• solid clean metaphors • links to planning• links to decision-

making• great debriefing

anchors• links to improving

results & performance• a solid focus on

collaboration and engagement

Need a high-energy business simulation that works with very senior managers as well as front-line employees? A game with:

• teamwork and communications• inter-team collaboration• strategic planning and resource management• organizational alignment to shared goals• leadership and support and other aspects of team play and motivation

The focus is on

Please let me share some thoughts around play:

You gather your people for a challenge to mine Gold and to have fun! We need to find the lost mine of Jacob Waltz, the Deutchman, in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona.

First, separate players into teams of 5 or 6 people.

You can choose to play with LOTS of teams, if you have them.

Or just a few players…

People enter the room set with round tables, with colorful packets of information, Grub Stakes of Resource Cards, and toy trucks, binoculars, and little plastic cowboys! There are hats and colored bandannas, too.

Then, it’s time to sit back and focus on learning all the rules, processes and objectives of the exercise.

Our goals are:   “To Mine as Much Gold as We Can” and “To Maximize our Return on Investment.”

We share instructions, mechanics of how things work, policies and procedures -- all the information they need to be successful in the journey forward.

Their tabletop map shows the key location of the mine as well as possible routes they can choose.

Tables have possibilities to discuss, risks to assess, and resources to manage.

Our Goals:

• Work Together• Get to the Mine• • Mine as much Gold Mine as much Gold as We Canas We Can• Return to Apache Junction• Have Fun!

Our Goals:

• Work Together• Get to the Mine• • Mine as much Gold Mine as much Gold as We Canas We Can• Return to Apache Junction• Have Fun!

Note the “We” – most teams miss that and frame it: “My Team, My, Team, My Team” instead of overall collaboration with the Big WE!

A final call to tell everyone they have only a minute left before Day 1 of the journey begins ALWAYS

generates some energy. Then the chaos, confusion and the FUN of Day 1 begins!

A sense of competition and the natural competitiveness commonly caused by the “My Team, My Team, My Team” focus measurably sub-optimizes the group performance results. Collaboration rather than competition is a key factor for our success.

While Traders spend their days going back and forth to the Provisioner’s Trading Post, the other team members perform their given roles within the team. Players may interact with the other teams for information and resources; collaboration works and makes good sense.

Collaboration and teamwork generate more successes. Poor planning will make some teams feel pressured or experience discord when their plans don’t work. Many teams work their plan well together and use available information wisely. For those, it’s less stress and more success.

Our expressed goal is to mine as much gold as WE can and to have fun while doing it! We also want to have a very positive experience to debrief so that we can discuss alternatives for improvement. THAT is the goal of playing this exercise.

The Goal is to mine as much Gold as We Can!

The play of the game is our anchor point for serious discussions about the choices we make and the issues of communication and teamwork.

Collaboration offers much higher payouts than competition, but players often choose to try to win rather than optimize overall results.

This allows for great debriefing!

Some debriefing questions and themes are on the following pages.

We also use cartoons as visual anchors to key actions.

The fast play of the game allows for lots of tabletop and group discussions about choices made and real alternative choices in their workplaces:

We give each team a vehicle and the resources needed for success.

(Some of my narrative appears at the bottom of these slides.)

And some amount of discord and disagreement is what will generate a better decision.

Not everyone agreed and it was important for the team to reach a consensus about what to do, where to go, what to take and how much risk should be managed. Disagreement is good if it insures that we have looked at things from a variety of perspectives.

And reaching agreement and making good decisions is what will generate better teamwork, planning and results.

And we NEED agreement! We need everyone on board and feeling that their ideas have been considered. Once we got agreement, teams could focus on getting things done: planning, trading, and executing. AGREEMENT MEANS SHARED OWNERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT.

Even though everyone was seemingly on the same team and riding in the same vehicle, it was hard to know if we were all tuned in to the same channel. As Expedition Leader, all I could do was hope that we were all heading in the right direction. All the leader can do is hope!

