Minefield™

Minefield Case Study

Team Efficiency and Knowledge Sharing

Organisations frequently bemoan the cost of duplication of effort, the lack of information-sharing across teams and divisions, the failure to transfer learning from one project to another and the damage caused by internal competition. During this exercise we frequently hear observations such as, "Why didn't you tell us you knew that already?" In organisations we hear the same comments: "We didn't realise that you had already dealt with that issue."

Minefield requires 4 teams (the most successful set-up is with 4 teams of between 2-6 people) to work together to maximise organisational profit by gathering and sharing business knowledge. With a built-in numerical scoring system, the exercise demonstrates in a quantifiable way the benefits of efficient knowledge management and the actual cost of poor performance. Minefield also explores the 'softer' side of business relationships, examining influencing skills, the appropriate use of competition or collaboration and the most successful ways of building trust and support.

Minefield takes approximately 45 minutes to do, then the trainer facilitates a plenary review session in which all the groups share their task experiences.

The activity is also excellent for use in big conferences when multiple sets can be used.

What do I get?

A carefully researched and designed group learning activity from RSVP Design's toolbox range. The activity uses a lightweight single-sided, metallised write on /wipe off board supplied with the game materials. The activity comes complete with a set of magnetic components, full participant briefing instructions, facilitator's manual and a suggested review process, based upon predicted learning outcomes.

How does it work?

Working in 4 small teams, without knowing the relationships between those teams, participants undertake an information-gathering and logic exercise. All the information they acquire has a cost attached. Teams work with a budget, to gather the information they need to complete a task and earn a bonus. Can they optimise team and organisational profits?

What are the business benefits?

Repeated use of Minefield offers a tangible, numerical measurement of the effectiveness of inter-team communication and co-operation. The scoring system allows clear demonstration of the cost of poor information sharing. Teams applying the lessons from Minefield examine their own 'silo' working and identify ways of maximising the return on expensively acquired business knowledge.

Give me an example of how it is used.

1. HBOS, a major UK bank, used Minefield in a series of workshops for specialist business managers during an IT training programme. Recognising the huge cost to the business of not accessing all the knowledge which exists in different parts of a complex, multi-divisional organisation, they wanted these staff to explore issues around effective Knowledge Management. Over a series of workshops, staff kept 'league tables' of exercise results, demonstrating the bottom-line costs of poor cross-team working and knowledge sharing. This was a graphic illustration of the need to pay much more attention to the lost opportunities and inefficiencies brought about by failure to make knowledge and learning widely.

2. Minefield Client Feedback

Here is some feedback from clients on how have they have used the Minefield toolbox, and the benefits they obtained:

" I have found the RSVP Design Minefield tool to be a well designed and flexible tool for helping people understand the essential need for collaboration and communication amongst different teams in order to achieve business goals and priorities. Whilst the key learning is powerfully demonstrated within the exercise, the learning is also fun and having such a practical 'hands on' tool enhances the ability of the trainer to cover different learning styles within the same session. Feedback from participants is always consistently positive and I truly believe tools such as Minefield leave an impression long after the training finishes ".

Richard Reid
CSA Learning Designer
Royal Mail People and Organisational Development Services

3. As a facilitator of leadership, management and team development programmes I have used a number of action learning sets to stimulate debate and facilitate learning with groups at various levels within  organisations, both public and private sector.

I recently added RSVP Design's tools to my development resources and have not been disappointed in their flexibility, application and outcomes they have generated.

One tool I use to help breakdown organisational silos is 'Minefield' which helps participants understand the importance of information sharing and the potential implications to the business and the bottom line if information is not readily shared.

Minefield also challenges assumptions, team dynamics and inter-team relations, trust, integrity and credibility when working across teams, departments or organisations and is a very powerful learning tool that reflects the demands placed on leaders and managers in the workplace when faced with knowledge management and information sharing dilemmas.

Mick Castle