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Here are the details of some of the games that we played during the UA workshop:
Alain announced a role-playing game called COMPANY PICNIC. He handed me and each of the 30 other participants a large playing card. He asked us to place the card on our forehead, facing out, so that everyone can see the card except the person who received the card. Nobody was permitted to took at his or her own card until the very end of the game.
Here's how Alain set up the game:
You all work for Widgets Incorporated and have gathered for a summer picnic in celebration of a very successful first half of the year. For about 5 minutes, you interact with as many people as you can. Treat each person as if his or her status in the company corresponds to the card on the forehead (2 is low, Ace is high). For example, a 2 might work in the mailroom, an Ace could be the CEO, and a 10 might be a VP. Your objective is to subtly give others clues to the card that they hold, while assessing the clues others are giving you about your card. You don't get to tell the others about their card. And you don't get to say things that you would not normally say. So, "Go get my car" or "Throw this away for me" are not subtle enough to say to a 2. But a brief hello with little eye contact might be.
During the role-play, I had fun snubbing the little people and fawning on the Queens and Kings. Most people were nice to me, and I decided that I was a 9 or a 10.
When the time is up, Alain asked everyone to form one line from lowest (2) to highest (A), depending on where we thought we fell in status. We did this without looking at our cards and without telling others if they were out of place. Once a single-file line was formed, participants checked their cards to see how they did.
It turned out that my card was a Jack. We all realized that everyone has a lot of expertise in what Alain called "status skills". As he debriefed the activity, participants shared the clues that helped them figure out where they were on the status line. I noticed that a few participants were way out of position, and wondered why. We talked through possible explanations. The debrief evolved into a rich discussion about status, its use as a communication tool, and its role in the workplace.
GAMEGAME is an application of a flexible small-group activity to enable players to express, explain, and exchange their opinions about instructional games.
GAMEGAME has two important outcomes:
About 40 minutes. You can easily expand or contract the game to suit the available time.
- You lose control of trainees.
- They motivate participants.
- They ensure transfer of training.
- Only lazy trainers use them.
In the following description, the phases of the game are printed in regular type.
Sample segments from an imaginary play of the game are indented and italicized like this.
Before the workshop, prepare a set of opinion cards. Each card should contain one opinion about instructional games. Come up with a variety of positive and negative opinions. Prepare at least two opinion cards for each anticipated player. If you cannot make up that many opinions, use duplicates.
Bob is conducting a workshop for a group of corporate trainers. Twenty participants have signed up for the workshop, including a few OD specialists. The day before the workshop, Bob prepares 40 opinion cards.
Start the game quickly. When the players are ready, say to them: "I'd like to begin right off with a group activity that will help us get to know each other. It will also allow us to discover what opinions people have about instructional games. This activity should set the stage for the rest of the workshop."
Bob catches everyone's attention and gives his introductory presentation. Players look like they are ready for action.
Hand out four blank index cards to each player. Ask them to write down an opinion about instructional games on each card. The opinions need not reflect the personal views of the writer. They should represent enthusiastic and skeptical points of view. Give some sample opinions to the group.
The workshop starts at 8:30 a.m., and Susan arrives 5 minutes late. She sees the others writing busily. Bob gives her four blank cards and asks her to write her opinions. Susan thinks for a moment and comes up with the following:
After about 3 minutes, collect opinion cards from players. Secretly add your prepared cards to this pile. Mix the cards well and deal three cards to each player. Ask the players to study the opinions and arrange them according to their personal preference--from the most to the least acceptable opinion.
Bob collects the cards from the players and adds his own collection. He mixes the cards and gives three to each player.
Susan studies the three cards she receives and arranges them in the following order:
Arrange the remaining opinion cards on a large table at one side of the room. Tell the players that they may discard cards from their hands and pick up better replacements. Players must work silently; they should not to talk to each other during this phase of the game. At the end of this exchange, each player should have three cards that may or may not include cards from the original set.
