Lean Exercise on Continuous Improvement using Tennis Balls

During a recent training event we had a team building exercise to break the ice and get to know each other as part of the introductions. This was a simple exercise but it taught a powerful Lean lesson of team work, direct involvement, and continuous improvement. I am always looking for great exercises to use in various settings and thought I would share this with others who could use it. This exercise involves passing tennis balls within a group where the goal is to perform this action as quickly as possible.

When I went to do this post I did a quick search on the internet for “The Tennis Ball Exercise” and found a couple people had already commented on this exercise. Since it makes no sense to redo what others have already done I will share their work instead.

Ralph Bernstein at the Lean Insider posted on the tennis ball exercise with several photos from an event about 6 months ago.

Robert Forder loaded a detailed explanation of the exercise in power point on the lean in education forum at LEI about a year ago.

The Tennis Ball Exercise is a simple, low cost exercise that can be used to teach any one no matter education, language, or culture. It will break the ice, help teams form, and get people involved while teaching the “we can” attitude that so necessary in continuous improvement.