Communication Skills
Communication is the Key!
Two teams have to communicate by a two-way messaging system and limited meetings in order to achieve their shared goal. Neither team knows what the other is up to - though they do make assumptions, and these can be fatal!
How it works
The objective, for both teams, is to plan routes around a number of pubs that will maximise their joint score of points. But just how long will it take them to realise the vital point that the tasks they’ve been set are slightly different? They have two methods of communicating - emails, using the single computer placed between the two groups, and face-to-face meetings every 30 minutes. At the meetings only one member of the team can speak - and there’s the added task of communicating details of each other’s flag! Teams submit their plan and the computer provides results and an assessment - plus a (revealing) transcript of the communications!
What it does
Brings out some absolutely key lessons about communication. This dynamic exercise illustrates just how much confusion and error is created - and time (and profit) lost - through sloppy communication. The exercise illustrates the pitfalls of making assumptions in what we read and hear and the dangers of failing to think carefully about the messages we give out. At the Debrief, these can be related to real examples from the workplace.
Customer feedback
The learning from Communication is the Key is virtually limitless and I always find it great fun to run.
– H. Langhammer, Aspire Consulting
A great success! What can I say - you came up trumps again! Thanks Northgate.
– K. Duthie, Clare Fletcher Training Ltd
A very good team-based exercise that highlights all the problems we have communicating with each other.
– P. Stubbs, Davis Langdon