 | Coordinating Among International Organizations in Complex Emergencies (Trainer's Guide, Draft 1st Edition) (Complex Emergency Training Initiative - Disaster Management Training Programme, 80 p.) |
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Annex 1
Us and Them - A Strategic Planning and Operations Exercise
Instruction Sheet
Your group is about to participate in a strategic planning and operations exercise which will involve your own team’s as well as others’ actions for determination of the final outcome. All that is required for your team’s success in this exercise is skill, careful strategic analysis and prompt decisive action.
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This exercise may be played by several groups (or operations) each composed of 4 small teams. Each team should have received one colored felt-tip marker, these instructions for each team member and a copy of the operational map to be used in planning your operational strategy. |
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You should already be divided into teams of no more than four players each. These teams must also be combined into operations of 4 teams each. Introduce yourselves to your teammates if you are not already acquainted. Decide on one member of the team who will be responsible for implementing the team’s strategy, and give them the colored marker, this person will be referred to as the Marker-Holder for the team. Teams involved in the same operation should each have a different colored marker, which also signifies the name of that team, i.e. the Reds, Green, Blacks, or Blues. The Marker-Holder for your team will record the team’s strategic decision or move directly on the Joint Strategic Planning and Operations Recording Form which will be supplied by your workshop facilitator to each operation. |
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Each group’s objective is to form 5 marks-in-a-row of the same color on the form in any orientation: vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. The object is for each team to form as many of these 5-in-a-rows as possible. |
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Each team’s Marker Holder will mark only one square per turn, and moves will be taken in turn by each group. Turns last 30 seconds, in which each team can discuss, advise, and or delegate authority to move to the Marker Holder. |
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Each team must decide on their move and have it marked on the form by their Marker Holder within the 30 seconds allotted for each turn. The workshop facilitator will monitor each team’s time for every turn. If you fail to mark your move within the 30 seconds allotted, your team forfeits that turn and the next team can begin immediately. |
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There will be a 5 minute strategy period before the beginning of the first round of the operation. You can discuss your strategy and use the team maps as preliminary planning tools for your teams if useful. The facilitator will provide the official Operations Map to be used for recording the actual strategic operational moves. |
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The exercise will be complete after 10 rounds. Two squares on the map will be left blank at that point if all teams took all of their possible moves. |
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The winners will be those who have constructed the greatest number of same-colored rows of five on the form. |
Good Luck!
Strategic Planning and Operations Recording Form
Operations Map
Figure
Us and Them - A Strategic Planning and Operations Exercise
Facilitators Guide Sheet
You should arrange the teams so that there are two or three groups of 4 teams each. The number of people on each team depends on the number of participants. Distribute the colored felt-tipped markers to each of the teams, be sure that you have at least four different colored markers, so that each of the four teams forming a group or operation can be distinguished by their color. Each team should also receive one Strategic Planning and Operations Recording Form.
Ask each team to move together so that they can devise any pre-operational strategy. One task that they must also accomplish is the identification of the person on each team who will be responsible to mark the recording forms for their teams. These people - the Marker Holders - can be honored by a formal presentation of their team marker.
Allow 5 minutes for the strategy planning meeting, during which you can call the Marker Holders forward to introduce them to the other Marker Holders in the operation.
At the end of five minutes give a loud “START” command and then monitor your watch and say “turn” or “change” at each 30 second interval. After 40 turns (when only 2 squares are left unmarked on the forms announce “END”).
Collect the operational forms and compare them. Give the victory to the four teams whose form has the greatest number of same color rows of five, including all four colors. The point is that the groups or operations that managed to get the most successes by all of their combined four teams is the winner. Thus winning through blocking your opponents is still a losing strategy for all four teams if the other four have made more points through working together (or at least not “blocking”) each other so effectively.
Many other issues can be highlighted here through a discussion by asking these questions in the plenary:
1. What did the teams view as their goal in the game?
2. Did they arrive at any strategies in their preliminary five-minute planning session?
3. Did they consider planning together with the other teams? Why or why not?
4. How did each team define “winning”.
5. How did it feel to “block” others or to be “blocked” by them.
6. If the teams could redo the exercise, what strategies might they consider?