This workshop was developed by Nasa and works at different levels. It is an exercise in team building, communication, assertiveness and self-confidence.

How does a team deal with problem situations in extreme circumstances when time and resources are limited?

Ideal to stimulate the problem-solving capacity of your team

Description of the assignement:

You belong to a group of astronauts and you have the assignment to get in touch with the base camp on the sunlit moon surface. Due to technical difficulties, your capsule had to land 300 km away from the base. Much of the equipment was destroyed during the landing. Your survival depends on reaching the base camp on foot. You may only take the most essential objects on your journey.

How it works:

Participants receive a list of 15 undamaged items. It is their to determine how important each object is for the journey and to place these items in order of importance.

If everyone has come to an individual ranking, the intention is to reach a consensus with the group and come to one list. This means that everyone must agree to the ranking of each item. The participants get 20 minutes to come to a group list of items.

The workshop supervisor then goes over the results with the group and compares this with the correct solution from the Nasa. If required, scores can also be calculated for individuals and the group result.

Result:

This usually shows that the average of the individual scores (sum of all individual scores divided by the number of players) is worse than the combined score. From this insight we learn that we can achieve more in team than as individuals.

 

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