Activity
Impossible scenario
Center of Quebec, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Monteregie, Outaouais, Region of Montreal, Region of Ottawa, Region of Quebec (City), TorontoActivity description
The impossible scenario game places participants in a seemingly unsolvable, often absurd challenge to boost leadership, uncertainty management, and creative thinking.
Split into small groups, members must come up with a bold, presentable, and convincing solution to a wild situation.
This game blends improvisation, strategy, humor, and teamwork to bring out natural leaders.
What does it impact ?
- Developing leadership and confidence : The activity pushes participants out of their comfort zone, encouraging them to speak up and defend ideas in uncertain or absurd contexts. It strengthens the ability to deal with ambiguity and make decisions.
- Stimulating innovation and creativity : Faced with problems that have no obvious answers, teams must imagine original solutions by shaking up conventional thinking patterns.
What should the organizer prepare ?
- Prepare 4 to 6 “impossible” scenarios: A floating zoo must save a lost dinosaur species, etc.
- Provide a quiet space with options to break into subgroups.
- Print or project the scenarios.
- Prepare a timer to manage thinking time.
- Have a board or screen for final presentations.
- Facilitate a short sharing session after the activity.
How to achieve our goals on the big day ?
- Add a wacky constraint to the scenario: only plastic objects can be used, or the solution must include a song, etc.
- Switch “leaders” each round to reveal different leadership styles.
- Hold a vote for the most improbable yet believable solution.
- Ask each group to illustrate their solution with a drawing or a sketch.
- Assign roles within each group: spokesperson, timekeeper, critic, creative, etc.
- Wrap up with a collective reflection on observed leadership qualities.
When is the right context for this activity ?
- When the team seems to lack initiative or decisiveness.
- Before launching a complex project or in uncertain contexts.
- During a seminar or intensive professional development workshop.
- To uncover hidden leadership talents within the group.
- After a period of stagnation or routine.
Other benefits
- Triggers laughter and immediately lightens the mood.
- Encourages equal participation in speaking roles within groups.
- May spark unexpected ideas that lead to real projects.
- Strengthens the ability to present and defend ideas, even wild ones.
See what others have done 👋
- At Tricobotique in France, an engineering team had to solve the disappearance of all pens worldwide. Their solution? A temporary tattoo that writes with thoughts. Their manager kept the idea for a futuristic marketing campaign!
- A team at Banque Delacour in Belgium had to open a branch in the Bermuda Triangle. Their solutions were so absurd that leadership turned the activity into an annual onboarding ritual for interns.
- In Japan, a challenge involved invisible unicorns and a gravity-free city. An admin employee at Animax Studio discovered a talent for illustration and switched careers!
- The finance department of Nordicom in Sweden had to protect a city from giant ducks. The story became an internal comic distributed to all employees!
- A logistics SME in Germany had to deliver a package without touching the ground. They used drones, trampolines, and cats. The activity inspired an intensive innovation workshop on delivery optimization.
Location : In person, Office activities, Virtual
Location : Center of Quebec, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Monteregie, Outaouais, Region of Montreal, Region of Ottawa, Region of Quebec (City), Toronto
Activity setting : Indoors
Group size : Up to 10 people, Up to 20 people
Activity languages : English, French
Price : Free
Duration : > 1hrs, 1-3 hrs
Difficulty level : Easy to pick up
Group size :
- Up to 10 people
- Up to 20 people
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