But things didn’t necessarily work smoothly. There was lots of mud on the journey that made a team’s progress difficult. There were a lot of things that simply made the task difficult. This journey was NOT easy.

And there could be a lot of pressure on team leadership for getting things done more, better, and faster…

Employee engagement is anexperience to be lived

not a problem to be solved.

It’s really neat, getting to the Top, one wonders if success will ever stop.Collaboration is one real great key as is planning things, it seems to me.

We see the goal, we see the top. What pushes us to never stop?

We can easily talk about Motivation and Success

This may be motivating, but it is NOT real success!

We can readily talk about organizational alignment and the need to have shared goals and objectives. All of the teams could have chosen to work together.

But you might remember, “My Team. My Team, My Team” and that particular dynamic mentioned earlier…

We hear teams talk about They.

We hear teams talk about Them.

So, what we talk about is that They and Them are really US, and that teamwork and collaboration offer benefits.

We could have then worked together to execute the One Best Plan.

After all, this was NOT a race; we just had time limits. Our goal was to Mine as much Gold as WE Can. We wanted to optimize our results. We did not mine all we could…

But, Nah! And Yeeee Haaaaa! Let’s Get ‘er DONE and just have some Fun!

So many teams just took off flying toward The Mine.

And it WAS Fun!

Chaos.Confusion.Reality!

So, after the play has ended and the gold has been mined, we have the chance to sit by the fire and chat about what we could have done, what we should have done and what we might choose to do now that we are heading back to the workplace…

Heck, we might even notice some NEW possibilities for what we can choose to do!

Let’s have a Yeeee

Haaaaa!!After all, we were here to have fun and learn something!

We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.

Max DePree

And we have LOTS and lots of

testimonials about the exercise

from users worldwide.

These next few slides represent possibilities for discussions...

What did youlearn from

yourexperience?

What kindsof Mud

must wedeal with?

How do we best manage the mud that often occurs as we try to move

fast forward?

Expedition Leaderscan help teams

be more successful.

Why don’t teamsask for

assistance?

Improvement is about making

different choices!

We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.

Max DePree

The issue of Alignment is a

critical one.How does it influence what happens

during regular business in the organization?

What can we do to better

align our teams to our

goals?

Teamwork and Teamwork and collaboration free up collaboration free up

mental resources mental resources and energy for and energy for

service, creativity service, creativity and improvement.and improvement.

What can we What can we change to allow for change to allow for

better better collaboration collaboration

within our within our organization(s)?organization(s)?

Benefits ofCollaboratingare obvious.

Why do teamscompete?

In a flash In a flash flood, each flood, each

raindrop will raindrop will claim its claim its

innocence.innocence.

Why areClear Goalsneeded foreffective

leadership?

Survival - Return Home ALIVECompetition - WIN - Beat other teamsOptimizationOptimization - Do the BEST we can

What was your team’s start-up strategy?

Three play strategies are common:

If the focusis on survival,

can one reallyfocus on success?

How was the competitive aspect of the game helpful

to you and your team?

How might it be How might it be helpfulhelpful in an organization?in an organization?

How was the competitive aspect of the game harmfulharmful

to you and your team?

How might it be How might it be harmfulharmful in an organization?in an organization?

Competition:

An Issue of Balance.

It’s ALL About

Teamwork and Mining

Gold!

What might"Mining GoldMining Gold"

representto our

organization?

Group Discussion

• Main Question: “What does Mining Gold mean to us as an organization?”

• Each table has 5 minutes to come up with one REALLY good idea, something that we should implement.

• Tables capture ONE actionable idea on an easel pad and select someone to present that.

What mightI consider

doingdifferently?

It is all about choice and choices; we generate considered alternatives.

This was only

a game!

Remember:

But it is also a great learning and discussion experience!

And while this IS only a game, we have lots of supporters

It is a great learning and discussion experience!

Have FUN Out There!

Thanks for your time, energy and thinking.