Vacation in the Keys - Team Adventure Simulation
The Scenario
It’s not enough that you and your friends lost your way on the first day at sea. Morale aboard your chartered fishing boat has plummeted, but you haven’t seen the worst yet. The next morning everyone awakens and gathers on deck, ready to get on with the trip. Suddenly someone turns the ignition key and triggers an explosion that blows the boat apart -- and throws everyone overboard.
Can your group survive its ill-fated Vacation in the Keys?
Learning Outcomes
- Learn how to manage and resolve group conflict
- Hone group problem-solving skills
- Improve communication
- Discover the advantages of consensus decision making
Actual boating experiences, along with input from Navy Seals and other experts, contributed to the development of Vacation in the Keys, a survival simulation that demonstrates “team synergy” — the belief that decisions made by groups are better than decisions made by individuals acting alone (Michaelson, Watson, & Black, 1989). Groups bring a greater sum total of knowledge and information to the discussion of a problem, as well as a greater number of approaches and perspectives. The simulation can also demonstrate “process loss.” This phenomenon occurs when a knowledgeable group member outperforms the group, indicating that the member’s knowledge was lost sometime during the group discussion. In order for group decision making to work, unique information must be shared and absorbed by the group (Stasser, 1992).
Contact us for the complete Theoretical Background.
How It Works
This powerful roundtable simulation challenges teams to rank 15 salvaged items — first as individuals, and then as a team. As the facilitator, you’ll begin the exercise by introducing the adventure scenario. Participants will then rank the salvaged items on their own, using pressure-sensitive scoring forms. Next, each team conducts the same ranking process as a unit. Finally, you’ll lead the participants into a group action planning discussion, providing the team with the opportunity to apply the learning to the workplace.
Uses for Vacation in the Keys
- Illustrate the concept of team synergy
- “Break the ice” among new or conflicted teams
- Give teams a nonthreatening opportunity to work together
- Help teams practice consensus decision making
- Improve active listening, probing, and confronting behaviors in a realistic setting
- Train team leaders in team facilitation skills
- Open or close a learning session
- Introduce an organizational change, such as the transition to self-managing teams
- Interject a fun activity into an otherwise serious agenda
- Supplement outdoor experiential learning
What to Order/Product Contents
Order one Facilitator Guide per trainer and one Participant Guide per team member.
Note: Vacation in the Keys works best when participants are divided into teams of seven or fewer per table.
Facilitator Guide includes:
- Administrative guidelines
- 2-hour workshop design
- Expert rationale
- Experiential learning/training methodology
- Training design options
- CD-ROM containing Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation, reproducible masters, and color slides of scenario location
- Updated page layout
- Sample copy of Participant Guide
- Convenient binder format
Participant Guide includes:
- Scenario description
- Pressure-sensitive response form
- Team synergy score chart
- Team discussion guidelines