Susan takes her cards to the table and rummages there. She discards two of her cards and picks up the following:
Susan is surprised to see another player eagerly picking up her discards!
Instruct players to exchange cards with each other to make their hands better reflect their personal opinions. In this phase, any player may swap cards with any other player; every player must exchange at least one card.
When Bob announces the beginning of the exchange, Susan wanders around until Arthur stops her. Comparing cards, Susan sees one that says, "Games encourage holistic learning." She bargains with Arthur until he exchanges this card for her card about games trivializing serious ideas. Before Susan can find someone else to swap with, Bob calls time to end this phase of the game.
Ask players to compare their cards with each other and to form teams with people holding similar opinions. There is no limit to the number of players who may team up together, but a team may keep no more than three cards. It must discard all other cards, and the three cards it keeps must that meet with everyone's approval.
Susan goes around the room checking with others. She runs across Betty, who has excellent cards, and they decide to team up. The two set out to find other kindred souls. Tony wants to join them, and they agree, provided that he drops the card that says, "Games create problems for trainers and trainees." In a few more minutes, their team recruits two other players, including Arthur. They study the combined collection and reduce it to these three:
Ask each team to prepare a graphic poster that reflects its three final cards. This poster should not include any text. After 5 minutes, ask each team to read its three cards, display its poster, and explain the symbolism.
After some discussion and debate, the team decides that Susan should be the artist and the others give her ideas. The final collage shows a group of smiling faces with bubbles on top of their heads and a variety of symbols to reflect holistic learning. Another panel shows a trainer sweating over a game board.
During the "show-and-tell" period, Arthur reads the three cards and Betty assists Susan in explaining the poster.
Identify winning teams in each of these categories:
Susan's poster did not receive an award, but Bob judged the team's three cards to be the most consistent!
Before you conduct the game, prepare a prompt. Write several different responses to this prompt on index cards.
Use these steps to conduct the game.
Preparation. Assemble all materials, practice exercises, tests, and answer keys. Rehearse your priming demonstration.
Priming. If the procedure is brief (for example, how to find the average of 10 numbers), demonstrate it without explaining what you are doing. If the procedure is lengthy (for example, how to construct a pie chart), show some sample inputs (for example, a data table) and final results (for example, the finished chart).
Partial learning. If you are using self-instructional handouts, distribute copies of these handouts, one to each participant. Make sure that each cluster of steps or rules is distributed to an equal number of participants. Ask the participants to work through the handouts independently and to learn the rules or steps.
If you are using live or videotaped instruction, divide the participants into as many groups as there are clusters of steps to be taught. Send different groups to different locations and conduct the training session.
Team formation. Ask the participants to form teams so that each team has the same number of members and each member has learned a different cluster of steps in the procedure. Assign additional players to different teams as extra members.
Team learning. Distribute copies of the practice exercises. Ask the members of each team to apply the procedure to the first practice exercise. Ask them to continue with more practice exercises, learning the steps from one another.
Diagnostic test. After allowing sufficient time for the practice exercises, distribute copies of the diagnostic test. Ask the players to work independently on the test for a specific number of minutes. At the end of this time, stop the test and distribute the scoring key. Ask each participant to identify areas where he or she needs additional instruction.
Remedial coaching. Ask the players to return to their team practice activity of learning the steps from one another.
Team contest. After a few minutes, announce a contest. Ask each team to send its best performer to the front of the room. Seat these representatives comfortably and administer a timed test. Identify and congratulate the fastest and most accurate player.
Additional practice. Send the players back to their teams and ask the teams to continue practicing the procedure. Warn the teams that you will conduct another contest with a different set of representatives from the teams. After a suitable pause, conduct another round of the team contest.
Final test. After allowing a few minutes for additional practice, administer the final test. After the test, distribute answer sheets. Ask the players to check their answers. Identify the player who has the most correct answers. Declare this player the individual champion and congratulate him or her. Now ask the teams to add the individual scores of their members and to divide the sum by the number of members. Identify the team with the highest average score and declare it the winning team.
