components. Systems thinkers, we emphasized, are adept problem solvers with high emotional intelligence.

?If you want to conduct this exercise in your next workshop:

To illustrate this concept, we engaged the students in a fun experiment involving juggling peacock feathers:

1. Buy a set of juggling peacock feathers (I got mine from Amazon)
2. Hand a feather for each participant or line them up in groups of two.
3. We asked them to balance a peacock feather on their fingertips while observing the fingertip
4. Then try balancing again while looking at the eye of the feather.
5. Optional: Let the groups record their best performance in both cases and announce the winner. It is a beautiful analogy - when you focus on the eye of the feather, the bigger picture, it becomes much easier to balance the entire system.

When I returned home, I decided to share this engaging experiment with my kids, and it turned into a delightful family activity. They had a blast, and I couldn't help but reflect on the profound connection between play and learning.

The word "play" itself is derived from Old English word "plegian", meaning "to exercise." It's a reminder that play is not just child's play; it's a powerful tool for discovery, learning, and developing emotional and social intelligence. As we grow older, let's not forget the importance of play in fostering creativity and problem-solving skills.

?Ps: Special thanks to Melissa Seely for facilitating this and many events like this and bringing amazing talent to our organization. Also to Luc Booz, CPIM - who actually taught me about this game and was my partner during the presentations.

#DareToLead #EmotionalIntelligence #SystemsThinking #LearningThroughPlay #Inspiration #FamilyFun #NeverStopLearning