Pirates
| Overview | This activity has each group determining which island a group of pirates should approach to replenish food and water supplies contaminated in a typhoon. Unknown to the group, the observer has an unrevealed task - a task that can impact how effectively the group works together. This exercise can lead into a discussion of leadership behaviours, motivating staff or supervision skills. |
| Suggested Time | 45 to 60 minutes depending upon the number of groups. |
| Materials Needed | Handout, flip chart paper for each group, felt pens. Each group should have a distinct area to work where what is going on in one group will not disturb another group. |
| Participants | 10 to 30 people. |
| Procedure | Form groups of five to seven. Assign one person from each group to
be an observer. Ask the observers to meet with you in the other room so
that you can go over their handout with them. Meet with the observers
and assign roles. Brief them on their roles. Instruct them that they are
only to comment on what they see or hear. Ask the observers to rejoin
their group.
Hand out instructions to all participants. Read the instructions out loud and make sure that all participants are clear on what they are to do. Advise participants that they have 20 to 30 minutes to reach consensus. Tell them that the observers will be taking notes about the process. Assign areas and give each group flip chart paper and felt pens. Advise the group when they have five minutes left until time. Call time. |
| Debriefing | Have each group report on their decision and how they reached it. Ask
observers to comment. Ask each group to give specific examples of what
helped or hindered them in reaching their decision (write these on the
flip charts).
Ask each observer to reveal what their hidden role was. Ask each group how they felt about the observer. Explain that the actions of each observer could represent a team leader or supervisor’s behaviour. Ask the group to come up with a description or title for each observer role. Write these on three different sheets of flip chart paper. Ask the participants if they’ve ever run into supervisors who fit the descriptions. Using the three flip chart sheets, ask participants to note behaviours of each type which either help or hinder teamwork, idea generation and problem solving. Lead into a discussion of motivation, supervision skills or leadership behaviours. |
| Author | Activity by Jean Dickson and Scott Godfrey. Jean V. Dickson is a Canadian-based entrepreneur who puts creativity's ZING into training and corporate communications. For FREE training resources, visit her websites at www.experientialexercises.com and www.jvdcreativity.com. To jazz up your PowerPoint presentations, visit The PowerPoint Joint at www.PowerPointjoint.com. |
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