Objectives:
The learner will be able to explore an idea or concept as openly as possible to gather a wide range of solutions through the power of group work and seek to build a consensus through:
- Developing problem-solving skills as team members
- Analysing information (and working with limited information)
- Negotiating and cooperating with one another.
- Listening and leading
- Group Decision making (consensus building)
Overview:
The focus within this task is open idea generation within a team, pooling the expertise/wisdom of the group to create ideas that can then be evaluated and explored.
Within this scenario, participants must pretend that they've been shipwrecked and are stranded in a life boat. Each team has a box of matches, and a number of items that they've salvaged from the sinking ship but they can’t keep them all within the lifeboat. Members must agree which items are most important for their survival as they need to prioritise.
Activity:
The challenge should be issued to the group, and time given to the challenge individually. This is important in creating the challenge of consensus building as it allows to think about the problem individually; continues the cycle of presentation and discussion in groups evaluate the process to draw out their experiences until the whole team has had a chance to voice their opinions and how teams arrive at consensus decision where everyone's opinion is heard.
Time:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Flexible, but normally between 25 and 40 minutes
Number:Â Â Â Â Â Up to 5 people in each group
Instructions
1. Divide participants into their small teams, and provide everyone with a ranking sheet (with two columns).
2. Ask team members to take 10 minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance. They should do this in the second column of their sheet.
3. Give the teams a further 10 minutes to confer and decide on their group rankings. Once agreed, they should list them in the third column of their sheets.
4. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with their collective ones, and consider why any scores differ. Did anyone change their mind about their own rankings during the team discussions? How much were people influenced by the group conversation?
5. Now read out the "correct" order, collated by the experts at the US Coast Guard (from most to least important):
- Shaving mirror. (One of your most powerful tools, because you can use it to signal your location by reflecting the sun.)
- Can of petrol. (Again, potentially vital for signalling as petrol floats on water and can be lit by your matches.)
- Water container. (Essential for collecting water to restore your lost fluids.)
- Emergency rations. (Valuable for basic food intake.)
- Plastic sheet. (Could be used for shelter, or to collect rainwater.)
- Chocolate bars. (A handy food supply.)
- Fishing rod. (Potentially useful, but there is no guarantee that you're able to catch fish. Could also feasibly double as a tent pole.)
- Rope. (Handy for tying equipment together, but not necessarily vital for survival.)
- Floating seat or cushion. (Useful as a life preserver.)
- Shark repellent. (Potentially important when in the water.)
- Bottle of rum. (Could be useful as an antiseptic for treating injuries, but will only dehydrate you if you drink it.)
- Radio. (Chances are that you're out of range of any signal, anyway.)
- Sea chart. (Worthless without navigational equipment.)
- Mosquito net. (Assuming that you've been shipwrecked in the Atlantic, where there are no mosquitoes, this is pretty much useless.)
- Sextant. (Impractical without relevant tables or a chronometer.)
Once the general discussion relating to the individual scoring has died away, draw the discussion to the team approach and explore issues of leadership, listening, negotiation, decision-making and consensus building.
Skill Development:
It is typical of many ice-breaker tasks that the learning is not within the task objective, but within the team process and often the desire to complete the task can mask the transferable learning that has been gained. It is therefore key, that once the discussion of the challenge itself is complete, that the debrief explore the skill development within the task and team work itself.
Either within the groups themselves, and then as a larger group, or working directly with the full group, seek reflections and comment on what they have learnt about:
- Listening
- Negotiating
- Decision-making skills,
- Creativity skills for thinking "outside the box
- Consensus building
As a facilitator, it is important that you allow them to explore their team process and find the learning within that. This can involve team members sharing difficult feelings about not being listened to, and this needs to be acknowledged, accepted and the lessons drawn from it (would it have been a better process to take view from each member and vote? Should individuals have been more forthcoming if they had strong views and how do they ensure they are heard in the future?). The lessons from each group can be usefully heard by the wider group, in order to understand and learn from different approaches as this allows deeper reflection as to how to approach similar challenges in the future to be explored.
Resources:
Develop a simple chart for each team member. This should comprise six columns. The first simply lists each item (see below). The second is empty so that each team member can rank the items. The third is for group rankings. The fourth is for the "correct" rankings, which are revealed at the end of the exercise. And the fifth and sixth are for the team to enter the difference between their individual and correct score, and the team and correct rankings, respectively.
If this cant be done in advance and handed out, then it can be drawn by each team member at the start of the challenge.