What Amoeba Tag Can Teach Leaders

This week, let’s talk about games.

Specifically, I want to talk about one of my favorite games from my childhood: Amoeba Tag.

Never heard of it? Don’t worry, I’ll explain the rules – and then connect Amoeba Tag’s optimal strategies to how people work in teams versus how they could work in teams.

How It Works

Most people know how to play Tag. I tag you, you're it, I get to run around. Tag me, I'm it, you get to run around. Amoeba Tag is a fun adaptation of the classic game, where once I tag you, rather than running off, we're now linked together.

And the way that we express that link is by holding hands and proceeding to try to capture someone else. Once you or I tag someone else, they also hold hands with us. Watch little kids playing this game and you’ll soon see a crazy long line of kids that quickly becomes chaotic and absurd.

One of two things can happen next:

1)      Each kid thinks solely for themselves, and you’ll see a lot of jerking back and forth… kids getting stuck in one place… kids getting dragged on the ground because they can’t keep up… kids colliding into each other… it gets ugly! As the chain gets longer and longer, the group becomes ineffective at tagging anyone else.

2)      The more fruitful option is when kids embrace the “amoeba” in Amoeba Tag. Rather than thinking for themselves, they clump together as a group and begin to charge the remaining players. As an amoeba, they “open” themselves up to engulf people. That way, they all get to win by tagging the other kids. Doesn’t that sound like more fun?

By the way, I highly recommend you play this with a kid. Kids and their dynamics teach you so much for yourself, especially if you're a leader that works with teams.

Why You Should Care

Think about those two options in a leadership context.

1)      The group gets bigger, but everyone is in it for themselves.

2)      The group gets bigger and you still find a way to collectively collaborate and all win the game.

If you work on a team, which experience are you having?

Is your team disconnected, with each person looking out for themselves? This looks like chasing goals without interacting with other people. People create their own way of doing things and don't get everyone on board with that plan. They leave people in the dust or drag them along to get it done their way.

Or do you work with a team of people that is collaborative? This looks like being united on a common goal. Everyone is on the same page of what works and rejoices collaborating so that everyone gets to win. They also embrace the mentality that it's possible for everyone to win.

Are you dragging each other along on a string? Or are you an amoeba?

I know that’s a weird thing to want to be, but stay with me. Let’s explore some clues.

The most important place to start is noticing whether or not everyone in the “chain” is on the same page of what they're trying to achieve. Are they actually all on the same page of winning? Do they show a united front for what winning looks like? Capturing more kids in Amoeba Tag is like closing more deals. If you’re united on that common goal, are you actually trusting each other and relying on each other to achieve that goal?

To be clear, I don't mean that your team needs to be status quo or that everyone needs to fulfill the same role. Multiple roles and skillsets are important. What I mean is actually relying on each other and thinking about how your roles play off of each other in such a way that you have the tight knit formation of “coming together and pulling apart, coming together and pulling apart” – like that amoeba.

If you don’t recognize any of these clues on your team, it's probably time to talk about it.

You can learn a lot about leadership dynamics from watching kids play. Whether or not you’ve ever played Amoeba Tag, I hope this analogy will help you in your leadership role as you work to improve your team’s dynamics.