Follow-up. Ask participants to pick up copies of the instructional handouts they did not receive so that they have a complete set.
To explore potential conflicts between self-interest and common interest in a team.
Skills: negotiation, persuasion, and trust building
Concepts: communication, paranoia, volunteering, secret ballots
Contrasts: self-interest vs. common interest, individual vs. group needs, public statements vs. private thoughts, monetary payoffs vs. nonmonetary payoffs
40 minutes (5 minutes for briefing, 5 minutes for playing each of the four rounds, and 15 minutes for debriefing)
At least eight. More can play, divided into teams of three to seven.
Divide participants into teams of equal numbers, each team having three to seven members and one auditor.
Explain that the simulation game involves four rounds. During each round, each player has 100 points to distribute between himself or herself and the team. The player may personally keep all 100 points, donate them all to the team, or do anything in between. Points donated to the team belong to the team as a whole and not to any individual member.
Distribute copies of the Points Distribution Form sheet. Each team member (except the auditor) should get a sheet. Ask participants to tear each sheet into quarters to produce four identical forms, one for each round of play.
Explain the formula for winning the first round:
The winner is the player with the highest personal score who is also a member of the team with highest team score.
Ask participants to fill out the Points Distribution Form privately, without talking with one other. Instruct them to write down their initials on the form and to indicate the distribution of the 100 points.
When ready, ask participants to fold their forms and give them to the auditors. Ask auditors to total the team points.
Instruct auditors to announce the total team points. Identify the team with the highest team score, and ask the auditor for the individual with the highest personal score. Congratulate the winner.
There may be more than one winner because of ties among teams and among individuals. In that case, congratulate all winners.
Explain the formula for winning the second round:
This round is the same as the first one, except that team members may talk to one another. However, they cannot show their completed Point Distribution Forms to one another.
Ask participants to discuss alternative strategies before completing their forms. While members of each team may work out a collaborative strategy, participants fill out their forms privately and independently.
After a couple of minutes, ask auditors to collect the forms and process them as before.
Instruct auditors to announce the team scores for this round. Ask them to identify the person with the highest personal score in the team with the highest team score. Congratulate the winner. As in the first round, you may have more than one winner.
Explain the formula for winning the third round:
During this round, the winner is the player with the highest personal score who is a member of any team that has a team score of at least 413 points.
The team score requirement of 413 points is for a team of five participants. For teams with fewer or more players, find the total points available among team members and subtract 87 from it. For example, if the teams have three participants, this requirement is 213; for teams with four participants, 313; and so on.
Explain the payoff for the winner:
The winner will be secretly paid $10 (without his or her identity being revealed to any other participant, including members of the winner's team). If there is a tie, one of the winners will be randomly selected to receive this cash award.
Ask participants not to talk with one other. No team member may show his or her form to any other team member.
Distribute envelopes to each participant. After about 2 minutes, ask participants to place their completed forms inside envelopes, to write their initials on the faces of the envelopes, and to pass them to the auditors.
Instruct each auditor to announce the distribution of points assigned to the team by each member of the team--but without revealing any initials. Check the team totals and identify the winning personal score. Congratulate the winner in a general way; do NOT reveal the person's name or initials.
Collect all envelopes (with the completed forms inside them). Openly place $10 in the envelope for the winner (without revealing his or her identity), mix all the envelopes, and ask the auditors to help you distribute them back to the participants.
If there is a tie, hold the envelopes belonging to the winners face down. Ask an auditor to take any one of the envelopes. Put a $10 bill inside this envelope. Throughout this activity, be careful not to reveal any of the initials.
Begin by asking team members not to talk to one another.
Explain that in this round there will be a winning team and a winning individual (who may not be a member of the winning team). Explain the formula for winning the round--and for receiving the payoffs:
The winning team is the one with the highest total team score. This team will publicly receive $25 to be divided among its members.
