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Departments-bonding anti-silo mentality business game. With elements of escape rooms, and role playing.
Aim: Resolve silo mentality between department heads Target audience: Middle Management Players: 16 - 25 Tags: Team Collaboration & Departments Cohesion
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Aim
The Programme aims to:
- establish cooperation between departments
- establish trust and share information
- come to a decision as an individual, as a team, and as a collective
- have a major take-away: "we are all in the same boat"
The Problem: Silo Mentality
Top management depends on middle management to carry out the company's goals.
When a company is faced with internal turmoil, middle-management (department heads) might go into survival mode, shrinking their feel for responsibility solely to their own department. Cooperation between departments is compromised, as each department head refuses to stick her neck out for the greater good, which at troubled times might seem too abstract. A "not-my-job" attitude becomes silently prevalent.
The phenomenon is known to managers as 'silo mentality.' The Business dictionary defines it as: "A mind-set present in some companies when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company. This type of mentality will reduce the efficiency of the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture."
When a company is faced with internal turmoil, middle-management (department heads) might go into survival mode, shrinking their feel for responsibility solely to their own department. Cooperation between departments is compromised, as each department head refuses to stick her neck out for the greater good, which at troubled times might seem too abstract. A "not-my-job" attitude becomes silently prevalent.
The phenomenon is known to managers as 'silo mentality.' The Business dictionary defines it as: "A mind-set present in some companies when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company. This type of mentality will reduce the efficiency of the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture."
Target Audience
The Programme is designed for middle management.
The Story
The Ark, luxurious ocean cruiser, has left New York-based shipyard on time. Some repairs had to be made. The Ark is headed towards Trieste, Italy to pick up the passengers. We are 1000 miles from the nearest shore.
The Captain has received news of unusual underwater current and decided to take a little-known auxiliary passage. The storm came suddenly. And those were probably rocks, cutting the belly of The Ark wide open. To make things worse, navigation room and several other parts of the ship have caught fire, probably caused by a thunderbolt.
Now, after the storm and the fire being extinguished, the cruiser is malfunctioning on multiple levels and filling up with water fast. The pumps are at their maximum. Everyone survived, though. The navigation room is damaged and we are left with little if any instruments. And even these instruments are old-school and we haven't seen them since the Naval Academy's textbooks.
The Captain has summoned a small team to work on saving the ship. In the mean time, the rest of the crew is to carry out Plan B: prioritising resources. Each deck should send their people to other decks, to discover the items that were saved in the fire, and to shake up ideas. Finally, the great hall meeting with the Captain will take place for final decision making. In case of emergency evacuation, we would only be able to pack bare necessities.
The Captain has received news of unusual underwater current and decided to take a little-known auxiliary passage. The storm came suddenly. And those were probably rocks, cutting the belly of The Ark wide open. To make things worse, navigation room and several other parts of the ship have caught fire, probably caused by a thunderbolt.
Now, after the storm and the fire being extinguished, the cruiser is malfunctioning on multiple levels and filling up with water fast. The pumps are at their maximum. Everyone survived, though. The navigation room is damaged and we are left with little if any instruments. And even these instruments are old-school and we haven't seen them since the Naval Academy's textbooks.
The Captain has summoned a small team to work on saving the ship. In the mean time, the rest of the crew is to carry out Plan B: prioritising resources. Each deck should send their people to other decks, to discover the items that were saved in the fire, and to shake up ideas. Finally, the great hall meeting with the Captain will take place for final decision making. In case of emergency evacuation, we would only be able to pack bare necessities.
Game Material
Runs
Format |
Time |
Run Tech |
Goals |
Just the game |
N/A |
Get the game with instructions. |
Your internal trainers facilitate and run The Ark by themselves. Coaching and training available upon request |
Facilitated game |
4h |
The game with experienced facilitators |
We facilitate The Ark for you, together with briefing, and a basic debrief session. Further workshopping is done by your trainers. |
Game-based workshop |
8h |
Full workshop with the game experience, brief, debrief, and custom workshopping |
Have your department heads arrive at the same insing: "We're all in the same boat," and plan their new course of action accordingly. |
