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Lessons Learned 

Number 1. First Quarter, 2004

We get frequent requests from clients and other practitioners to share some of the activities we use in our Team Building and CollectiveIntelligence programs. As we say to our clients "It's not about the activities, its about achieving business results". This new page is an attempt to link our roles as experiential educators and facilitators of world class business action learning programs, while providing practical, easy to use information to clients, colleagues, and other practitioners.

This page will consist of two sections: an activity section, with set-up, implementation, and debriefing instructions and a business leadership section providing facilitation and development tips to move your business to the next level of performance.

Activity of the Quarter:

Zoom also known as Chaos or Linear Information.

Activity Source: Dev Pathik/Challenge Advisory

Group Size : Large Group Activity, 25 -35 participants

Activity Set-up:

• Get a copy of the book Zoom by Istvan Banyai from amazon.com or other bookseller.
• Cut all pages neatly out of book and mix pages in random order, put each page in large manila envelope.
• Divide larger group into two smaller groups of equal size.
• Hand out one envelope to each member of each group.  If there are pages left over save them in a place where they are not visible to group members.

Task Objective:The small groups have twenty minutes to get their pictures in story order.  Participants can describe what is on their pictures but cannot actually show them to anyone. They may switch places with other group members.  At the end of twenty minutes the two small groups combine into a large group.and are given the task of coming up with a final order in twenty more minutes. The instructor will then verify whether the pictures are in order. The group gets two tries, if they fail at both they have not completed the activity.

Intrinsic Goals: To give participants experience in:

•  Using analytic skills
•  Testing assumptions
•  Intergroup information sharing
•  Using collective intelligence
•  To set up a discussion on current business assumptions

Activity Frame: "Your group has been given intelligence on a competitors distribution process in the form of satellite imagery.  Because of internal security and ethics concerns your image may not be shown to any other group member but you may verbally describe the image in its entirety. Your small group has twenty minutes to determine a correct order to these images that reflects the competitors distribution process.

Your group must now combine with the other group to come up with a final and correct order for the images. You have twenty minutes to complete this process. When the group feels it has the images in order it may summon the instructors who will verify whether the images are in order.  The large group will have two attempts to get the images in order.

Ground Rules:

•   Participants must keep their image secure and may not show it to anyone.
•   Participants may switch places as necessary.
•   Participants may make only two final attempts at a correct        order
•  The decision of the instructors on the order is final

Suggested Debrief Questions:

•  Identify the leaders in this activity? Did leadership change over time/
•  Did the two groups have differing strategies they used to arrive at their group solution? How did the different strategies contribute to the final solution? In what ways was collaboration made easy or difficult because of the initial strategies? What inhibits or adds to collaboration in your work environment?
• What assumptions did you make either individually or as a group during this activity? How did the group support or challenge the assumptions of its members? How do assumptions affect your current work environment?

Business Process of the Quarter:

Have a Discussion on Business Assumptions

Assumptions, everyone makes them on a daily basis, consciously or unconsciously. Sometimes assumptions save time and allow for quick decision making. Sometimes our assumptions plunge us into conflict or keep us from operating at our highest level of effectiveness. When a group makes unchallenged assumptions it can affect organizational outcomes in unanticipated ways.

Discussing assumptions in a group/public forum can appear to be quite risky from both a personal and organizational standpoint.  The potential negative outcomes seem closer than and more immediate than the long range benefits of such a discussion.  Yet, when assumptions are discussed in a non-threatening environment, they provide an immediate clarity and focus than is difficult to achieve in any other. 

Although interpersonal assumptions generate the most resistance to openly discussing this topic, they usually contribute little to an organization's bottom line or success achievement.  In the end our assumptions about others are just opinions and are limited in nature.  Successful discussions about assumptions focus primarily on the tactical and strategic aspects of an organization.

Formatting a Successful Discussion on Assumptions:

1. Create a strong rationale and build support for having a discussion on assumptions. Do not surprise or initiate an unplanned conversation on these topics.
2. Design pre-discussion assignments that allow participants to clarify their own personal assumptions and ideas about a particular topic.
3. Plan for a series of meetings and limit meeting time to one and 1/2 hours. Don't schedule any other business to be discussed at the session.
4. Allow participants to set their own ground rules for the discussion. If possible, limit discussion topics to tactical and strategic concerns. Do not allow interpersonal assumptions or personal attacks to become part of the discussion.
5. Begin by creating a laundry list of current assumptions around a particular topic. allow each participant to share ideas one at a time. Do not allow for rebuttal until each participant has had a chance to speak.
6. Facilitate a process to modify the laundry list into groups of assumptions.
7. Have the members create a framework or method for determining accuracy or validity of a group of assumptions.
8. If possible, create a visual format/graphic that allows participants to see assumptions morph into current reality.
9. The end product of the session should be a chart delineating assumptions, current reality, and next steps.
10. Develop action items and give assignments for addressing them in a format generated by the members.
11. Set a time for the next meeting.

Resources for Discussing Assumptions:

Books: Available from Amazon.Com

• Break-Away Thinking: How to Challenge Your Business Assumptions (And Why You Should) by Ian I. Mitroff
• Just Don't Do It!: Challenging Assumptions in Business by Joel Brandon, Daniel Morris (Contributor)

Articles: From Harvard Business Review

• Success That Lasts
  Laura Nash; Howard Stevenson:
  Pub. Date: February 01, 2004
  Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson interviewed and surveyed hundreds of professionals to study the assumptions behind the idea of success.
• What's a Business For?
  Charles Handy

        Pub. Date: December 01, 2002

In the wake of the recent corporate scandals, it's time to reconsider the assumptions underlying American-style stock-market capitalism.

For further information on the materials in Lessons Learned or to contact us at Adventure Learning Associates, please call 802-254-6160 or fill out our online form.