The winning individual is the one with the highest personal score--regardless of his or her team's score. This individual will secretly receive $25 to keep personally.
After a suitable pause to allow participants to fill out their forms, ask everyone to place their completed forms inside the envelopes from the previous round and to pass them to auditors.
Ask each auditor to announce the distribution of points by members of the team--but without revealing any initials. Check the totals and identify the team and the individual with the highest scores. Be sure not to reveal the individual's initials.
If there is a tie for the winning team, randomly select one of these teams. Congratulate the winning team and give them $25 to be divided among the members.
If there is a tie among individual winners, randomly select one winner. Place $25 in the envelope for the winner (without revealing his or her identity), mix all the envelopes, and ask the auditors to help you distribute them back to the participants.
To make sure that participants not only enjoy this simgame but gain useful insights from it, conduct a debriefing session. Here is a six-phase structure for the debriefing session, each phase containing several sample questions. It is important for you to be flexible during debriefing. Feel free to re-sequence the phases and the questions. Add more questions as needed. Encourage participants to come up with their own questions.
Begin the debriefing with questions that focus on the participants' feelings.
In this phase, ask questions to collect data. Encourage participants to recall and report their decisions, actions, and experiences. Help them discover similarities, differences, and patterns among their behaviors.
Begin with this open-ended question:
Encourage participants to report their actions and decisions. Follow up with questions like these:
During this phase, ask a series of questions to encourage hypothesis generation and reality testing. Begin by offering some generalizations about what happened in the simgame. Then ask participants to suggest similar generalizations of their own. Encourage participants to discuss each generalization, citing data from the simgame and from real life.
In this phase, ask questions to relate the simulation game experience to real-world experiences. These questions should encourage participants to discuss analogues between what happened in the simulation game and what happens in the workplace.
Begin with these open-ended questions:
Follow up with these questions:
Continue by recalling various generalizations used in the previous phase. Ask participants to report real-world situations that illustrate each generalization.
In this phase, ask questions to encourage participants to extrapolate from their simgame experience what would happen if the simgame's rules or conditions were altered. Offer some "what-if" scenarios and ask participants about the possible impact on their behaviors. Encourage participants to make up their own "what-if" scenarios. Here are some suggested scenarios for you:
Ask participants these questions about alternative strategies:
Not enough time? Conduct just a couple of rounds instead of all four rounds. Begin with Round 1 (so that everybody gets a feel for the scoring system) and then use any other round you want. If you want to live dangerously, just play the last round.
Too few players? Forget about auditors. With six players, you can have two teams of three. During each round, collect the completed forms from one team and give them to the other team. Let the teams audit each other's forms.
Only three players? Play them against an imaginary team. Use forms from earlier teams. For the first round, all members of my imaginary team donate their 100 points to the team--except for one member who donates 99 points, personally keeping one point. For the second round, all members donate all their 100 points to the team. This results in the debatable situation of all members of the team being tied for the first place.
Uncomfortable about using real money? Use play money for the last two rounds. Or stay with score points. Or offer prizes to the winners. Or offer to send the money to any charity selected by the winners.
Don't have envelopes? Slip the prize money to the winner during the next coffee break.
Want more variations? Try the suggestions in the "what-if" debriefing questions (page 12). In Round 2, ask players to write notes to each other instead of talking. Have two players share the same Points Distribution Form. These partners may talk to each other before filling out the form, but they are not permitted to talk to the other partners (except in Round 2).
Don't like calculations? Give each player a paper cup and 100 poker chips. Have the players distribute these chips to different paper cups or to an extra paper cup that represents the team. In this variation, players can distribute their points to themselves, to specific team members, or to the team as a whole.
Copyright © 1999. Workshops
by Thiagi, Inc. All rights reserved
URL: http://www.thiagi.com/ua.html
Revised: November 1, 1999
