Introduction
Leadership is defined as the act of motivating and leading a group or organization towards the efforts of achieving a common goal. It is a quality that many employers look for in a candidate in hopes of finding the right someone to successfully fill in the role of a leader. Qualities in leadership often include good communication, awareness, honesty, relationship building, and relationship and team building. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the task of teaching a board game/card game assigned to students to practice roles as leaders and to reflect on how we each can personally improve based off the critique and suggestion from other group members. Through this activity, students will receive constructive feedback that will shed light on what strengths each person has and how they can improve their skills as a leader.
Game Selection & Demonstration
The group I was assigned to included xxx, xxxx, and myself. Each person had the task to teach the other two members on the instructions on how to play the game. xxxxx taught Crazy 8’s card games. Daniel taught the group how to play a board game called Trouble. I personally choose a card game called Anomia for my selection of a game to teach. The reason for this selection was because I wanted to teach my group members a fun game they could play in the future with others, such as friends or family. Anomia is a fun party game that for three to six players aged ten or older. The goal of the game is to collect as many winning cards as possible from your opponents. There is a red and blue deck, each made up of 92 cards that has 8 symbols and 8 wild cards. Each playing card in the games features a unique category of person, place, or thing. Players wait for face-off rounds or the opportunity to shout out an example as fast as they possible can to win cards from other opponents.
I prepared beforehand by writing out my step by step instructions and practiced by reading them out loud to myself. I also did a test run of teaching the game with my group of friends and a family member separately before teaching the game to Joel and Daniel. The notes I had were for the setup of the game and the actual instructions. The notes were as follow: Setup Rules
1. Choose between the red deck and the blue deck.
Anomia comes with two different playing decks. The red deck is a bit more advanced than the blue deck, so it’s best to start playing with the blue one.
2. Shuffle the deck and split it. Shuffle the playing deck and split the deck in two as evenly as possible. Place the two decks face-down on the playing table. Draw from either deck during the game. There should be two draw piles so that everyone at the table can reach one from their seat.
3. Draw and reveal a card. Pick up a card from the deck at the center of the table. Flip it upwards quickly as you place it down so everyone can see it. Don’t look at your card before you put it down.
- The person who shuffles the cards should go first.
- Put the card face-up in front of you. This is the beginning of your play pile.
- If you draw a card and the symbol on it doesn’t match the symbols on any active cards, it is the next player’s turn to draw. Game Rules
- 1. Watch for a symbol that matches the one on your card.
Going in a clockwise direction around the table, have players draw cards one-at-a-time. Keep a close eye on each card that gets flipped up on the table. Be ready to think fast!
If the symbol on your card matches another player’s, you now must “face off” with your opponent.
2. Name an example of the category on your opponent’s card. As soon as you recognize your own symbol on someone else’s card, read the category listed on it. Think fast and name an example of that category as fast as you can. Your opponent will be doing the same thing with your card.
3. Collect your opponent’s card if you answer first and correctly.
4. Start a cascade round if the loser’s next play card has a matching symbol. A cascade round occurs if the loser’s next card has a matching symbol to any other player’s. Launch into a new face-off immediately if there is a symbol match
5. Place wild cards between the two play piles. Each Anomia deck has eight wild cards, each with two symbols on them. When a wild card is drawn during the game, put it in between the two draw piles. If the two wild card symbols appear on cards topping any two player’s play piles, start another face-off round
6. Do a tie-breaker if two players tie during a face off. In the event of a tie between you and another player, a third player should draw a card and flip it up onto the table. You and your opponent must both try to give an answer for that card. Whoever wins this tie breaker gets the loser’s original card
7. Count the cards in your “win” pile once the draw piles are empty.
Play Anomia until the two draw piles are empty. At this point, count the cards in your “win” pile. Whoever has the most cards wins.
On the day of teaching the games to our group members, I went over the game instructions as I had practiced and memorized. I made sure not to speak too quickly and made sure to explain the game in simple terms. I also made sure if there were any questions after presentation new information/ideas. I also made sure to also be making eye contact between both group members. I also tried to keep my body language as casual as possible to make my group members feel more comfortable.
Reflection
The feedback I received from both xxxx and xxxx helped me to realize my leadership effectiveness. They both highlighted the positive traits of a leader that I possessed, as well as gave me constructive criticism that I could take and improve my leadership skills.
Conclusion
This opportunity to practice my leadership skills through demonstration of a game of my choice and to receive critical feedback from others, really served as a beneficial experience to further my understanding in what it means to be a leader. The feedback was especially helpful in bringing to my awareness, which qualities I can improve on for the future.